1、 /6讀一讀特蕾莎梅的辭職演講稿魏劍峰英文悅讀由于脫歐計劃未能如期取得進展，英國首相TheresaMay在上周宣布她將于6月7日辭去保守黨領(lǐng)導人一職，但將留任首相至保守黨新領(lǐng)導人產(chǎn)生。上周五她在倫敦唐寧街10號外發(fā)表了自己的辭職演講。TheresaMay在演講中流露出對脫歐未成的遺憾，但同時又表達出對未來的希望，她的演講口音純正、用詞精準、感情真摯，非常值得我們學習。我找到了演講全文，并附上一些注釋：EversinceIfirststeppedthroughthedoorbehindmeasMinister,IhavestriventomaketheUKacountrythatwonotjus

2、tfarprivilegedfewbutforeveryone,andtohonourtheresultoftheEUreferendum.TheresaMay這次是在唐寧街10號（英國首相官邸）門口發(fā)表演講，firststeppedthroughthedoorbehindmeasprimeminister“作為首相第一次入主唐寧街10號，aprivilegedfew是一個固定說法，意思是享有特權(quán)的少數(shù)人。Backin2016wegavetheBritishpeopleachoice.AgainstpredictionstheBritishpeoplevotedtoleavetheEU.Ife

3、elcertaintodayasIdidthreeyearsagothatinademocracyougivepeopleachoiceyouhaveadutytoimplementwtheydecide.Ihavedonemybesttodothat.Inegotiatedthetermsofourexitandanewrelationshipwitlourclosestneighborsthatprotectsjobs,oursecurityandourunion.IhavedoneeverythingIcantoconvinceMPstobackthatdeal.SadlyIhaveno

4、tbeenabletodoso.Itriedthre（times.Ibelieveitwasrighttopersevereevenwhentheoddsagainstsuccessseemedhigh.ButitisnowcleartomethatisinthebestinterestsofthecountryforanewPrimeMinistertoleadthateffort.SoIamtodayannouncingthatIwillresignasleaderoftheConservativeandUnionistPartyonFriday,June7,sothatasuccesso

5、rcanbechosen.theoddsagainstsomething意思是“某事情不會成功的機率”,例如：Theoddsagainsthiswinningtheracearehigh他贏得比賽的概率不高。要表達相反的意思可以說Theoddsinfavorofsomething;itisinthebestinterestsofXXtodosomething是一個固定句式，意思是“做某事對XX最有利”。Ihaveagreedwiththepartychairman,andthechairmanofthe1922Committee,thattheprocessforelectinganewlea

6、dershouldbegininthefollowingweek.the1922Committee即“1922委員會”，這是指英國保守黨在國會下議院的議會黨團。IhavekeptHerMajestytheQueenfullyinformedofmyintentionsandIwillcontinuetoserveasherPrimeMinisteruntiltheprocesshasconcluded.HerMajestyTheQueen是對女王的尊稱，如果尊稱國王則是HisMajestytheKingItisandwillalwaysremainamatterofdeepregrettome

7、thatIhavenotbeenabletodeliverBrexit.Itwillbeformysuccessortoseekawayforwardthathonorstheresultofthereferendum.Tosucceed,heorshewillhavetofindconsensusinParliamentwhereIhavenot.最后一句補充完整后是heorshewillhavetofindconsensusinParliamentwhereIhavenotfoundconsensus.Suchaconsensuscanonlybereachedifthoseonallsi

8、desofthedebatearewillingtocompromise.Formanyyears,thegreathumanitarianSirNicholasWinton-whosavedthelivesofhundredsofchildrenbyarrangingtheirevacuationfromNazi-occupiedCzechoslovakiathroughKindertransport-wasmyconstituentinMaidenhead.Atanothertimeofpoliticalcontroversy,afewyearsbeforehisdeath,hetookm

9、etoonesideatalocaleventandgavemeapieceofadvice.SirNicholasWinton是指尼古拉斯溫頓爵士，他在二戰(zhàn)前夕協(xié)助捷克斯洛伐克669名兒童到英國，使他們得以避過后來的大屠殺。尼古拉斯溫頓爵士也是特蕾莎在梅登黑德選區(qū)(Maidenhead)的選民。Kindertransport是指二戰(zhàn)時的“兒童撤離行動，在二戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)前夕，將近一萬名猶太兒童通過Kindertranspor計劃被安置在英國。Hesaid:Neverforgetthatcompromiseisnotadirtyword.Lifedependsoncompromise.Hewasrig

