VOA慢速英语2021 英国王室在英联邦成员国中引爆种族问题（在线收听）

In countries with historic ties to Britain, recent accusations by Prince Harry and Meghan have raised a difficult question: Do those nations still want to be closely connected to Britain and its royal family?

哈里王子和梅根夫妇最近的控诉在那些跟英国有历史渊源的国家中引发了一个难题：“这些国家是否仍然希望与英国及其王室保持紧密联系？”

In a recent interview, Meghan said that an unnamed member of the royal family had raised "concerns" about how dark the skin color of her baby with Harry would be. At the time, she was pregnant with the couple's son, Archie. Meghan's mother is Black and her father is white. She also claimed in the interview that the palace failed to help her when she experienced suicidal thoughts.

梅根在最近的采访中表示，王室中某位成员对她和哈里的孩子肤色会有多黑表示担忧。当时，她怀着他们的儿子阿奇。梅根的妈妈是黑人，父亲是白人。她在采访中还声称，当她有了自杀念头时，王室未能帮助她。

Buckingham Palace said Tuesday the accusations of racism by Harry and Meghan were "concerning" and would be dealt with privately by the royal family.

白金汉宫周二表示，哈里和梅根提出的种族主义指控令人担忧，王室将私下处理好这件事情。

It was expected that Harry and Meghan's interview would uncover more divisions in the royal family.

人们预料到了哈里和梅根的采访将会揭露王室中更多的分歧。

But now, it also seems to be risking divisions within the "family" of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is a group of 54 countries, most of them former British colonies. For many years, Queen Elizabeth II has been the driving force behind the Commonwealth.

但是现在似乎英联邦大家庭内部也有分裂的风险。英联邦由54个国家组成，其中大多数是英国前殖民地。多年来，伊丽莎白女王二世一直是英联邦背后的推动力量。

After the TV interview, former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said it was another reason for the country to cut its constitutional ties to Britain's royal family.

在这次电视访谈之后，澳大利亚前首相特恩布尔表示，这是澳大利鱼与英国王室斩断宪法关联的另一个原因。

"After the end of the queen's reign, that is the time for us to say: OK, we've passed that watershed," Turnbull told Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Watershed is a term that means a time when an important change happens.

特恩布尔对澳大利亚广播公司表示：“在女王统治结束之后，我们就是时候应该说：好的，我们已经过了那个分水岭。”分水岭这个术语的意思是发生重大变化的时间点。

Turnbull added, "Do we really want to have whoever happens to be the head of state, the king or queen of the U.K.... our head of state?"

特恩布尔还表示：“我们真的想让碰巧成为英国国王或女王那个人担任我们国家的元首吗？”

The value of the Commonwealth has been debated before, with critics questioning whether countries and people colonized in the past should remain in such a group.

英联邦的价值曾经被辩论过，批判者质疑过去被殖民的国家和人民是否应该保留在这样一个组织里面。

Its stated aim is to improve international relations. But Britain's relationship with the members has been clouded by diplomatic issues and the long-term effects of colonization. In a speech to mark Commonwealth Day on Monday, the queen spoke of "the spirit of unity."

其既定目标是改善国际关系。但是由于外交问题和殖民化的长期影响，英国与成员之间的关系一直蒙上了一层阴影。女王周一在英联邦纪念日的讲话中谈到了团结精神。

The interview this week "opens our eyes further" on issues related to the Commonwealth, wrote Nicholas Sengoba, a newspaper writer in the former colony of Uganda.

前殖民地乌干达的报社撰稿人表示，本周的这次访谈让我们在有关英联邦的问题上进一步睁开了眼睛。

He questioned whether the heads of Commonwealth countries should still be "proud to eat dinner" with members of the British royal family.

她质疑英联邦国家元首是否仍然应该自豪地与王室成员共进晚餐。

Reaction to the interview was especially strong in Africa.

这次访谈在非洲引发的反响尤为强烈。

In Kenya, news of the interview appeared widely in the country's newspapers. "We feel very angry seeing our fellow African sister being harassed because she is black," said Nairobi resident Sylvia Wangari, about Meghan's claims of mistreatment.

在肯尼亚，这次访谈的相关新闻在该国的报纸上广泛传播。内罗毕居民西尔维亚·旺加里谈到梅根对虐待的指控时表示：“看到我们非洲姐妹因为身为黑人受到滋扰，我们感到非常生气。”

One Twitter user in South Africa wrote: "It's Britain and the royal family. What did you expect? They oppressed us for years."

南非一位推特用户写道：“这就是英国和王室。你在期望什么？他们欺压我们多年。”

The interview was not shown on television in India, the Commonwealth's largest member country with 1.3 billion people. But it still was covered by the media and drew criticism from the public toward the royal family.

这次采访并没有在印度的电视上播放，该国是英联邦最大成员国，拥有13亿人口。但是它仍然被媒体报道，并引发了公众对王室的批评。

Fashion writer Meenakshi Singh used the term elegant -- a term that means showing good taste -- when sharing her thoughts on the issue.

时尚作家米纳克希·辛格在谈到对这个问题的看法时用到了优雅这个术语，这个术语的意思是表现出品味。

"Behind that whole elegant facade are thoughts that are not so elegant," Singh said.

辛格表示：“在优雅的表面背后，是不那么优雅的思想。”