纽约时报 特雷莎·梅卸任 英国前路茫茫(3)

The party Mr. Farage now leads, the Brexit Party,

法拉奇现在领导的脱欧党，

is expected to do well in the European Union’s parliamentary elections this week —

预计能在本周的欧盟议会选举中拥有出色的表现——

elections that Mrs. May had promised would never take place on the assumption Britain would be out of the bloc¹ by now.

而本以为英国这时候应该已经脱欧成功的特蕾莎·梅曾承诺，这一选举根本不会发生。

The Conservatives are braced² for a collapse³ in support when the results are declared, on Sunday night or early Monday.

选举结果将于周日晚间或周一早间公布，但保守党已经做好了届时支持率暴跌的准备。

If the results are as bad for the Conservatives as some lawmakers fear,

如果选举结果真像某些议员担心的那样不利于保守党的话，

that could rattle⁴ the party and make the selection of a hard-line Brexiteer successor to Mrs. May even more likely.

可能会让该党感到不安，继而进一步加大他们选出强硬的脱欧派来继任梅的可能性。

On the other side, many pro-Europe Remainers also are likely to have used the European elections to register their anger at the Brexit process,

另一方面，许多亲欧的留欧派也可能利用欧洲这次的选举来表达他们对脱欧一事的愤怒，

voting for smaller and unabashedly anti-Brexit parties that back holding a second Brexit referendum.

投票给规模较小但毫不掩饰地反对脱欧，支持对脱欧进行二次公投的那些政党。

If Mrs. May’s successor is a hard-line Brexiteer, killing⁵ the idea of a soft Brexit compromise,

如果梅的继任者是一位不给软退欧妥协任何机会的强硬派脱欧主义者的话，

Mr. Corbyn will face even more pressure to end his months of dithering on the issue and adopt a firmly anti-Brexit stance.

科尔宾将面临的，结束在该问题上长达数月的犹豫不决，转而采取坚定的反脱欧立场的压力就会更大。

Mrs. May’s undoing⁶ came after her final, desperate effort to win passage of her withdrawal⁷ plan in Parliament.

在卸任之前，梅做出了最后一次拼命争取议会通过脱欧计划的努力。

Conservative lawmakers reacted with fury after she softened⁸ her original Brexit plan,

在她对最初的脱欧计划做了一些妥协，尤其是允许议会投票决定

notably⁹ by allowing Parliament to vote on whether to remain in a customs union with the European bloc

是否继续与欧盟保持关税同盟关系以及是否希望就该协议再次举行全民公投之后，

and also on whether it wanted another public referendum on the deal.

保守派的议员纷纷做出了愤怒的回应。

Those ideas were anathema¹⁰ to hard-line Brexiteers who saw them as a betrayal of the 2016 referendum result,

因为这些想法对强硬派脱欧人士而言形同诅咒，他们认为这些想法是对2016年公投结果的背叛，javascript:void(0);

but seen as far too mild by pro-Europeans in the Labour Party.

然而，在工党的亲欧派看来，那些妥协还是太过温和。

Mrs. May’s successor will inherit a daunting¹¹ political calculus¹², within the divided Conservative Party and inside Parliament.

就分裂的保守党内部和议会内部而言，梅的继任者将接手一项艰巨的政治考量。

Mrs. May will continue as a member of Parliament after stepping down as prime minister.

辞去首相一职后，梅将继续担任国会议员。

Her downfall echoed that of another Conservative Party leader undone¹³ by divisions over Europe, Margaret Thatcher¹⁴,

她的下台和另一位也是在欧洲问题上发生了分歧的保守党领袖玛格丽特·撒切尔的下台形成了映照，

complete with the sexist overtones of some of Mrs. May’s adversaries¹⁵ this week suggesting her husband step in to tell her she had to resign.

这周，还有对手发出了带有性别歧视的暗示，建议她的丈夫介入此事，告诉她她必须辞职。

By the end of Friday, Mrs. May’s plea for a compromise was already running into stiff headwinds,

截至周五，梅的妥协请求已经遇到了严峻的阻力，

with a staunch Brexiteer and former leader of the Conservative Party, Iain Duncan Smith, writing,

坚定的脱欧主义者、保守党前领袖伊恩·邓肯·史密斯就写道，

“No, compromise in search of the lowest common denominator is not the way forward. It becomes a dirty word.”

“不，寻求最小公分母的妥协并不是前进的道路。因为它已经变成了一句脏话。”

1 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

2 braced   

adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来

参考例句：

• They braced up the old house with balks of timber. 他们用梁木加固旧房子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The house has a wooden frame which is braced with brick. 这幢房子是木结构的砖瓦房。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 undoing   

n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭

参考例句：

• That one mistake was his undoing. 他一失足即成千古恨。
• This hard attitude may have led to his undoing. 可能就是这种强硬的态度导致了他的垮台。

7 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

8 softened   

（使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰

参考例句：

• His smile softened slightly. 他的微笑稍柔和了些。
• The ice cream softened and began to melt. 冰淇淋开始变软并开始融化。

9 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

10 anathema   

n.诅咒；被诅咒的人(物)，十分讨厌的人(物)

参考例句：

• Independence for the Kurds is anathema to Turkey and Iran.库尔德人的独立对土耳其和伊朗来说将是一场梦魇。
• Her views are ( an ) anathema to me.她的观点真叫我讨厌。

11 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

12 calculus   

n.微积分；结石

参考例句：

• This is a problem where calculus won't help at all.对于这一题，微积分一点也用不上。
• After studying differential calculus you will be able to solve these mathematical problems.学了微积分之后，你们就能够解这些数学题了。

13 undone   

a.未做完的，未完成的

参考例句：

• He left nothing undone that needed attention.所有需要注意的事他都注意到了。

14 thatcher   

n.茅屋匠

参考例句：

• Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher. 汤姆 - 索亚和撒切尔法官同乘一条小艇。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. 撒切尔夫人几乎神经失常，还有波莉姨妈也是。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

15 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句