1、UK Votes to Leave EU英國公投退歐On June 24, in a historic referendum known as Brexit, the UK voted to leave the European Union (EU). Shortly after the Leave results were confirmed, the British pound began to fall drastically, and Prime Minister Cameron announced that he would be stepping down. Like Camero

2、n, all of the other EU leaders had hoped that voters would choose to Remain. The process to officially leave the EU is expected to take at least two years. The next prime minister will likely take care of the negotiations.6月24日，英國舉行具有歷史意義的“Brexit”公投，英國選擇離開歐盟。就在“退歐”公投后不久，英鎊急轉(zhuǎn)直下，英國首相卡梅倫宣布辭職。正如卡梅倫以及歐盟領(lǐng)

3、導(dǎo)人一樣，都希望英國留歐。正式退歐進程恐將至少持續(xù)兩年。下任總統(tǒng)將有可能處理談判事宜。n 23 June, the UK finally settled the question thats been rumbling close to the surface of British politics for a generation: should the country remain within the European Union or go it alone.The final result went 52 to 48 per cent in favour of Brexit - so

4、 what are the pros and cons of leaving the European Union?How we got hereThe Conservatives general election victory last year activated a manifesto pledge to hold a referendum on Britains membership of the European Union by the end of 2017.David Cameron made the promise at a time when he was under p

5、ressure from Eurosceptic backbenchers and when the Tories appeared to be losing votes to Ukip. Most political commentators agree that, given a free hand, he would not have wanted a referendum.Last winter, the Prime Minister embarked on a tour of EU capitals as he sought to renegotiate Britains terms

6、 of membership, which concluded at a summit in February. Presenting the result as a victory, he vowed to campaign with his heart and soul to keep Britain inside a reformed EU, but several members of his own cabinet campaigned for a British exit or Brexit.Minutes after the vote closed on Thursday, it

7、 appeared the UK would stay in the EU. Even Ukips Nigel Farage said itlooks like Remain will edge it.However, when the final results came in, it was the Leave campaign that had won, prompting Cameron to announce that he would resign as prime minister before the Conservative Party conference in Octob

8、er.The pros and cons of leaving the EUThe greatest uncertainty associated with leaving the EU is that no country has ever done it before, so no one can predict the exact result.Membership feeLeaving the EU would result in an immediate cost saving, as the country would no longer contribute to the EU

9、budget, argue Brexiters. Last year, Britain paid in 13bn, but it also received 4.5bn worth of spending, saysFull Fact,so the UKs net contribution was 8.5bn. Thats about 7 per cent of what the Government spends on the NHS each year.Whats harder to determine is whether the financial advantages of EU m

10、embership, such as free trade and inward investment (see below) outweigh the upfront costs.TradeThe EU is a single market in which no tariffs are imposed on imports and exports between member states. More than 50 per cent of our exports go to EU countries, saysSky News. Membership of the bloc means

11、we have always had a say over how trading rules are drawn up.Britain also benefits from trade deals between the EU and other world powers. The EU is currently negotiating with the US to create the worlds biggest free trade area, says theBBC, something that will be highly beneficial to British busine

12、ss.Britain risks losing some of that negotiating power by leaving the EU, but it would be free to establish its own trade agreements.Ukip leader Nigel Farage believes Britain could follow the lead of Norway, which has access to the single market but is not bound by EU laws on areas such as agricultu

13、re, justice and home affairs. But others argue that an amicable divorce would not be possible.If Britain were to join the Norwegian club, saysThe Economist, it would remain bound by virtually all EU regulations, including the working-time directive and almost everything dreamed up in Brussels in fut

14、ure. And it would no longer have any influence on what those regulations said.Leading Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson, meanwhile, has proposed adopting a Canada-style trade arrangement. I think we can strike a deal as the Canadians have done based on trade and getting rid of tariffs and have a very,

15、 very bright future, he said. The idea was quickly dismissed by Cameron at the time, who said it would mean years of painful negotiations and a poorer deal than we have today.Eurosceptics argue that the vast majority of small and medium sized firms do not trade with the EU but are restricted by a hu

