Peter的每日一篇英语文章之13.doc

The?hue?and?cry?of?Britain’s?general?electionobscures?an?inconvenient?truth.?The?first?peacetimecoalition?since?the?1930s?is?likely?to?be?followed?byanother?inconclusive?election.?The?old?world?of?twoparty?politics?delivering?decisive?single?partygovernment?may?be?over. 英国大选中的喧闹声掩盖了一个不好说出口的事实。英国自上世纪30年代以来首届诞生于和平时期的联合政府即将任满，但很可能再次迎来一场没有决定性结果的选举。两党政治产生行动果决的一党政府的旧世界或已终结。 David?Cameron,?prime?minister,?and?Ed?Miliband,?theLabour?party?leader,?still?hope?they?can?snatch?outright?victory?on?May?7.?Voters?appearunmoved.?This?has?been?a?dispiriting?campaign,?where?a?few?dozen?swing?constituencies?havebeen?targeted?like?battleground?states?in?a?US?presidential?election.?For?Cuyahoga?County,Ohio,?read?Solihull,?West?Midlands. 现任首相戴维?卡梅伦(David?Cameron)和工党(Labour?party)党魁埃德?米利班德(Ed?Miliband)仍然希望在5月7日的选举中取得全面胜利。选民看上去无动于衷。这是一场令人沮丧的竞选，几十个摇摆选区就像美国总统选举中的摇摆州一样，被各党派激烈争夺。你只用把西米德兰兹郡(West?Midlands)的索利哈尔(Solihull)，想象成俄亥俄州的凯霍加县(Cuyahoga)。 A?tactical,?data-driven?campaign?mobilising?core?supporters?ignores?how?Tony?Blair?and,?morerecently,?Angela?Merkel?in?Germany?reached?out?to?the?centre?ground?and?won?three?successiveelections.?The?lesson?should?still?hold?true?in?Britain,?despite?the?fragmentation?of?politicsrepresented?by?the?rise?of?the?Scottish?National?party?and?the?europhobic?UK?Independenceparty. 这场竞选讲究策略、依赖数据，动员核心支持者，而忽略了前英国首相托尼?布莱尔(Tony?Blair)以及德国现任总理安格拉?默克尔(Angela?Merkel)走中间路线连续三次赢得选举的经验。这一经验在英国应该仍然管用，尽管苏格兰民族党(SNP)和恐欧的英国独立党(UKIP)崛起使英国政坛碎片化。 Five?years?ago,?the?prospect?of?coalition?government?attracted?dire?predictions?of?instability?inmarkets?and?gridlock?at?Westminster.?Neither?proved?true.?The?Conservative-Liberal?Democratcoalition?has?shown?European-style?cohabitation?can?work.?Curiously,?Mr?Cameron?has?nottrumpeted?its?successes.?He?has?preferred?to?wage?a?campaign?of?fear.?Labour,?he?argues,would?prove?untrustworthy?on?the?economy;?and?a?Labour?government?would?be?held?hostageby?a?separatist?Scottish?National?party.?The?risk?of?a?cross-border?leftist?alliance?is?notneglig