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RoryStewart_2012X-_民主为什么重要_
So little Billy goes to school, and he sits down and the teacher says, "What does your father do?" [00:13]
And little Billy says, "My father plays the piano in an opium den." [00:21]
opium:n.鸦片;麻醉剂;adj.鸦片的;
So the teacher rings up the parents, and says, "Very shocking story from little Billy today. [00:28]
Just heard that he claimed that you play the piano in an opium den." [00:33]
claimed:v.宣称;声称;断言;索取;认领;索要(claim的过去分词和过去式)
And the father says, "I'm very sorry. Yes, it's true, I lied. [00:39]
But how can I tell an eight-year-old boy that his father is a politician ?" (Laughter) [00:43]
politician:n.政治家;(蔑)政客;(美)政治贩;
Now, as a politician myself, standing in front of you, or indeed, meeting any stranger anywhere in the world, when I eventually reveal the nature of my profession , they look at me as though I'm somewhere between a snake, a monkey and an iguana , and through all of this, I feel, strongly, that something is going wrong. [00:51]
eventually:adv.最后,终于; reveal:v.显示;透露;揭露;泄露;n.揭露;暴露;门侧,窗侧; profession:n.行业,职业;业内人士;同行; iguana:n.鬣蜥蜴;
Four hundred years of maturing democracy , colleagues in Parliament who seem to me, as individuals , reasonably impressive , an increasingly educated, energetic , informed population, and yet a deep, deep sense of disappointment. [01:15]
maturing:n.老化;成熟酌;(陶瓷的)烧成;v.成熟(mature的ing形式);到期; democracy:n.民主,民主主义;民主政治; colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数); Parliament:n.议会,国会; individuals:n.[经]个人;[生物]个体(individual的复数); reasonably:adv.合理地;相当地;适度地; impressive:adj.感人的;令人钦佩的;给人以深刻印象的; increasingly:adv.越来越多地;渐增地; energetic:adj.精力充沛的;充满活力的;需要能量的;积极的; informed:adj.见多识广的; v.通知; (inform的过去分词和过去式)
My colleagues in Parliament include, in my new intake , family doctors, businesspeople , professors, distinguished economists, historians, writers, army officers ranging from colonels down to regimental sergeant majors. [01:35]
intake:n.摄取量;通风口;引入口;引入的量; businesspeople:商人; distinguished:adj.尊贵的; v.区分; colonels:n.陆军上校; regimental:adj.团的;n.团;军服; sergeant:n.军士;警察小队长;海军陆战队中士;高等律师;
All of them, however, including myself, as we walk underneath those strange stone gargoyles just down the road , feel that we've become less than the sum of our parts, feel as though we have become profoundly diminished . [01:53]
underneath:prep.在…的下面;在…的支配下;n.下面;底部;adj.下面的;底层的; gargoyles:n.夜行神龙(系列动画片);魔界使者(游戏名); down the road:只要沿着这条路;将来;在路上; profoundly:adv.深刻地;深深地;极度地; diminished:adj.减少的; v.减少; (diminish的过去式和过去分词)
And this isn't just a problem in Britain. [02:10]
It's a problem across the developing world, and in middle income countries too. In Jamaica, for example -- look at Jamaican members of Parliament, you meet them, and they're often people who are [02:14]
Jamaican:adj.牙买加的;牙买加人的;n.牙买加人;
Rhodes Scholars , who've studied at Harvard or at Princeton , and yet, you go down to downtown Kingston , and you are looking at one of the most depressing sites [02:26]
Rhodes:n.罗兹岛(希腊东南端佐泽卡尼索斯群岛中最大的岛屿); Scholars:n.学者们(scholar的复数); Harvard:n.哈佛大学;哈佛大学学生; Princeton:n.普林斯顿(美国新泽西州中部的自治市镇); downtown:n.市区;闹市区;adv.在市区;在热闹街上;到闹市区;adj.闹市区的; Kingston:n.金斯敦(牙买加首都); depressing:adj.令人抑郁的; v.使沮丧; (depress的现在分词) sites:n.网站(site的复数);遗址,举办地点;v.使...位于(site的单三形式);
that you can see in any middle-income country in the world: a dismal , depressing landscape of burnt and half-abandoned buildings. [02:38]
middle-income:adj.中等收入的; dismal:adj.凄凉的,忧郁的;阴沉的,沉闷的;n.低落的情绪; landscape:n.景观;乡村风景画;(文件的)横向打印格式;v.对…做景观美化;美化…的环境;