16、ge regulatory burden imposed from abroad.A study by the think-tank Open Europe, which campaigned to see the EU radically reformed, found that the worst-case Brexit scenario is that the UK economy loses 2.2 per cent of its total GDP by 2030 (by comparison, the recession of 2008-09 knocked about 6 per

17、 cent off UK GDP). However, it says that GDP could rise by 1.6 per cent if the UK was able to negotiate a free trade deal with Europe ie to maintain the current trade set-up and pursued very ambitious deregulation.Whether other EU countries would offer such generous terms is one of the big unknowns

18、of the debate. Pro-exit campaigners argued that it would be in the interests of other European countries to re-establish free trade, but their opponents suggested that the EU would want to make life hard for Britain in order to discourage further breakaways.France also warned recently that there wou

19、ld be consequences for Britain if it left the EU.InvestmentInward investment was always predicted to slow in the run-up to the vote, due to the uncertainty of the outcome and its consequences: thats what happened in before the Scottish independence referendum in 2014.In the long term, there are dive

20、rging views: pro-Europeans think the UKs status as one of the worlds biggest financial centres will be diminished if it is no longer seen as a gateway to the EU for the likes of US banks, while Brexit campaigners suggest that, free from EU rules a regulations, Britain could reinvent itself as a Sing

21、apore-style supercharged economy.Fears that car-makers could scale back or even end production in the UK if vehicles could no longer be exported tax-free to Europe were underlined by BMWs decision to remind its UK employees at Rolls-Royce and Mini of the significant benefit EU membership confers. Li

22、kewise,Business for New Europesaid tax revenues would drop if companies that do large amounts of business with Europe particularly banks moved their headquarters back into the EU.Barclays, however, put forward a worst-case scenario that might have benefitted the Outers. It said the departure of one

23、of the EUs most powerful economies would hit its finances and boost populist anti-EU movements in other countries. This would open a Pandoras box, said theDaily Telegraph, which could lead to the collapse of the European project.The UK would then be seen as a safe haven from those risks, attracting

24、investors, boosting the pound and reducing the risk that Scotland would leave the relative safety of the UK for an increasingly uncertain EU.SovereigntyFor Brexiters, sovereignty was seen as a simple win: few disagree that EU membership involves giving up some control over our own affairs.Labour MP

25、Kate Hoey says the EU is an attempt to replace the democratic power of the people with a permanent administration in the interests of big business. Those on the right of the Conservative party may disagree with her emphasis, but they agree that EU institutions have drained power from the British Par

26、liament.The trouble is that most of us have no clue as to how the Brussels monolith works, or whos in charge, saidStay or Go, the Connell Guide to the EU referendum. But, it said, we have only ourselves to blame. Weve made it that way because too many of us cant be bothered to vote in European elect

27、ions.For those in the Remain camp, EU membership involved a worthwhile trade of sovereignty for influence: in return for agreeing to abide by EU rules, Britain had a seat around the table at which they are set - and, say campaigners, its voice was amplified on the world stage as a result.The truth i

28、s that pulling up the drawbridge and quitting the EU will not enhance our national sovereignty, warned Labours Hilary Benn, who was sacked as shadow foreign secretary this week after complaining about Jeremy Corbyns leadership. All it would do is to weaken it by taking away our power to influence ev

29、ents in an ever more complex and interdependent world.Nor, said Remainers, will UK sovereignty be absolute out of the EU: the British government would still be bound by membership of Nato, the UN, the World Trade Organisation, and various treaties and agreements with other nations.ImmigrationUnder E

30、U law, Britain cannot prevent anyone from another member state coming to live in the country while Britons benefit from an equivalent right to live and work anywhere else in the EU. The result has been a huge increase in immigration into Britain, particularly from eastern and southern Europe.Accordi

31、ng to the Office for National Statistics, there are 942,000 eastern Europeans, Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK, along with 791,000 western Europeans and 2.93m workers from outside the EU. China and India are the biggest source of foreign workers in the UK.Remainers say that, while the rec