10、ht.Aswestrivetofindthecompromisesweneedinourpolitics,whethertodeliverBrexitorrestoredevolvedgovernmentinNorthernIreland,wemustrememberwhatbroughtushere.restoredevolvedgovernmentinNorthernIreland是指英國政府將部分內(nèi)務(wù)權(quán)力(比如教育和醫(yī)療等)下放給北愛爾蘭政府。BecausethereferendumwasnotjustacalltoleavetheEU,butforprofoundchangeinour

11、country,acalltomaketheUKacountrythattrulyworksforeveryone.Iamproudoftheprogresswehavemadeoverthelastthreeyears.WehavecompletedtheworkthatDavidCameronandGeorgeOsbornestarted.Thedeficitisalmosteliminated,ournationaldebtisfallingandwearebringinganendtoausterity.Myfocushasbeenonensuringthatthegoodjobsof

12、thefuturewillbecreatedincommunitiesacrossthewholecountry-notjustinLondonandthesouth-east-throughourmodernindustrialstrategy.Wehavehelpedmorepeoplethaneverenjoythesecurityofajob.Wearebuildingmorehomesandhelpingfirst-timebuyersontothehousingladdersothatyoungpeoplecanenjoytheopportunitiestheirparentdid

13、.helpingfirst-timebuyersontothehousingladder這一說法很形象，字面意思是“幫助首次購房者爬上樓市的階梯”，引申為“幫助首次購房者順利買房”，ladder的常見用法還有workyourwayupthecareer/corporateladdeEI:Stevensslowlyworkedhiswayupthecorporateladder.史蒂文斯慢慢地在公司晉升的階梯上往上爬。Andweareprotectingtheenvironment:eliminatingplasticwaste,tacklingclimatechangeandimproving

14、airquality.Thisiswhatadecent,moderateandpatrioticConservativegovernment,onthecommongroundofBritishpolitics,canachieve-evenaswetacklethebiggestpeacetimechallengeofanygovernmenthasfaced.evenas意思相當于atthesametimeas,意思是“與此同時”。IknowthattheConservativePartycanrenewitselfintheyearsahead,thatwecandeliverBrex

15、itandservetheBritishpeoplewithpoliciesinspiredbyourvalues:security,freedomandopportunity.Thosevalueshaveguidedmethroughoutmycareer.Buttheuniqueprivilegeofthisofficeistousethisplatformtogiveavoicetothevoiceless.Tofighttheburninginjusticesthatstillscaroursociety.ThatiswhyIputproperfundingformentalheal

16、thattheheartofourNHSlong-termplanjtswhyImendingthepostcodelotteryforsurvivorsofdomesticabuse.Itiswhytheracedisparityauditandgenderpayreportingareshiningalightoninequalitysoithasnowheretohide.AnditiswhyIsetuptheindependentpublicinquiryintothetragedyatGrenfellTower,tosearchforthetruthsonothinglikeitca

17、neverhappenagain,andsothepeoplewholosttheirlivesthatnightareneverforgotten.theburninginjusticesthatstillscaroursociety這里用詞很形象，burninginjustice即緊迫的社會不公問題”，scar原本是指傷疤，這里引申為“對造成傷害”。特蕾莎在這里連續(xù)用了四個That/Itiswhy來形成排比，強調(diào)了她任期內(nèi)政府做的一系列貢獻，讀起來非常震撼。第二個排比句中提到的postcodelottery是指“地域性公共服務(wù)差異”，這是英國的一種公共服務(wù)政策，它規(guī)定人們能獲得的醫(yī)療類型、

18、所接受的政府服務(wù)類型等，均與其居住地區(qū)有關(guān)。Itiswhytheracedisparityauditandgenderpayreportingareshiningalightoninequalitysoithasnowheretohide,這就是為什么種族差異審查以及性別薪酬報告正將不平等現(xiàn)象公之于眾，這樣它才無處藏身。Shinealightonsomethinf面意思是“將光線打在之上”，這與后面的nowheretohide形成對應(yīng)，此外，它還有引申用法“將公之于眾。Shinealightoninequality這里有一語雙關(guān)的意味。Becausethiscountryisaunion,notjustafamilyoffournations.Butaunionofpeople.Allofus.Whateverourbackground,thecolourofourskinorwhowelove,westandtogether.Andtogether,wehaveagreatfuture.這里對together進行了重復，強調(diào)了團結(jié)的重要性。Ourpoliticsmaybeunderstrain,bu