And this has been true for 30 years, and the handover in 1979, 1980, between one Jamaican leader who was the son of a Rhodes Scholar and a Q.C. to another who'd done an economics doctorate at Harvard, over 800 people were killed in the streets in drug-related violence . [02:48]
handover:n.移交; Rhodes Scholar:na.获罗得斯奖学金的学生(罗得斯基金由塞西尔·罗得斯于1902年设立,为美国、德国或英联邦国家的学生提供到英国牛津大学学习的奖学金); doctorate:n.博士学位;博士头衔; violence:n.暴力;侵犯;激烈;歪曲;
Ten years ago, however, the promise of democracy seemed to be extraordinary . George W. Bush stood up in his State of the Union address in 2003 and said that democracy was the force that would beat most of the ills of the world. He said, [03:09]
extraordinary:adj.非凡的;特别的;离奇的;临时的;特派的; Bush:n.灌木; v.以灌木装饰; adj.如灌木般长得低矮的; State of the Union address:n.国情咨文(美国总统就政府业绩和规划在国会所作的年度讲话);
because democratic governments respect their own people and respect their neighbors, freedom will bring peace. [03:26]
democratic:adj.民主的;民主政治的;大众的;
Distinguished academics at the same time argued that democracies had this incredible range of side benefits. [03:36]
academics:n.学术水平;学术知识;专业学者; at the same time:同时;另一方面;与此同时; democracies:民主; incredible:adj.难以置信的,惊人的;
They would bring prosperity , security, overcome sectarian violence, ensure that states would never again harbor terrorists. [03:43]
prosperity:n.繁荣,成功; overcome:vt.克服;胜过;vi.克服;得胜; sectarian:adj.宗派的;偏狭的;党派心强的;n.属于宗派的人;宗派心强的人;宗派主义者; ensure:vt.保证,确保;使安全; harbor:n.港口;港湾;(比喻)避难所;[军]坦克掩蔽场;v.停泊;包含;隐匿;怀抱(恶意);
Since then, what's happened? [03:54]
Well, what we've seen is the creation , in places like Iraq and Afghanistan , of democratic systems of government which haven't had any of those side benefits. [03:56]
creation:n.创造,创作;创作物,产物; Afghanistan:n.阿富汗(国家名称,位于亚洲);
In Afghanistan, for example, we haven't just had one election or two elections. We've gone through three elections, presidential and parliamentary . And what do we find? [04:06]
presidential:adj.总统的;首长的;统辖的; parliamentary:adj.议会的;国会的;议会制度的;
Do we find a flourishing civil society, a vigorous rule of law and good security? No. What we find in Afghanistan is a judiciary that is weak and corrupt , [04:15]
flourishing:adj.繁荣的;繁茂的;v.繁荣;兴旺;茁壮成长;(flourish的现在分词) civil:adj.公民的;民间的;文职的;有礼貌的;根据民法的; vigorous:adj.有力的;精力充沛的; judiciary:n.司法部;法官;司法制度;adj.司法的;法官的;法院的; corrupt:v.损坏;破坏;使腐化;使堕落;adj.贪污的;受贿的;腐败的;营私舞弊的;
a very limited civil society which is largely ineffective , a media which is beginning to get onto its feet but a government that's deeply unpopular , perceived as being deeply corrupt, and security that is shocking, security that's terrible. [04:26]
limited:adj.有限的; n.高级快车; v.限制; (limit的过去分词和过去式) largely:adv.主要地;大部分;大量地; ineffective:adj.无效的,失效的;不起作用的; media:n.媒体;媒质(medium的复数);血管中层;浊塞音;中脉; unpopular:adj.不流行的,不受欢迎的; perceived:v.注意到;意识到;将…视为;认为;(perceive的过去式和过去分词)
In Pakistan, in lots of sub-Saharan Africa, again you can see democracy and elections are compatible with corrupt governments, with states that are unstable and dangerous. [04:44]
sub-Saharan:撒哈拉以南地区; compatible:adj.兼容的;能共处的;可并立的; unstable:adj.不稳定的;变化莫测的;(行为、情绪)反复无常的
And when I have conversations with people, I remember having a conversation, for example, in Iraq, with a community that asked me whether the riot we were seeing in front of us, [04:58]
community:n.社区;[生态]群落;共同体;团体; riot:n.骚乱;暴乱;丰富多彩;品种繁多;v.发生骚乱;闹事;
this was a huge mob ransacking a provincial council building, was a sign of the new democracy. [05:09]