32、ent pace of immigration has led to some difficulties with housing and service provision, the net effect has been overwhelmingly positive. By contrast, Farage insisted immigration should be cut dramatically, and that leaving the EU was the only way to regain control of our borders. Other pro-Brexit c

33、ampaigners would not necessarily reduce immigration, but said that it should be up to the British Government to set the rules.Cameron claimed that the concessions he won during the renegotiation of Britains EU membership would reduce immigration as new arrivals will receive a lower rate of child ben

34、efit.JobsThe effect of leaving the EU on British jobs depends on a complex interplay of the factors above: trade, investment and immigration.Pro-EU campaigners suggested that three million jobs could be lost if Britain goes it alone. However, while figures from the early 2000s suggest around three m

35、illion jobs are linked to trade with the European Union, says Full Fact, theydontsay they are dependent on the UK being an EU member.If trade and investment falls now the UK has voted for Brexit, then some of these jobs would be lost but if they rose, then new jobs would be created.A drop in immigra

36、tion would, all else being equal, mean more jobs for the people who remained, but labour shortages could also hold back the economy, reducing its potential for growth.Stuart Rose, former Marks & Spencer chief executive and a prominent pro-EU campaigner, conceded recently that wages may rise if Brita

37、in leaves which would be good for workers, but less so for their employers.Writing for theLondon School of Economics, Professor Adrian Favell said limiting freedom of movement would deter the brightest and the best of the continent from coming to Britain and reduce the pool of candidates employers c

38、an choose from.Free movement of people across the EU also opened up job opportunities for British workers seeking to work elsewhere in Europe.Britains place in the worldFor Outers, leaving the EU will allow Britain to re-establish itself as a truly independent nation with connections to the rest of

39、the world. But Remainers fear that Brexit will result in the country giving up its influence in Europe, turning back the clock and retreating from the global power networks of the 21st century.Brexit would bring some clear-cut advantages, said The Economist before the referendum. The UK would regain

40、 control over fishing rights around its coast, for example. But it concluded that the most likely outcome would be that Britain would find itself a scratchy outsider with somewhat limited access to the single market, almost no influence and few friends.The UK will remain a member of Nato and the UN,

41、 but it may be regarded as a less useful partner by its key ally, the US. The American government said it feared that the EU referendum is a dangerous gamble that could unravel with disastrous consequences for the entire continent.SecurityFormer work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who was

42、 in favour of Brexit, said we were leaving the door open to terrorist attacks by remaining in the EU. This open border does not allow us to check and control people, he said.However, a dozen senior military figures, including former chiefs of defence staff Lord Bramall and Jock Stirrup, argued the o

43、pposite. In a letter released by No 10, they said that the EU is an increasingly important pillar of our security, especially at a time of instability in the Middle East and in the face of resurgent Russian nationalism and aggression.Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has also said the UK benefitted f

44、rom being part of the EU, as well as Nato and the United Nations. It is through the EU that you exchange criminal records and passenger records and work together on counter-terrorism, he said. We need the collective weight of the EU when you are dealing with Russian aggression or terrorism.In contra

45、st, Colonel Richard Kemp, writing inThe Times, said these critical bilateral relationships would persist regardless of membership, and that it was absurd to suggest that the EU would put its own citizens, or the UKs, at greater risk by reducing cooperation in the event of Brexit.By leaving, we will

46、again be able to determine who does and does not enter the UK, said Kemp, a former head of the international terrorism team at the Cabinet Office. Failure to do so significantly increases the terrorist threat here, endangers our people and is a betrayal of this country.The country has just taken par

47、t in a giant democratic exercise perhaps the biggest in our history. Over 33 million people from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltarhave all had their say.這個國家剛剛進行了一場大型的民主活動，這也許是我們歷史上最大的一次。超過3300萬來自英格蘭、蘇格蘭、威爾士、北愛爾蘭和直布羅陀的人民表達了他們的聲音。We should be proud of the fact that in these isl

48、ands we trust the people with these big decisions.我們應(yīng)該為這個事實感到驕傲。在這片國土上，我們相信這些島嶼上人民做出重大選擇。We not only have a parliamentarydemocracy, but on questions about the arrangements for how we are governed, there are times when it is right to ask the people themselves, and that is what we have done.我們不僅擁有議會民主

