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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Scottish independence
Sparks flying
Poverty and dependence1 on the state pull Scots in opposite directions
BETTING shops in Rosyth are rowdier than usual.
The troublemakers2 are not the familiar sort—drunks jousting3 over a Rangers4 match or the 4.30
at Musselburgh—but punters debating Scottish independence.
“We've had to chuck people out,” grumbles5 one bookie.
A gnarled customer agrees: “I don't like people talking about it in my cab,” he growls6, eyes not moving from the racing7.
As the referendum on September 18th draws closer, tensions in this shipbuilding town are growing.
All politics is local, even when an entire country's future is at stake.
But in Rosyth, a run-down port in the shadow of the Forth8 Bridge near Edinburgh,
distinctive9 local factors are pulling people in opposite directions.
The importance of the town's biggest industry seems to militate for sticking with Britain.
But the generally depressed10 state of the economy makes independence more appealing (see article).
The outcome of this tug-of-war will determine how people vote in Rosyth—and in other parts of Scotland.
Residents are reminded of the case for union every time they leave their homes.
Above treetops and through gaps between pebble-dashed houses,
glimpses of a vast blue rig marked “Air Carrier Alliance” and “Royal Navy” are visible.
Beyond, the grey, 65,000-tonne slab11 of Britain's newest aircraft-carrier,HMS Queen Elizabeth, sits in the estuary12.
In a place where 13% of working-age adults are on out-of-work benefits,
the shipyard is by far the largest employer—and it relies on money from Westminster.
Those who build and man the ships are therefore firmly unionist.
At a ceremony to name the carrier on July 4th, they booed Alex Salmond,
Scotland's nationalist first minister and the leader of the pro-independence “yes” campaign.
The following week the Rosyth workers' union representatives appeared before MPs in Westminster to warn against secession.
Henry Wilson, a convener at BAE Systems, a defence firm, warned that naval13 shipbuilding in Scotland would be “finished” if Mr Salmond got his way.
In the ex-servicemen's club on Admiralty Road most agree with Mr Wilson. Only one drinker is willing to admit to backing “yes”.
“Ey, I've made up my mind,” says Jimmy, grinning defiantly14.
He struggles to hold his own around here, he adds: “full of “no” voters; gets very heated.”
“He won't listen,” sighs Janet, the barmaid, wiping beer glasses. Janet thinks Mr Salmond's promises are baloney:
“I don't trust him as far as I could throw him.”
Jimmy is in a minority in the ex-servicemen's club, but he may not be in Rosyth at large. Nationalist sentiment is widespread.
More “yes” signs are visible in windows than are “no” ones.
Scottish saltires the size of bedsheets billow above allotments and from blocks of flats.
Beyond the shipyard there is little sign of the British union flag.
In 2010 an NHS study of central Rosyth put male life expectancy15 at 73.3 years—five years shorter than the British average.
Teenage pregnancy16 and welfare dependency are unusually common, too.
Those hard-up locals not employed in the shipyard could be forgiven for thinking that the union is not working for Scotland—and taking a gamble on independence.
A great many former Labour Party voters fall into this category.
The collapse17 of the party's working-class base in the 2011 Scottish election gave Mr Salmond's Scottish National Party
(SNP) the majority it needed to press for a referendum on independence.
In Cowdenbeath, the seat containing Rosyth, support for the SNP jumped from 29% to 42%.
This makes Rosyth typical of a sort of Scottish town:
post-industrial and deprived but sustained by the British state,
which spends about 1,500 ($2,500) more per head in Scotland than it does nationally.
Others include Govan and Scotstoun, both shipyards, and Pollokshaws,
home to National Savings18 and Investments, a state-owned bank.
In Cumbernauld, outside Glasgow, Britain's largest revenue and customs office employs four times as many people as any other outfit19.
Gregg McClymont, Labour MP for Cumbernauld, notes that Scotland has 8% of Britain's people but 13% of its tax jobs.
How could it sustain them if it became independent?
In such places, the “yes” campaign faces a particularly acute version of a problem that confronts it across Scotland.
The disadvantages of independence are concrete and would be quickly felt—in the case of Rosyth,
shipbuilding jobs would sail to Portsmouth, on England's south coast.
Any advantages, such as the broad industrial revival20 promised by Mr Salmond, would take years to materialise, if they ever do.
Folk in Rosyth enjoy the odd flutter. But on September 18th the stakes will be much higher than usual.
收听单词发音 |
1
dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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2
troublemakers
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| n.惹是生非者，捣乱者( troublemaker的名词复数 ) | |
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3
jousting
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| （骑士）骑马用长矛比武( joust的现在分词 ) | |
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4
rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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5
grumbles
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| 抱怨( grumble的第三人称单数 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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6
growls
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的第三人称单数 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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7
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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8
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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9
distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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10
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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slab
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| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
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12
estuary
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| n.河口，江口 | |
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13
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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14
defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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15
expectancy
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| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
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16
pregnancy
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| n.怀孕，怀孕期 | |
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17
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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18
savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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19
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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