美国国家公共电台 NPR 哈里梅根不再使用王室头衔 归还纳税人百万装修费

We're going to go to London now, where there's big news from Britain's royal family. After 10 days of controversy¹ and headlines, Prince Harry² and his wife, Meghan Markle, have struck a deal with the queen that will allow them to give up their roles as working members of the family. In exchange, they will no longer use the valuable royal title, and they will pay back several million dollars. For more, we turn to our occasional royals correspondent, Frank Langfitt in London. Hi, Frank.

FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE³: Hi, Michel.

MARTIN: So tell us a bit more about this agreement.

LANGFITT: Yeah. What's going to happen is Meghan and Harry are no longer going to be able to use their titles, his and her royal highness. They'll still be the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but that, of course, doesn't sound quite so good. They've agreed to pay back $3 million in public funds to renovate⁴ their house outside of London. They're no longer going to get any money for any royal work they do, and they won't formally represent the queen. And in exchange, they're free to move to Canada and pursue basically an independent role and live on their own.

MARTIN: But did the queen have anything to say about the relationship she hopes to have with them? I mean, there have been all these anonymously⁵ sourced stories about, you know, how hurt everyone was by all of this.

LANGFITT: Yes. She was incredibly diplomatic, as you would expect. She is the queen. And what she said is they appreciated how the couple had felt under terrible scrutiny⁶ here from the press and that the couple and their son, Archie, would always be much loved members of the family. So she put, as always, sort of the nicest face she could on this.

MARTIN: What is the significance of this? For people who don't have this kind of emotional attachment⁷ to the monarchy⁸ that some people clearly do, what do — why does this matter?

LANGFITT: It's interesting, Michel. It's a separation agreement, and they — what the queen was trying to do was end a story that's been dominating the U.K. news for the last 10 days and was putting pressure on the monarchy. The couple said they were going to move to Canada and carve out a new role, have a private foundation. They trademarked Sussex royal.

And there was a growing backlash, I think, against the couple — people saying, you know, you're leaving this house that we spent a lot of money on for you. And would they continue to get public money? And some people felt they were trying to have their cake and eat it, too — keep the title but not do the work. And so the queen, I think, wisely recognized she had to solve this quickly, and that's what she's done.

MARTIN: This seems to have become, like, a global story — and this at a time when the U.K. still hasn't figured out how it's going to leave the European Union. So why do you think this has gotten so much attention?

LANGFITT: For one thing, it has all these different elements. You have royalty⁹, celebrity¹⁰ — Meghan Markle, who's a former actress. Money is at stake, and also race. She was biracial, and many people felt — and there was clear evidence of this — that some of the early coverage¹¹ of her was — certainly had racist¹² elements to it.

But at the same time, at the end of this month, the United Kingdom is going to take its biggest step in 40 or 50 years and leave the European Union. And I think this is a little easier for people to make sense of, and it does prove to be something of a distraction¹³.

MARTIN: What's next for them?

LANGFITT: Meghan's already in Canada, and they want to develop basically their own brand and try to make their way on their own. It's not clear how they're exactly going to fund themselves. They could get some money perhaps from Prince Charles. But really, we're moving to the next chapter of the story. They've got their freedom, and the question is, what do they do now?

MARTIN: That is NPR's London correspondent, Frank Langfitt.

Frank, thank you so much.

LANGFITT: Happy to do it, Michel.

1 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

2 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

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 renovate   

vt.更新，革新，刷新

参考例句：

• The couple spent thousands renovating the house.这对夫妇花了几千元来翻新房子。
• They are going to renovate the old furniture.他们准备将旧家具整修一番。

5 anonymously   

ad.用匿名的方式

参考例句：

• The manuscripts were submitted anonymously. 原稿是匿名送交的。
• Methods A self-administered questionnaire was used to survey 536 teachers anonymously. 方法采用自编“中小学教师职业压力问卷”对536名中小学教师进行无记名调查。

6 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

7 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

8 monarchy   

n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国

参考例句：

• The monarchy in England plays an important role in British culture.英格兰的君主政体在英国文化中起重要作用。
• The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more symbolical than real.今日英国君主的权力多为象徵性的，无甚实际意义。

9 royalty   

n.皇家，皇族

参考例句：

• She claims to be descended from royalty.她声称她是皇室后裔。
• I waited on tables，and even catered to royalty at the Royal Albert Hall.我做过服务生， 甚至在皇家阿伯特大厅侍奉过皇室的人。

10 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

11 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

12 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

13 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。