49、制度，而且還在如何管理這個國家的問題上，我們也會適時征求人民的意愿。對此我們已經(jīng)做到了。The British people have voted to leave the European Union and their will must be respected.英國人民投票選擇離開歐盟，他們的意愿必須得到尊重。I want to thank everyone who took part in the campaign on my side of the argument, including all those who put asideparty differences to spe

50、ak in what they believed was the national interest.我要感謝在這場公投里和我持相同意見的每個人，這其中包括擯棄政黨偏見來表達他們對國家利益信念的所有人。【語言點解析】put aside的三個釋義：1place sthon one side 放在一邊She put her sewing aside when the telephone rang電話響時她把縫紉活放在一邊。2save or reserve 節(jié)省或存儲He tries to put aside a little money every month每月他都努力省些錢下來。3ignore

51、 不予理會During the war everyone put their political differences aside and worked together戰(zhàn)爭期間大家都放棄政治分歧通力合作。And let me congratulate all those who took part in the Leave campaign for the spiritedand passionate case that they made.同時，讓我向所有脫歐派人士的努力和熱情表示祝賀。【語言點解析】spirited：精神飽滿的，生氣勃勃的，活潑的The will of the Brit

52、ish people is an instruction that must be delivered.英國人民的意愿，必須服從。It was not a decision that was taken lightly, not least because so many things were said by so many different organisations about the significance of this decision.這不是一個輕易做出的決定，并不僅僅是因為眾多不同組織對這一決定的重要性闡述了眾多觀點。So there can be no doubt abo

53、ut the result.因此對這個結(jié)果不應(yīng)持有疑問。Across the world people have been watching the choice that Britain has made.全世界的人民都已經(jīng)看到了英國做出的決定。I would reassure those markets and investors that Britains economy is fundamentally strong.我想對市場及投資者重申的是，英國的經(jīng)濟基礎(chǔ)非常強勁。【語言點解析】reassure：使安心，使消除疑慮And I would also reassure Brits li

54、ving in European countries, and European citizens living here, that there will be no immediate changes in your circumstances.另外我也向居住在歐洲國家的英國公民以及在英國居住的歐洲公民保證，你們的現(xiàn)狀不會立刻發(fā)生改變。There will be no initial change in the way our people can travel, in the way our goods can move or the way our services can be so

55、ld.我們的人民在出行方式上目前不會有任何改變。物品運送、服務(wù)提供都將照常進行。We must now prepare for a negotiation with the European Union.我們現(xiàn)在必須做出準備，與歐盟進行協(xié)商。This will need to involve the full engagement of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments to ensure that the interests of all parts of our United Kingdom are protected

56、 and advanced.協(xié)商需要蘇格蘭、威爾士以及北愛爾蘭政府的共同參與，以確保聯(lián)合王國各方面的利益都受到保護和推進。But above all this will require strong, determined and committed leadership.但要做到以上全部，我們需要強勁、堅定且負責(zé)任的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者。I am very proud and very honoured to have been Prime Minister of this country for 6 years.我非常驕傲和榮幸能在過去的六年里擔(dān)任這個國家的首相。I believe we have ma

57、de great steps, with more people in work than ever before in our history, with reforms to welfare and education, increasing peoples life chances, building a bigger and stronger society, keeping our promises to the poorest people in the world, and enabling those who love each other to get married wha

58、tever their sexuality.我相信我們已經(jīng)做出了巨大的進步：就業(yè)人數(shù)從未如此之多；我們對福利和教育進行改革，改善人民生活質(zhì)量、建設(shè)更大更強的社會；保持對全世界最貧困人民做出的承諾；不論性別，讓相愛的人們合法結(jié)婚。But above all restoring Britains economic strength, and I am grateful to everyone who has helped to make that happen.所有這一切都將讓英國繼續(xù)保持其經(jīng)濟實力。我對幫助實現(xiàn)這一切的所有人表示感謝。I have also always believed that we ha