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经济学人:苏格兰独立火花四溅

时间:2015-07-30 15:52:25 编辑:mike 可可英语APP下载 | 可可官方微信:ikekenet

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Britain Scottish independence Sparks flying
英国苏格兰独立火花四溅

Poverty and dependence on the state pull Scots in opposite directions
贫困和对英国的依赖将苏格兰拉离了原来的方向

BETTING shops in Rosyth are rowdier than usual.
在罗赛斯，博彩店相较于平日愈发喧嚣。

The troublemakers are not the familiar sort—drunks jousting over a Rangers match or the 4.30 at Musselburgh—but punters debating Scottish independence.
闹事者们并不是平日那一拨—醉鬼们押宝一场流浪者队的比赛或是Musselburgh赛马—而是赌马者们给苏格兰独立下注。

We've had to chuck people out, grumbles one bookie. A gnarled customer agrees:
我们必须把人撵出去，一位赛马的下注者抱怨道。

I don't like people talking about it in my cab, he growls, eyes not moving from the racing.
一个性情暴躁的顾客也颇为同意：我不喜欢人们在我的车里谈论这件事情，他吼道，同时目不转睛的盯着比赛。

As the referendum on September 18th draws closer, tensions in this shipbuilding town are growing.
随着9月18日的公投将近，这个造船小镇的紧张感也在不断增加。

All politics is local, even when an entire country's future is at stake.
所有的政治都是地区性的，即使是在一个国家的未来岌岌可危之时。

But in Rosyth, a run-down port in the shadow of the Forth Bridge near Edinburgh, distinctive local factors are pulling people in opposite directions.
但在罗塞斯，这个靠近爱丁堡附近福斯桥的破旧港口，独特的地方性因素使得人们走上了相反的方向。

The importance of the town's biggest industry seems to militate for sticking with Britain.
城镇最大的产业的重要性似乎是阻碍了其与英国的绑定。

But the generally depressed state of the economy makes independence more appealing.
但是普遍低迷的经济状况使得独立更加迫切。

The outcome of this tug-of-war will determine how people vote in Rosyth—and in other parts of Scotland.
这场拉锯战的后果将决定人们如何在罗赛斯—和苏格兰其他地区投票。

Residents are reminded of the case for union every time they leave their homes.
居民们在每次离家之时总会被提醒联合的事例。

Above treetops and through gaps between pebble-dashed houses, glimpses of a vast blue rig marked Air Carrier Alliance and Royal Navy are visible.
从树梢上卵石做的房子之间的间隙，瞥见一个巨大的蓝色船桅上标有航空运输联盟和皇家海军的字样。

Beyond, the grey,65,000-tonne slab of Britain's newest aircraft-carrier,HMS Queen Elizabeth, sits in the estuary.
英国最新一级排水量达6.5万吨的航母，伊丽莎白女王号航空母舰就坐落在河口。

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.
已达成年工龄成人中的13％仰仗着失业福利，造船厂是目前最大的雇主—而且它还依赖于来自英国议会的资金。

Those who build and man the ships are therefore firmly unionist.
那些建造并给船只配备人员的人因此是坚定的联合主义者。

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.
在7月4日给某运输公司命名的仪式上，苏格兰民族主义第一部长和支持独立成功运动的领导遭到了Alex Salmond他们的嘘声哄笑。

The following week the Rosyth workers' union representatives appeared before MPs in Westminster to warn against secession.
接下来的一周，罗赛斯的工人工会代表在议员之前出现在英国议会对反分裂提出警告。

Henry Wilson, a convener at BAE Systems, a defence firm, warned that naval shipbuilding in Scotland would be finished if Mr Salmond got his way.
一位BAE系统公司（一个防卫公司）的召集人Henry Wilson给出警告，如果Salmond如此遂心所欲，那么在苏格兰的海军船舶建造将玩完。

Before the ship sails
起航之前

In the ex-servicemen's club on Admiralty Road most agree with Mr Wilson.
在位于海军部大道的退役军人俱乐部中，多数人对Wilson的观点表示赞同。

Only one drinker is willing to admit to backing yes.
只有一个酒徒愿意支持成功。

Ey, I've made up my mind, says Jimmy, grinning defiantly.
嗯，我已经决定了， Jimmy笑嘻嘻的说道。

He struggles to hold his own around here, he adds: full of no voters; gets very heated.
他在这里艰难的保持的自己的观点，他补充道：全都是‘反对'的选民；气氛变得异常激烈。

He won't listen,sighs Janet, the barmaid, wiping beer glasses.
他听不进去，酒吧的女招待Janet边擦酒杯边叹息。

Janet thinks Mr Salmond's promises are baloney:
Janet认为Salmond的承诺都是瞎扯。

I don't trust him as far as I could throw him.
我一点也不相信他。

Jimmy is in a minority in the ex-servicemen's club, but he may not be in Rosyth at large.
在这个退伍军人俱乐部中，Jimmy是一位少数民族人民，但他可能在罗赛斯就不是了。

Nationalist sentiment is widespread.
民族主义者的情绪是很普遍的。

More yes signs are visible in windows than are no ones.
在窗户上，相较于反对，更多的成功标志随处可见。

Scottish saltires the size of bedsheets billow above allotments and from blocks of flats.
来自公寓中的床单大小的苏格兰旗覆盖于物品上。

