The Silly Isles

標題講解

The Silly Isles直譯就是“愚蠢的島”的意思，英國是個島國，所以這個標題其實是在諷刺英國。還有一層意思就是英國有個島叫“錫利羣島”，即“The Isles of Scilly”，“Scilly”與“Silly”讀音相同，所以這個標題使用了雙關（pun），既與“錫利羣島”諧音，又表示英國脫歐很愚蠢。

第一段

Theresa May was supposed to be leading Britain out of the European Union this week. Instead, Britain stayed put and the prime minister found herself announcing her own departure. After weathering months of criticism over her handling of the Brexit negotiations, in which Britain was last week forced to ask for an extension of the March 29th deadline, Mrs. May surrendered to calls for her to say that she would quit. She promised her Conservative MPs she would step down if Britain formally left the EU, handing the next, crucial phase of negotiations, on Britain’s future relationship with the continent, to her successor.

  • 脫歐：lead Britain out of the European Union

    其他說法：Britain’s withdrawal/departure from the EU或者用 breakup/divorce， Britain’s breakup/divorce with  the EU

  • Stay put: 呆在原處，不動（spoken）

  • Eg, And I figure this is when you tell me you’re staying put.

    我想你現在是不是要說你不打算跳槽了——《傲骨賢妻》第二季

  • Weather months of criticism：熬過了數月的批評（這裏考察一個重要用法）

  • 拓展：

    • In all weathers: 無論天氣好壞

    • Under the weather: 身體不大舒服（informal）eg,. You look a bit under the weather.

    • Keep a weather eye on sth: 密切關注，時刻警惕（不尋常或令人不安的事情）

  • 請求寬限截止日期：ask for an extension of the …deadline

  • 下臺：step down (from)…在這裏相當於quit

第二段


Yet in reality the prime minister’s promised departure does nothing to resolve the disagreements that are preventing Britain from settling on an exit deal. It may even exacerbate them.

  • An exit deal：退歐協議≈Brexit deal

  • Exacerbate: /ɪgˈzæsəbeɪt; NAmE ɪgˈzæsərb-/ verb [VN] (formal)

    使惡化；使加劇；使加重

  • SYN: aggravate

    The symptoms may be exacerbated by certain drugs.

    這些症狀可能會因爲某些藥物而加重。

第三段

Mrs. May’s announcement came after weeks of arm-twisting. A prime minister who two years ago looked almost invincible has been slowly bled dry of authority, starting with her calamitous loss of the Tories’ majority in 2017 in an election which they had been fancied to win with a landslide. Her unpopular Brexit deal has twice been defeated in Parliament by record and near-record margins. She has no domestic achievements to speak of. And she is barely in control of her cabinet, let alone her party. Mrs. May was dealt a bad hand in Brexit; she has played it extraordinarily badly.

  • Arm-twisting: noun [U] (informal)

    the use of a lot of pressure or even physical force to persuade sb to  do sth 強迫；施加壓力

  • Be bled dry of authority: 首先這裏考察bleed一個不太常見的用法

    • bleed：V 詐取錢財

      His ex-wife clearly intends to bleed him for every last penny.他的前妻顯然是想榨乾他的錢財。

    • bleed sb dry / white ( = take all their money, possessions etc )把某人榨乾

      The ten-year war has bled the country dry.十年戰爭耗盡了該國的財力。

    • 拓展：bleed還有一個不常見的用法：表示“滲開”（用於顏色），相當於run

      Wash it in cold water so the colors don’t bleed.用冷水洗滌以防滲色。

      這個表達很地道，表示梅姨漸漸失去了威信，所以“sb/sth be bled dry of sth” 可以用來表示”某人/某物逐漸失去了…”

  • Calamitous /kəˈlæmɪtəs/ adj. (formal) （對人命、財產等）引起災難的，災難性的 SYN disastrous

    • Tory(informal) 英國保守黨黨員（或支持者）The Tories (= the Tory party) lost the election.英國保守黨在選舉中失敗。

    • Tory做形容詞 adj. [usually before noun]

      the Tory party英國保守黨

      Tory policies英國保守黨的政策

    • 拓展：英國兩大黨派，保守黨 Conservative Party 和工黨 Labor Party, 梅姨是保守黨陣營。

  • Majority有一個用法是“多數票數”的意思，在政黨選舉中一般翻譯爲“多數席位”，所以“calamitous loss of the Tories’ majority”的意思是“保守黨在17年的選舉中痛失多數席位”

  • land∙slide /ˈlændslaɪd/ noun

  • 1.  （山坡或懸崖的）崩塌，塌方，滑坡，地滑

  • 2. 一方選票佔壓倒多數的選舉；一方佔絕對優勢的選舉

    She was expected to win by a landslide. 預計她會以壓倒多數的選票獲勝

    a landslide victory 壓倒性優勢的選舉勝利

  • by record and near-record margins：這是考察margin一個不常見的用法：（競賽或選舉中勝方和負方在選票上或得分上的）差數

        by a wide / narrow / significant etc margin

• They're a world-class team and it was no surprise that they won by such a wide margin.他們是世界一流水平的隊伍，以如此大的分差贏得比賽不足爲奇。

        by a margin of 10 points / 100 votes etc

•The bill was approved by a margin of 55 votes.這項法案以 55 票的多數通過了。

複習一下margin的其他用法：

  • 1. 頁邊空白；白邊

    the left-hand/ right-hand margin左╱右頁邊

    a narrow/ wide margin窄╱寬空白邊

    notes scribbled in the margin隨手寫在頁邊上的筆記

  • 2. 利潤，賺頭:

    •Margins are low and many companies are struggling.利潤很少，很多公司在苦苦掙扎。

  • 3. 餘地；備用的時間（或空間、金錢等）

    a safety margin安全距離

    The narrow gateway left me little margin for error as I reversed the car.

    門口狹窄，弄得我倒車時幾乎不能出任何差錯。

  • 拓展：

  • on the margin(s)處於邊緣地位，處於非主體地位〔意爲無權無勢，缺乏影響力〕;SYN on the fringes

    •unemployed youths living on the margins of society 生活在社會邊緣的失業青年

  • 注意兩個短語：

  • margin of error the degree to which a calculation might or can be wrong誤差值，誤差幅度:

    •The survey has a margin of error of 2.1%.這次調查的誤差值爲 2.1%。

  • margin for error how many mistakes you can make and still be able to achieve something出錯的餘地:

    •At this late stage in the competition there is no margin for error.在這個比賽的最後階段不允許出現任何差錯。


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