mob:n.人群;(尤指)暴民;一群;一帮;v.(鸟群或兽群)围攻;围拢; ransacking:v.洗劫;把…翻腾得乱七八糟;(ransack的现在分词) provincial:adj.省的;地方性的;偏狭的;n.粗野的人;乡下人;外地人; council:n.(市、郡等的)政务委员会;市政(或地方管理)服务机构;
The same, I felt, was true in almost every single one of the middle and developing countries that I went to, and to some extent the same is true of us. [05:18]
extent:n.程度;范围;长度;
Well, what is the answer to this? Is the answer to just give up on the idea of democracy? [05:29]
Well, obviously not. It would be absurd if we were to engage again in the kind of operations we were engaged in , in Iraq and Afghanistan if we were to suddenly find ourselves in a situation in which we were imposing anything other than a democratic system. [05:34]
absurd:adj.荒谬的;可笑的;n.荒诞;荒诞作品; engaged in:从事于;忙于; imposing:adj.壮观的; v.推行,采用; (impose的现在分词)
Anything else would run contrary to our values, it would run contrary to the wishes of the people on the ground, it would run contrary to our interests. [05:53]
contrary:adj.相反的;对立的;adv.相反地;n.相反;反面;
I remember in Iraq, for example, that we went through a period of feeling that we should delay democracy. [06:01]
We went through a period of feeling that the lesson learned from Bosnia was that elections held too early enshrined sectarian violence, enshrined extremist parties, so in Iraq in 2003 the decision was made, [06:07]
Bosnia:n.波斯尼亚;波士尼亚; enshrined:把…置于神龛内;把…奉若神;珍藏;铭记(enshrine的过去式和过去分词); extremist:n.极端主义者,过激分子;
let's not have elections for two years. Let's invest in voter education. Let's invest in democratization . [06:20]
invest:v.投资;(把资金)投入;投入(时间、精力等);授予; voter:n.选举人,投票人;有投票权者; democratization:n.民主化;
The result was that I found stuck outside my office a huge crowd of people, this is actually a photograph taken in Libya but I saw the same scene in Iraq [06:27]
Libya:n.埃及以西的北非地方古名;利比亚;
of people standing outside screaming for the elections, and when I went out and said, "What is wrong with the interim provincial council? [06:37]
interim:adj.临时的,暂时的;中间的;间歇的;n.过渡时期,中间时期;暂定;
What is wrong with the people that we have chosen? [06:47]
There is a Sunni sheikh , there's a Shiite sheikh , there's the seven -- leaders of the seven major tribes, there's a Christian, there's a Sabian, there are female representatives , there's every political party in this council, what's wrong with the people that we chose?" [06:51]
Sunni:n.(伊斯兰)逊尼派教徒; sheikh:n.族长;阿拉伯酋长(等于sheik); Shiite:n.什叶派教徒;adj.什叶派的; female:adj.女性的;雌性的;柔弱的,柔和的;n.女人;[动]雌性动物; representatives:n.代表;众议院(representative的复数形式);
The answer came, "The problem isn't the people that you chose. The problem is that you chose them." [07:06]
I have not met, in Afghanistan, in even the most remote community, anybody who does not want a say in who governs them. [07:15]
remote:adj.偏远的;偏僻的;遥远的;久远的;
Most remote community, I have never met a villager who does not want a vote. [07:24]
So we need to acknowledge that despite the dubious statistics , despite the fact that 84 percent of people in Britain feel politics is broken, despite the fact that when I was in Iraq, we did an opinion poll [07:30]
despite:prep.尽管,不管;n.轻视;憎恨;侮辱; dubious:adj.可疑的;暧昧的;无把握的;半信半疑的; statistics:n.统计数字;统计资料;统计学;(statistic的复数) politics:n.政治;钩心斗角;政治观点;v.(贬)从事政治活动;(politic的第三人称单数) opinion poll:na.民意测验;
in 2003 and asked people what political systems they preferred , and the answer came back that seven percent wanted the United States, five percent wanted France, three percent wanted Britain, [07:45]
preferred:v.较喜欢;喜欢…多于…;(prefer的过去式和过去分词) United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式)
