时代周刊:王室的意义 谁需要王室(2)（在线收听）

THIS REBRANDING EFFORT has allowed royalists

重塑品牌形象这一努力让保皇党有了以“王室对英国经济的价值”为由，

to justify the cost to the public purse on the grounds of “value to the economy.”

宣称王室从公众钱包支出这笔钱是合理消费的借口。

But the story of the royal family’s value to the British economy

而王室对英国经济的价值本身不过是

was simply dreamed up by smart PR professionals to save an institution in crisis.

精明的公关专家们为了拯救王室于危机而编造出来的故事。

In reality, according to our research,

事实上，根据我们的研究，

British taxpayers lose about $468 million a year just to have a head of state—

英国的纳税人每年在国家元首身上损失的钱就高达4.68亿美元左右——

a lot more than the official figure released by Buckingham Palace, which was $58 million last year.

远远高出了白金汉宫去年公布的5800万美元这一官方数字。

In fact, our monarch is one of the most expensive nonpolitical heads of state in Europe,

事实上，我们的王室也是欧洲最昂贵的非政治性质的国家元首之一，

at least 12 times as expensive as Ireland’s elected equivalent.

起码是爱尔兰选举产生的王室开支的12倍。

Even if it were true that the royals represent an investment by the British people,

即便王室代表着英国人民的投资，

why should the royals spend taxpayers’ money with no checks and balances?

王室为什么要毫无节制地把纳税人的钱呢？

That, after all, is why the monarchy costs so much—

毕竟这恰好就是王室开支过大的原因——

not because it’s expensive to run the office of head of state

不是因为经营王室这一国家领袖机构烧钱，

but because the royals spend tens of millions of pounds on their palatial apartments, security and luxury vacations.

而是无数的钱财都被王室花到了购置富丽堂皇的公寓、安保和奢华的度假上。

Brits increasingly resent this—

英国民众对此已经越来越反感——

a recent poll we commissioned shows that 57% believe the royal family should pay not only for the wedding but also for police costs.

最近我们委托进行的一项民意调查显示，57%的人都认为王室不仅应该自己为婚礼买单，还应该自己为调动警察买单。

Any claim about how the royals boost British tourism, trade and retail sales needs to be set against the high costs.

任何有关王室带动了英国的旅游业、贸易和零售额的说法都应该考虑考虑王室本身的高额开支。

Pundits claim events like Harry and Meghan’s wedding will trigger huge spending sprees—

评论专家们称，类似哈里王子和梅根婚礼这样的事件会引发巨大的消费热潮——

but in 2012 Pew Research showed most Americans said they did not follow news of the British royals,

但2012年皮尤研究中心的调查显示，大多数美国人都表示他们没有关注英国王室的新闻，

while a November YouGov poll showed more than half of Brits were indifferent to the news of Harry and Meghan’s engagement.

而舆观去年11月的一项民意调查显示，超半数的英国人都对哈里王子和梅根订婚的消息不感兴趣。

Any imagined or real spike from royal weddings is so brief and infrequent as to make no difference to British prosperity.

王室婚礼带来的提振，无论是想象的也好真实的也好，都太过短暂、太过偶然，对英国的繁荣起不了什么作用。

The discussion about the value of the monarchy misses the most important point of all: the damage it does to our democracy.

关于王室价值的讨论忽略了最重要的一点：王室破坏了我们的民主。

The Crown is the centerpiece of Britain’s rotten constitution,

王室是腐朽的英国宪法的核心所在，

giving us a head of state who lacks independence or purpose,

王室给我们的是一个缺乏独立性和目的性，

who can do only what she’s told by our Prime Minister.

只会按照首相的吩咐行事的这样一个国家首脑机构。

The costs of the monarchy are considerable, the gains fleeting, mythical or the stuff of PR fantasies.

王室的开支是巨大的，收益却显得转瞬即逝，虚无缥缈或像是公关的幻想。

While Britain may not be a nation of republicans yet, it’s certainly no longer a nation of royalists.

尽管英国或许还不是一个共和党国家，但它也绝对已经不再是一个保皇党国家了。