美国国家公共电台 NPR--2 senior ministers quit British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government

2 senior ministers quit British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government

Transcript¹

Two of Britain's most senior Cabinet ministers resigned on Tuesday. Can Prime Minister Boris Johnson survive the latest round of resignations from his Cabinet?

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Despite a slew² of resignations from his government, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson refuses to step down over his most recent scandal. Earlier this week, Johnson apologized for promoting a lawmaker he knew had been accused of sexual misconduct. Today, he sparred with opponents as well as members of his own party in the House of Commons. For the latest, we've got NPR's London correspondent Frank Langfitt. Frank, Boris Johnson has faced a lot of scandal, so let's quickly recap what this one was about.

FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE³: Sure. This is about a lawmaker named Chris Pincher, who was promoted in February to be the deputy whip who organizes the votes in the House of Commons, one of the organizers. He has a history of sexual harassment⁴ allegations. Johnson says he was not aware of an early complaint back in 2019, so he appointed him to the job. It turned out that wasn't true, that Johnson indeed did know about it. So once again, Boris Johnson appears to have been caught in a lie, which has happened, frankly⁵, a lot in his career. Now, the scandal before this one was Johnson had said that everybody in his staff had followed COVID rules, when, in fact, his staff was partying at No. 10 Downing Street. He even attended some of the events. So he hasn't even recovered from that scandal when this one came along.

MART?NEZ: What did Boris Johnson have to say for himself today?

LANGFITT: Yeah, they have a thing here on Wednesdays called Prime Minister's Questions, where people ask questions of Johnson. And he took responsibility, said that when it became clear this was a real problem, he took care and fired this guy, Chris Pincher, essentially⁶ from his job. But he also tried to deflect⁷ to other topics. He talked about the need to cut taxes, arm the Ukrainians, and he remained defiant⁸. And this is what he said today.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON: It's exactly when times are tough and when the country faces pressures on the economy and when we had the biggest war in Europe for 80 years, Mr. Speaker - that is exactly the moment that you'd expect the government to continue with its work, not to walk away, Mr. Speaker, and to get on with our job and to focus on the things that matter to the people of this country.

MART?NEZ: So that sounded like a rowdy room, Frank.

LANGFITT: It was.

MART?NEZ: What kind of response did he get?

LANGFITT: Absolutely withering⁹, A. His critics say it was long overdue¹⁰ for him to leave, that he couldn't be trusted. This is Ian Blackford. He leads the opposition¹¹ Scottish National Party in the House of Commons.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

IAN BLACKFORD: The Prime Minister is desperately¹² clinging on to his own fantasy, but the public can't afford to put up with this farce¹³ of a government a minute longer. It's always about him. How many more ministers need to quit before he finally picks up his pen and writes his own resignation letter?

MART?NEZ: All right. So, Frank, where does this go from here?

LANGFITT: Well, Boris Johnson survived a vote of no confidence last month from his own party, but 148 lawmakers voted against him, which was a lot. It was a big blow. Normally, under the party rules, he should have 11 months without a challenge. But the Conservative Party - there's a committee called the 1922 Committee, which is meeting later today. They make the rules. They could move to change the rules so that they could try to remove him again. So we're going to watch to see how that plays out this afternoon. There could be more resignations. I think we will be watching this very closely, hour by hour, to see how it unfolds and whether Johnson can continue to cling to power.

MART?NEZ: That's NPR's Frank Langfitt. Frank, thanks a lot.

LANGFITT: Hey, good to talk, A.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。

3 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。

4 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

5 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

6 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

7 deflect   

v.(使)偏斜，(使)偏离，(使)转向

参考例句：

• Never let a little problem deflect you.决不要因一点小问题就半途而废。
• They decided to deflect from the original plan.他们决定改变原计划。

8 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

9 withering   

使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的

参考例句：

• She gave him a withering look. 她极其蔑视地看了他一眼。
• The grass is gradually dried-up and withering and pallen leaves. 草渐渐干枯、枯萎并落叶。

10 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

11 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

12 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

13 farce   

n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹

参考例句：

• They played a shameful role in this farce.他们在这场闹剧中扮演了可耻的角色。
• The audience roared at the farce.闹剧使观众哄堂大笑。