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经济学人:工党的下坡路 背离大路

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  • Britain The Labour Party's funk Running out of road
  • 英国 工党的下坡路 背离大路
  • Labour is an increasingly unpopular party with lots of popular policies
  • 工党政策广受称赞,自己却日益遭嫌
  • IF POLITICAL platforms were the sum of their parts,the Labour Party would tower over its rivals.
  • 如果政治舞台是所有因素的综合体,那么工党必称霸政坛。
  • In recent months Ed Miliband,its leader,has produced several overwhelmingly popular policies.
  • 近几个月,工党党首埃德·米利班德提出了几条非常受欢迎的政策。
  • According to YouGov,a polling firm,voters support the party's plan to increase the top rate of income tax by three to one.
  • 根据民调机构YouGov的数据显示,工党提高所得税最高税率的计划,得到选民支持的比率为三比一。
  • By about the same margin they like its talk of tackling dodgy landlords,blocking foreign takeovers of British firms and boosting the minimum wage.
  • 但也有同样比例的选民支持政府对付狡猾的房东,限制外资收购英国企业,并且提高最低工资标准。
  • Yet Labour's polling lead over the Conservative Party is slipping.
  • 然而工党领先保守党的优势正在慢慢缩小。
  • According to YouGov it has fallen from an average of seven points in November to two-and-a-half points in May so far.
  • 根据YouGov的数据显示,从去年平均领先7个百分点,滑落到今年五月的2.5个百分点。
  • It is quite possible that the populist right-wing UK Independence Party will beat Labour to first place in elections to the European Parliament on May 22nd.
  • 在5月22日的欧洲议会选举上,民粹主义右翼独立党极有可能干掉工党,夺得头筹。
  • Not long ago Labour staffers were confidently describing the European vote as a dry run for the general election,due to be held in a year's time.
  • 不久之前,工党的工作人员言之凿凿地把欧洲议会的表决,形容成一年之后大选的预演。
  • Labour,then,is an increasingly unloved party with increasingly popular policies.
  • 渐渐的,工党成了一个政策越来越受欢迎,而本身却越来越不是受欢迎的政党。
  • What explains this?
  • 怎么解释这个现象?
  • The familiar answer is to blame the messenger.
  • 答案都是相似的:都是信使惹的祸。
  • Mr Miliband struggles to appeal to voters through the mass media,often coming across as pleading and uncomfortable.
  • 米利班德努力试图借助大众传媒来笼络民心,常常会流露出恳求和不安。
  • His team have hired a broadcast expert and David Axelrod,who helped Barack Obama win two presidential elections,to improve their man's performance and messages.
  • 他的团队已经聘请了一个广播专家和戴维·阿克塞尔罗德美化其个人形象,促进其思想的传播。
  • A series of awkward interviews in the run up to the European vote suggested that both would have their work cut out.
  • 而戴维·阿克塞尔罗德是奥巴马总统的顾问,帮他连任了两届大选。但从他在欧洲大选前那几场采访中尴尬的表现来看,上述两目标恐怕是要泡汤了。
  • But that problem is older than Labour's poll slump.
  • 但是问题远比工党支持率滑坡来的历史久远。
  • Instead,three things seem to account for the party's recent woes.
  • 相反,有三件事似乎可以解释工党最近的不振。
  • The specific one is that Labour's propaganda machine is not working.
  • 尤其是因为工党的宣传不起作用。
  • Policy announcements have been rushed,too close together and quickly forgotten for lack of follow-up,sighs one Milibandite.
  • 一位米利班德支持者叹道,政治宣传太过急躁,政治结盟太过亲密,以及太快忘掉自己没什么跟随者。
  • A pledge to cut waiting times for doctors' appointments was a case in point:
  • 政府担保削减就医预约时间就是一个例子:
  • unveiled with great fanfare on May 12th,it was not once mentioned by Mr Miliband in Prime Minister's Questions just two days later.
  • 政府的这个保证,在5月12日出台,颇受人民欢迎。仅仅两天之后,在首相问答环节上,米利班德就提到了这个问题。
  • Sometimes messages clash.
  • 两方是不是会就这个问题进行交锋。
  • Labour's response to UKIP has ranged from cool dismissal to angry denouncement.
  • 针对英国独立党的问题,工党的回应介于冷冷的不予理会,与愤怒的公开谴责之间。
  • An execrable electoral video depicting the Liberal Democrats as the gullible stooges of evil Tory toffs collided head-on with Mr Miliband's talk of making politics less petty.
  • 拙劣的竞选视频把自民党描绘为上当的傀儡,夹在邪恶的保守党花花公子与米利班德正面交锋之间,而米利班德正致力于促使政策登上大台面。
  • A bigger problem is that Labour's central economic message,that the recovery is failing to lift living standards,is running out of road.
  • 工党还有一个更大的问题,那就是中央经济报文的作用已经穷途末路,变革没能使生活标准有所提高。
  • Real wages are beginning to emerge from their long slump,making people feel,if not richer,at least not poorer.
  • 实际工资正渐渐从漫长的经济不景气中复苏,使民众觉得:既然没有更富,那至少也没再穷下去。
  • And Labour lacks a fall-back argument: the party has done little over the past years to dispel the reputation for spendthrift ineptitude that it acquired during the financial crisis.
  • 并且工党缺少备用方案:这些年来,面对经济危机中而得的愚笨浪子臭名,工党并未好好去改变。
  • The Tories' lead over the opposition on economic competence has grown from two to 14 points in the past year.
  • 经济上,保守党领先其反对党,由去年的2%增至14%。
  • Finally,as the general election approaches,the main job of the opposition shifts from holding the government to account to proposing an alternative.
  • 最后,随着大选的临近,在野党的主要任务从把持政权,转变成了提出第二选择。
  • But Labour's messages remain deeply negative and gloomy.
  • 但工党方面的消息仍旧非常负面和悲观。
  • It has repeatedly told people how much they are being ripped off by energy firms and other businesses,but has failed to put forward a hopeful vision of a prosperous Britain,grumble internal malcontents.
  • 英国一些对现状不满的群众发牢骚道,人们被反复告知他们的钱被剥削的数额,而罪魁祸首就是能源企业和一些其他公司,但是人们并没有在经济繁荣的英国看到充满希望的前景。
  • Patrick Diamond,a former policy adviser to the party,adds that by taking advantage of public mistrust of business,Labour is at best telling voters what they already know
  • 帕特里克·戴蒙德是一名前党内政策顾问,他补充道,通过利用公众对商业的不信任,工党最好还是告知选民自己所得到的消息
  • (that the party cares about the little guy).
  • (即政党很关注那个小人)。
  • At worst it risks alienating those working in the private sector.
  • 最糟糕也不过是承担与私营部门决裂的风险。
  • These three problems add up to one big one: although voters like the party's individual policies,they do not like the overall image that these convey.
  • 于整体形象的呈现却并不看好。狄波拉·马丁森来自调查机构Britain Thinks,她认为,除非工党修正了这些问题,不然各个声明的涌现只能帮倒忙。
  • Until Labour corrects this,says Deborah Mattinson of Britain Thinks,a polling outfit,the gush of announcements may do it more harm than good.
  • 这三个问题加在一起,就成了一个大问题:虽然选民支持工党的独立政策,但对她认为,
  • If people do not trust the party in the first place,she argues,they just see these as craven attempts to win their votes.
  • 如果一开始民众就不信任政党,他们就会视这些软弱的努力只是为了赢得选票。
  • The Conservatives,by contrast,can trade on their overall competence.
  • 相比之下,保守党可以好好利用他们的整体竞争力。
  • They are not out to please people, one swing voter told Ms Mattinson,and that means they can just get on with it.
  • 一位摇摆不定的选民告诉狄波拉道,他们并非试图讨好民众,这意味着他们只能继续进行下去。译者 周雨晴 校对 徐珍


