美国国家公共电台 NPR 'He's A Flawed Character And They Do Not Care': The Rise Of U.K.'s Boris Johnson

'He's A Flawed Character And They Do Not Care': The Rise Of U.K.'s Boris Johnson

NOEL KING, HOST:

Boris Johnson is the favorite to become the United Kingdom's next prime minister. If Johnson wins a leadership contest later this month, he will inherit Brexit. That's the issue that ended the careers of the two previous prime ministers. NPR's London correspondent Frank Langfitt has this profile of Britain's most colorful and confounding politician.

FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE²: There are many Boris Johnsons. There's the public booster who slyly plays the buffoon³, as he did as mayor of London, riding backwards⁴ on a zip line, waving a pair of Union Jacks⁵ to promote the 2012 London Olympics, only to be stranded⁶ 15 feet off the ground, the harness chafing⁷ against his groin.

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BORIS JOHNSON: Get me a ladder.

(LAUGHTER)

LANGFITT: There's Johnson the philanderer⁸, who's gone through two marriages. Now 55, the former U.K. foreign secretary recently had a row with his 31-year-old girlfriend that resulted in a visit from police.

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: On the front page of every major newspaper, reports of a domestic between Boris and his partner.

LANGFITT: But there's also Johnson the feel-good politician, who can inspire, as he did at the Conservative Party's convention last year.

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JOHNSON: If I have a function here today, it is to try, with all humility⁹, to put some lead into the collective pencil to stop what seems to me to be a ridiculous seeping-away of our self-belief and to invite you to feel a realistic and justified¹⁰ confidence in what we can do.

LANGFITT: This month, Conservative Party members will vote for a new leader to replace Prime Minister Theresa May, who's stepping down. Johnson faces the current foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, the acknowledged underdog.

Nicholas Allen teaches politics at Royal Holloway, University of London. He says, like President Trump¹¹, Johnson has a special connection with grassroots party members which helps make him such a favorite.

NICHOLAS ALLEN: Lots of people are just awed¹ by his charisma¹². They know that he is problematic. They know that he's a flawed character, and they do not care. If anything, they love him more for it.

LANGFITT: Johnson has promised to take the United Kingdom out of the EU, do-or-die. That pledge resonates with many disillusioned¹³ Brexit voters who are angry that three years on, the U.K. still hasn't left, voters like John Mays, who drives a taxi in London.

JOHN MAYS: Well, often he's the only person that's going to get us out of Europe. He's committed to it. If he doesn't achieve it in the 31 of October, he's doomed¹⁴.

LANGFITT: Many who've dealt with Johnson find him charming. Richard Ratcliffe, an accountant, met Johnson several times when Johnson served as foreign secretary.

RICHARD RATCLIFFE: He does inspire people, genuinely. He was quite kind, personally.

LANGFITT: Ratcliffe was seeking Johnson's help to free his wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. She's a British Iranian dual¹⁵ national who's been jailed in Iran on spying charges, which he denies. But Johnson, who's not known as a detail guy, made the situation worse when he told a parliamentary committee she'd been teaching journalism¹⁶ in Iran, which her husband says is false. Iranian state TV seized on Johnson's statement as evidence Zaghari-Ratcliffe was indeed a spy. Johnson later apologized.

Again, Richard Ratcliffe.

RATCLIFFE: Do I mind him winging things? I think there are consequences for it. You know, one of the things they often say with foreign secretaries is they're either dull or they're dangerous. And he wasn't dull.

LANGFITT: Ratcliffe is reluctant to be too critical of Johnson, whose office did not respond to a request to speak with NPR. Others who know Johnson better are less reticent¹⁷.

SONIA PURNELL: I'm actually - I'm quite frightened about him becoming prime minister. He has a very, very long track record of lying.

LANGFITT: This is Sonia Purnell, author of "Just Boris: A Tale Of Blond Ambition." Purnell worked with Johnson when they were both journalists with London's Daily Telegraph, based in Brussels in the 1990s.

That was after The Times of London had fired Johnson for making up a quote from his own godfather and before Johnson became a politician and the Conservative Party sacked him from leadership for lying about an affair. In fact, Purnell doubts that Johnson, despite all he says, ever really believed in Brexit.

PURNELL: When I worked with him in the 1990s, he was writing excoriating¹⁸ copy about the European Union. But in private, you know, over a coffee or something, he would talk about the EU affectionately, sympathetically. And I think, deep down, he's a remainer.

LANGFITT: Days before going public in favor of Brexit in 2016, Johnson wrote a secret opinion piece supporting staying in the European Union.

PURNELL: Career comes first, always, with Boris Johnson, and he could see that we had a remain prime minister. We had David Cameron. There was only a market opportunity for a leave prime minister.

LANGFITT: Now, says Purnell, Johnson could face the hugely difficult task of executing a policy that he may never have really believed in in the first place. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, London.

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1 awed   

adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The audience was awed into silence by her stunning performance. 观众席上鸦雀无声，人们对他出色的表演感到惊叹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was awed by the huge gorilla. 那只大猩猩使我惊惧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 buffoon   

n.演出时的丑角

参考例句：

• They pictured their manager as a buffoon.他们把经理描绘成一个小丑。
• That politician acted like a buffoon during that debate.这个政客在那场辩论中真是丑态百出。

4 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

5 jacks   

n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃

参考例句：

• Hydraulic jacks under the machine produce the movement. 是机器下面的液压千斤顶造成的移动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The front end is equipped with hydraulic jacks used for grade adjustment. 前瑞安装有液压千斤顶用来调整坡度。 来自辞典例句

6 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

7 chafing   

n.皮肤发炎v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的现在分词 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒

参考例句：

• My shorts were chafing my thighs. 我的短裤把大腿磨得生疼。 来自辞典例句
• We made coffee in a chafing dish. 我们用暖锅烧咖啡。 来自辞典例句

8 philanderer   

n.爱和女人调情的男人，玩弄女性的男人

参考例句：

• He's a bit of a philanderer -- don' t take him too seriously ! 他这个人有点轻薄--别跟他太认真！ 来自辞典例句
• D. Edison Chen is a goddamned rich philanderer. 陈冠希是一个有钱的花心大萝卜。 来自互联网

9 humility   

n.谦逊，谦恭

参考例句：

• Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
• His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和，甚至有点谦卑。

10 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 charisma   

n.(大众爱戴的)领袖气质，魅力

参考例句：

• He has enormous charisma. He is a giant of a man.他有超凡的个人魅力，是个伟人。
• I don't have the charisma to pull a crowd this size.我没有那么大的魅力，能吸引这么多人。

13 disillusioned   

a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的

参考例句：

• I soon became disillusioned with the job. 我不久便对这个工作不再抱幻想了。
• Many people who are disillusioned in reality assimilate life to a dream. 许多对现实失望的人把人生比作一场梦。

14 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

15 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

16 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

17 reticent   

adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的

参考例句：

• He was reticent about his opinion.他有保留意见。
• He was extremely reticent about his personal life.他对自己的个人生活讳莫如深。

18 excoriating   

v.擦伤( excoriate的现在分词 )；擦破（皮肤）；剥（皮）；严厉指责

参考例句：

• He listened to her excoriating on the telephone. 他听到电话里她在叫骂。 来自互联网