and nearly 40 percent wanted Dubai , which is, after all, not a democratic state at all but a relatively prosperous minor monarchy , democracy is a thing of value [08:00]
Dubai:n.迪拜(阿拉伯联合酋长国的酋长国之一); relatively:adv.相当程度上;相当地;相对地; prosperous:adj.繁荣的;兴旺的; minor:adj.未成年的; n.未成年人; vi.副修; monarchy:n.君主政体;君主国;君主政治;
for which we should be fighting. But in order to do so we need to get away from instrumental arguments. [08:12]
instrumental:n.工具格;器乐曲;工具词;adj.起重要作用;用乐器演奏的;为乐器谱写的;
We need to get away from saying democracy matters because of the other things it brings. [08:18]
We need to get away from feeling, in the same way, human rights matters because of the other things it brings, or women's rights matters for the other things it brings. [08:25]
Why should we get away from those arguments? [08:35]
Because they're very dangerous. If we set about saying, for example, torture is wrong because it doesn't extract good information, or we say, you need women's rights [08:37]
torture:v.折磨;拷问;歪曲;n.折磨;拷问;歪曲; extract:v.提取;取出;摘录;榨取;n.汁;摘录;榨出物;选粹;
because it stimulates economic growth by doubling the size of the work force, you leave yourself open to the position where the government of North Korea can turn around and say, [08:49]
stimulates:vt.刺激;鼓舞,激励;vi.起刺激作用;起促进作用; economic:adj.经济的,经济上的;经济学的;
'"Well actually, we're having a lot of success extracting good information with our torture at the moment," [08:58]
extracting:n.提取;萃取;撷取;adj.拔出的(extract进行式);
or the government of Saudi Arabia to say, "Well, our economic growth's okay, thank you very much, considerably better than yours, so maybe we don't need to go ahead with this program on women's rights." [09:03]
Saudi:adj.沙乌地阿拉伯(人或语)的;n.沙乌地阿拉伯人; Arabia:n.阿拉伯半岛(亚洲西南部,等于ArabianPeninsula); considerably:adv.相当地;非常地;
The point about democracy is not instrumental. [09:13]
It's not about the things that it brings. [09:17]
The point about democracy is not that it delivers legitimate , effective, prosperous rule of law. [09:19]
legitimate:adj.合法的;正当的;合理的;正统的;v.使合法;认为正当(等于legitimize);
It's not that it guarantees peace with itself or with its neighbors. [09:28]
guarantees:v.保证(guarantee的第三人称单数); n.保证,[法]担保;
The point about democracy is intrinsic . [09:33]
intrinsic:adj.本质的,固有的;
Democracy matters because it reflects an idea of equality and an idea of liberty . It reflects an idea of dignity , the dignity of the individual, the idea that each individual should have an equal vote, an equal say, in the formation of their government. [09:36]
reflects:v.反映;映出(影像);反射;表明,表达;(reflect的第三人称单数) liberty:n.自由;许可;冒失; dignity:n.尊严;高贵; formation:n.形成;编队;组成;队形;
But if we're really to make democracy vigorous again, if we're ready to revivify it, we need to get involved in a new project of the citizens and the politicians . [09:57]
revivify:vt.使再生,使复活;使振奋精神;vi.复活,再生;振奋精神; involved:adj.有关的; v.涉及; (involve的过去式和过去分词) politicians:n.政治家;(蔑)政客;(美)政治贩;(politician的复数)
Democracy is not simply a question of structures . [10:08]
structures:n.结构; v.建造(structure的第三人称单数形式);
It is a state of mind. It is an activity. [10:13]
And part of that activity is honesty. [10:17]
After I speak to you today, I'm going on a radio program called "Any Questions," and the thing you will have noticed about politicians on these kinds of radio programs [10:21]
is that they never, ever say that they don't know the answer to a question. It doesn't matter what it is. [10:30]