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1.according to 根据,按照

例句:The route that the boatmen choose varies according to the water level.
船夫选择的路线会随水位的变化而有所不同。

2.plan to 打算;计划

例句:Both chambers plan to vote on that policy before January 15th.
两院都打算在1月15日前对那一政策进行投票表决。

3.due to 由于;因为;应归于

例句:Council members are due to have informal discussions later on today.
委员会成员定于今日晚些时候进行非正式讨论。

4.appeal to 呼吁;要求;诉诸

例句:Economic change for its own sake did not appeal to him.
经济变化本身对他并没有吸引力。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
response [ri'spɔns]

想一想再看

n. 回答,响应,反应,答复
n. [宗

联想记忆
specific [spi'sifik]

想一想再看

adj. 特殊的,明确的,具有特效的
n. 特

联想记忆
propaganda [.prɔpə'gændə,prɔpə'gændə]

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n. 宣传,宣传的内容

 
advantage [əd'vɑ:ntidʒ]

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n. 优势,有利条件
vt. 有利于

联想记忆
recovery [ri'kʌvəri]

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n. 恢复,复原,痊愈

 
overwhelmingly [.əvə'welmiŋli]

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adv. 压倒性地,不可抵抗地

 
spendthrift ['spendθrift]

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n. 浪费的人 adj. 浪费的,挥霍无度的

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gush [gʌʃ]

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v. 迸出,滔滔不绝地说 n. 涌出

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pledge [pledʒ]

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n. 保证,誓言,抵押,抵押品
vt. 保证,

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independence [.indi'pendəns]

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n. 独立,自主,自立

 

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