Beyond the shipyard there is little sign of the British union flag.
在造船厂，几乎看不见大英国旗的身影。

In 2010 an NHS study of central Rosyth put male life expectancy at 73.3 years—five years shorter than the British average.
在2010年，来自中央罗赛斯的英国国民健康保险制度（NHS）研究表明男性的预期寿命是73.3—比英国的平均年龄还短5年。

Teenage pregnancy and welfare dependency are unusually common, too.
少女怀孕和福利从属也不尽相同。

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.
那些没有被船厂雇用的当地穷人可以因其认为苏格兰并不在同盟内而被原谅——并且为独立下赌注。

A great many former Labour Party voters fall into this category.
很多老工党选民都属于这一类。

The collapse of the party's working-class base in the 2011 Scottish election
在2011年苏格兰大选中党派的工人阶级基础的垮塌，

gave Mr Salmond's Scottish National Party (SNP) the majority it needed to press for a referendum on independence.
给了Salmond的苏格兰民族党（SNP）在独立公投中它所需的多数人员。

In Cowdenbeath, the seat containing Rosyth, support for the SNP jumped from 29% to 42%.
在考登比斯，包含罗赛斯的席位中，SNP的支持率从29％一跃至42％。

This makes Rosyth typical of a sort of Scottish town:
这使得罗赛斯成为苏格兰城镇当中的一朵奇葩：

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.
后工业化和相对贫困但是被英国供养，这在苏格兰人均要比全国还要多出1,500欧元 (约合2,500美元)。

Others include Govan and Scotstoun, both shipyards, and Pollokshaws, home to National Savings and Investments, a state-owned bank.
其他的像戈万和斯科特斯顿，二者的造船厂和波洛克索斯，国内储蓄和投资，一个国有银行。

In Cumbernauld, outside Glasgow, Britain's largest revenue and customs office employs four times as many people as any other outfit.
在格拉斯哥之外的坎伯诺尔德，英国最大的税收和海关雇佣相较于其他任何组织四倍的人手。

Gregg McClymont, Labour MP for Cumbernauld, notes that Scotland has 8% of Britain's people but 13% of its tax jobs.
坎伯诺尔德的工党议员Gregg McClymont指出，苏格兰拥有英国人口的8％但在税收工作中的人数占了13％。

How could it sustain them if it became independent?
苏格兰一旦独立如何维持这些的运转？

In such places, the yes campaign faces a particularly acute version of a problem that confronts it across Scotland.
在这些地区，成功的运动面临着一个全苏格兰都存在的非常紧急的问题。

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.
独立的弊端是很客观的而且很快将会感觉到—就罗赛斯来说，造船厂的工作将移至英国的南部海岸朴茨茅斯。

Any advantages, such as the broad industrial revival promised by Mr Salmond, would take years to materialise, if they ever do.
任何优势，比如Salmond承诺的广泛的工业复兴，如果他们可能行动，将花费数年才能实现。

Folk in Rosyth enjoy the odd flutter.
罗赛斯人民享受这些奇怪的震颤。

But on September 18th the stakes will be much higher than usual.
但在9月18日，风险将比平日更高。译者：张娣校对：周雨晴

扫描二维码进行跟读打分训练

1.at stake 濒于险境，处于成败关头

例句:At stake are more than 20,000 jobs in Britain's aerospace sector.
英国航天部门2万多人面临失业的危险。

2.seem to 似乎

例句:He rubbed and rubbed but couldn't seem to get clean.
他擦了又擦，可就是擦不干净。

3.remind of 提醒

例句:The cliffs, lapped by a crystal-clear sea,remind her of Capri.
清澈的海水拍打着悬崖峭壁，令她想起了卡普里。

4.rely on 依靠；依赖

例句:Most poultry farmers have to rely on commercially manufactured feeds.
多数饲养家禽的农场主不得不依赖商业化生产的饲料。

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重点单词		查看全部解释
rig	[rig]	想一想再看 n. 装备，帆具，服装，钻井架，钻塔 vt. 装配，装扮	联想记忆 X 单词rig 联想记忆： rig不是right的行为
category	['kætigəri]	想一想再看 n. 种类，类别
sentiment	['sentimənt]	想一想再看 n. 感情，情趣，意见，观点，多愁善感	联想记忆 X 单词sentiment 联想记忆： senti感觉+ment→感觉→感情
visible	['vizəbl]	想一想再看 adj. 可见的，看得见的 n. 可见物
minority	[mai'nɔ:riti]	想一想再看 n. 少数，少数民族，未成年	联想记忆 X 单词minority 联想记忆： minor小或少+ity→少的状态→少数；未成年
independence	[.indi'pendəns]	想一想再看 n. 独立，自主，自立
collapse	[kə'læps]	想一想再看 n. 崩溃，倒塌，暴跌 v. 倒塌，崩溃，瓦解	联想记忆 X 单词collapse 联想记忆： col共同，lapse滑－共同滑倒－倒塌
base	[beis]	想一想再看 n. 基底，基础，底部，基线，基数，(棒球)垒，[化]碱
dependency	[di'pendənsi]	想一想再看 n. 从属；从属物；属国
acute	[ə'kju:t]	想一想再看 adj. 敏锐的，剧烈的