英伦广角 卡梅伦为儿子择校自“打脸” 曾力挺公立学校

 We are starting today with a demand from the Prime Minister for businesses, universities and the legal systems to do much more to improve diversity. David Cameron says racism¹ is shames on nation. And he’s appointed the former labor² minister David Lamy to lead an inquiry³ into why more people from ethnic⁴ minorities end up in prison than offenders⁵ who are white. He’s also demanded top universities to look at their entrance procedures and will make them publish admissions data. In an article for the Sunday Times the PM says: “Consider this: if you are a young black man, you are more likely to be in a prison cell than studying at a top university. There are no black generals in our armed forces and just 4% of chief executives in the FTSE 100 are from ethnic minorities. These examples I mention should shame our country and jolt⁶ us into action.”

 

Let’s talk to our political correspondent Darren McCaffery who is in Westminster. It’s a very strong oratory⁷ from the Prime Minister. It seems he’s determined⁸ to act on this.

 

A strong language indeed, Steven. Ingrained institutionalized and insidious⁹, he says of the attitude toward black people in the U.K. 14% of the population across Britain is either black or minority ethnic. And as he says, they are massively under representative. In many of our big institutions, well, 27 people, black people only admitted to Oxford¹⁰ University last year, 1 of 2500. He looks at business. He looks at the armed forces. In fact, he says the only institutions in which ethnic minorities are over represented is actually in the prison system subtly that he needs to attack on. This is all part of an effort by David Cameron to trying to tackle what he sees as opportunity and equality, you know, X back to that conference speech where he set out on his agenda for his second term as Prime Minister. And in doing so, he’s gonna launch some new laws, as Steven has said in the introduction, of a new law which is gonna force universities to publish much more data about who is allowed into the universities, particularly the elite¹¹ universities like Oxford and Cambridge. And indeed, when that information is published, people will have access X to it. 

 

And bring on board, that man, David Lamy, a former labor minister, who’s gonna review the treatment of non-white defendants¹², the criminal justice system, because between 2008 and 2013, black defendants were more likely to go to prison than the white counterparts, though the Prime Minister has ruled out this idea somehow introducing quotas¹³. 

 

It has provoked a major rout¹⁴ with the universities this morning. Oxford University issued a statement which has said it’s wrong to suggest there’s any sense of institutionalized racism, that they are tackling the problem. But ultimately, they have got a representative number of black and ethnic minority students across the board. So this is likely to provoke a rout, but the Prime Minister very much sees this as part of his remit¹⁵ as a second-term Prime Minister to trying tackle what he sees as racism and lack of equality for black and ethnic minorities across the U.K.

 

1 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

6 jolt   

v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸

参考例句：

• We were worried that one tiny jolt could worsen her injuries.我们担心稍微颠簸一下就可能会使她的伤势恶化。
• They were working frantically in the fear that an aftershock would jolt the house again.他们拼命地干着，担心余震可能会使房子再次受到震动。

7 oratory   

n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞

参考例句：

• I admire the oratory of some politicians.我佩服某些政治家的辩才。
• He dazzled the crowd with his oratory.他的雄辩口才使听众赞叹不已。

8 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

9 insidious   

adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧

参考例句：

• That insidious man bad-mouthed me to almost everyone else.那个阴险的家伙几乎见人便说我的坏话。
• Organized crime has an insidious influence on all who come into contact with it.所有和集团犯罪有关的人都会不知不觉地受坏影响。

10 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

11 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

12 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

13 quotas   

（正式限定的）定量( quota的名词复数 )； 定额； 指标； 摊派

参考例句：

• In fulfilling the production quotas, John made rings round all his fellow workers. 约翰完成生产定额大大超过他的同事们。
• Quotas of the means of production are allocated by the higher administrative bodies to the lower ones. 物资指标按隶属关系分配。

14 rout   

n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮

参考例句：

• The enemy was put to rout all along the line.敌人已全线崩溃。
• The people's army put all to rout wherever they went.人民军队所向披靡。

15 remit   

v.汇款，汇寄；豁免（债务），免除（处罚等）

参考例句：

• I hope you'll remit me the money in time.我希望你能及时把钱汇寄给我。
• Many immigrants regularly remit money to their families.许多移民定期给他们的家人汇款。