美国国家公共电台 NPR 英国首相病情恶化转入ICU 外交大臣代理首相职责

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent the night in a London hospital in the intensive care unit. He has COVID-19, and his condition has declined in the past few days. Johnson's government is already playing catch-up in dealing¹ with the virus. It has killed nearly 5,400 people in the U.K. NPR's Frank Langfitt is following this story, and he joins us now from outside of London. Hi, Frank.

英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊在伦敦一家医院的重症监护室过了一夜。他感染了新冠肺炎，其病情在过去几天出现恶化。约翰逊的政府在应对该病毒方面已经迎头赶上。目前英国已有近5400人死于该病毒。NPR新闻的弗兰克·朗菲特一直在追踪相关消息，现在他将从伦敦郊外和我们连线。你好，弗兰克。

FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE²: Hi, Noel.

弗兰克·朗菲特连线：你好，诺埃尔。

KING: How is Boris Johnson doing?

金：鲍里斯·约翰逊现在情况如何？

LANGFITT: Well, he — what we understand is he's been in the ICU since yesterday evening. This all happened — and he's had this since late last month; went into a sudden decline on Sunday, went across the river to St. Thomas' Hospital from No. 10 Downing Street, was put in the ICU as a precaution. Michael Gove — he runs the U.K.'s Cabinet Office — he was on the radio here this morning talking to LBC. It's talk radio here in London. And this is the most recent update we have on the prime minister.

朗菲特：据我们了解到的情况，他从昨天晚上开始一直住在重症监护室。他在上个月底感染新冠病毒，周日时病情突然恶化，他被从唐宁街10号送到河对面的圣托马斯医院接受治疗，之后作为预防措施被转入重症监护室。英国内阁办公厅大臣迈克尔·戈夫今天早上接受了LBC广播电台的采访。LBC是伦敦的访谈电台。以下是我们掌握的有关英国首相的最新消息。

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MICHAEL GOVE: He's not on a ventilator, no. The prime minister has received some oxygen support, and he's kept under, of course, close supervision³.

迈克尔·戈夫：他没有使用呼吸机，没有。首相接受了氧气治疗，当然，他一直处于密切监护之中。

LANGFITT: I know most COVID-19 patients here go on a ventilator within 24 hours. But No. 10 Downing Street is just not giving us any other details right now. Johnson, by nature — we've talked about this before — he's a sort of upbeat kind of national cheerleader. He's inclined to minimize challenges. And even after he was admitted to the hospital yesterday, he was tweeting that he was in good spirits and sort of rallying the troops here in the United Kingdom to fight the coronavirus.

朗菲特：我知道英国大多数新冠肺炎患者会在24小时内使用呼吸机。但英国政府目前没有给出任何其他细节。我们以前提到过，从本质上来说，约翰逊就像是乐观的国家啦啦队长。他倾向于将挑战最小化。甚至在他昨天住院后，他还发推称自已精神很好，并鼓励英国军队抗击冠状病毒。

KING: Which is — which tracks with how Johnson normally behaves.

金：这符合约翰逊正常行为的轨迹。

LANGFITT: Yeah.

朗菲特：对。

KING: But now he's in the ICU, which is where you go to heal. So who is running the government there?

金：但他现在在重症监护室，那是接受治疗的地方。那谁在管理英国政府？

LANGFITT: Well, that's a great question. The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has taken over some duties and is working with the cabinet. And Raab was asked about this yesterday at a press conference — and this was even before the prime minister was in the ICU — and this is what Raab had to say.

朗菲特：这是个很好的问题。英国外交大臣多米尼克·拉布接管了部分职责，目前正在与内阁合作。拉布昨天在记者会上被问到了这个问题，当时首相还没有转入重症监护室，下面是拉布的回答。

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DOMINIC RAAB: The prime minister asked me as first secretary to deputize for him when necessary in driving forward the government's plans to defeat coronavirus.

多米尼克·拉布：首相要求我作为第一国务秘书在必要时代他处理事宜，以推动政府战胜冠状病毒的计划。

LANGFITT: Of course, this does raise a basic political question, which is, you know, how can you run the government here, involving this incredible crisis, from an ICU bed? Reporters at the press conference really pushed Raab on this, but they didn't get really clear answers. And I think that's going to be one of the questions today that the government's going to have to address, is exactly who's doing what and what role, if any, is Boris Johnson playing in the daily running of this government.

朗菲特：当然，这确实提出了一个基本的政治问题，即如何在重症监护室的病床上管理政府，处理这场令人难以置信的危机？有记者在记者会上就此追问拉布，但他们没有得到明确的答案。我认为这将是英国政府今天必须解决的其中一个问题，即到底谁负责什么，如果有的话，那鲍里斯·约翰逊在政府的日常运作方面发挥什么作用。

KING: Let me pull back a little and ask you how the U.K. is doing overall in fighting the virus.

金：我想回到刚才的问题，总体来说，英国在对抗该病毒方面采取了哪些措施？

LANGFITT: Well, definitely, as you were pointing out in the beginning of this, behind the curve. You know, initially⁴, Boris Johnson downplayed this, and there was talk and thoughts in the government that this might just — the coronavirus might infect the majority of the population. There was even a mention a number of times of herd⁵ immunity⁶ and the possible strategy to isolate⁷ the elderly and the vulnerable. I think now the government vehemently⁸ denies that was ever a strategy. But as it became clear that that could lead to a huge death toll⁹, there was a move to a lockdown.

朗菲特：当然，如你在一开始时指出的那样，英国的举措一直有些滞后。最初，鲍里斯·约翰逊对疫情不够重视，英国政府有些讨论和想法，冠状病毒可能感染英国大多数人口。英国甚至多次提及群体免疫以及隔离老年人以及弱势群体等可能的策略。我认为，现在英国政府强烈否认这曾是一种策略。但由于该病毒明显可能导致巨大的死亡人数，英国政府开始采取封城措施。

The problem right now, though, Noel, is the government doesn't have the testing capacity it needs. Only 250,000 tests so far, roughly, in a population of more than 66 million. And then many people are concerned that the lockdown could go on for a long time because the government won't be able to really be able to track this virus very well and be very concerned about a rebound¹⁰ if they let people out of their homes.

而现在的问题是，诺埃尔，英国政府不具备所需的检测能力。目前英国只有约25万人接受了检测，但其人口超过6600万。另外，许多人担心封城可能会持续很长时间，因为政府无法妥善地进行追踪，而且政府担心让民众走出家门后会发生反弹。

KING: So with respect to the testing, some of the same problems we're seeing in the United States.

金：就检测来说，我们在美国也看到了同样的问题。

LANGFITT: Very familiar.

朗菲特：非常相似。

KING: NPR's Frank Langfitt joining us from outside of London. Frank, thanks so much.

金：以上是NPR新闻的弗兰克·朗菲特从伦敦郊外带来的报道。弗兰克，非常谢谢你。

LANGFITT: You're very welcome, Noel.

朗菲特：不客气，诺埃尔。

1 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

2 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。

3 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

4 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

5 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

6 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

7 isolate   

vt.使孤立，隔离

参考例句：

• Do not isolate yourself from others.不要把自己孤立起来。
• We should never isolate ourselves from the masses.我们永远不能脱离群众。

8 vehemently   

adv. 热烈地

参考例句：

• He argued with his wife so vehemently that he talked himself hoarse. 他和妻子争论得很激烈，以致讲话的声音都嘶哑了。
• Both women vehemently deny the charges against them. 两名妇女都激烈地否认了对她们的指控。

9 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

10 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。