If you ask about child tax credits, the future of the penguins in the south Antarctic , asked to hold forth on whether or not the developments in Chongqing contribute to sustainable development in carbon capture , and we will have an answer for you. [10:35]
penguins:n.企鹅;(penguin的复数) Antarctic:adj.南极(地方)的;n.南极地区;网络释义:南极的;南极区;南极地带的; hold forth on:滔滔不绝的讲述; whether or not:是否…; contribute to:有助于;捐献; sustainable development:可持续发展; carbon:n.[化学]碳;碳棒;复写纸;adj.碳的;碳处理的; capture:v.俘虏;捕获;攻占;夺得;刻画,描述;n.(被)捕获;(被)俘获 answer for:因…而受罚;对…负责;
We need to stop that, to stop pretending to be omniscient beings. [10:51]
omniscient:adj.全知的;无所不知的;n.上帝;无所不知者;
Politicians also need to learn, occasionally , to say that certain things that voters want, certain things that voters have been promised, may be things that we cannot deliver or perhaps that we feel we should not deliver. [10:56]
occasionally:adv.偶尔;有时候;偶然;
And the second thing we should do is understand the genius of our societies. [11:14]
genius:n.天才;天资;才能,本领;
Our societies have never been so educated, have never been so energized , have never been so healthy, have never known so much, cared so much, or wanted to do so much, and it is a genius of the local. [11:20]
energized:v.使充满热情; (energize的过去分词和过去式)
One of the reasons why we're moving away from banqueting halls such as the one in which we stand, banqueting halls with extraordinary images on the ceiling of kings enthroned , the entire drama played out here on this space, where the King of England had his head lopped off, [11:36]
banqueting:设宴; images:n.印象;声誉;形象;画像;雕像;(image的第三人称单数和复数) enthroned:v.使登基; (enthrone的过去分词); drama:n.戏剧;戏剧艺术;戏剧文学;戏剧性事件; played out:adj.失去影响(或作用); lopped:vt.砍伐;剪去树枝;vi.砍,删;闲荡;下垂;n.剪下的树枝;adj.垂下的;
why we've moved from spaces like this, thrones like that, towards the town hall , is we're moving more and more towards the energies of our people, and we need to tap that. [11:54]
thrones:n.座天使(圣经故事中天使名); town hall:n.镇公所;市政厅;(英国)市镇集会所;
That can mean different things in different countries. [12:06]
In Britain, it could mean looking to the French, learning from the French, getting directly elected mayors in place in a French commune system. [12:09]
directly:adv.直接地;立即;马上;正好地;坦率地;conj.一…就; mayors:市长; commune:vi.谈心,亲密交谈;密切联系;n.公社;
In Afghanistan, it could have meant instead of concentrating on the big presidential and parliamentary elections, we should have done what was in the Afghan constitution [12:20]
concentrating:v.集中(注意力);聚精会神;(使)浓缩(concentrate的现在分词) constitution:n.宪法;构成;体质;组成;
from the very beginning, which is to get direct local elections going at a district level and elect people's provincial governors. [12:28]
But for any of these things to work, the honesty in language, the local democracy, it's not just a question of what politicians do. [12:38]
It's a question of what the citizens do. [12:47]
For politicians to be honest, the public needs to allow them to be honest, and the media, which mediates between the politicians and the public, needs to allow those politicians to be honest. [12:49]
mediates:v.调解; adj.要靠媒介的; (mediate的第三人称单数);
If local democracy is to flourish, it is about the active and informed engagement of every citizen. [13:01]
engagement:n.婚约;约会;交战;诺言;n.参与度;
In other words, if democracy is to be rebuilt, is to become again vigorous and vibrant , it is necessary not just for the public to learn to trust their politicians, but for the politicians to learn to trust the public. [13:09]
vibrant:adj.振动的;充满生气的;响亮的;战栗的;
Thank you very much indeed. (Applause) [13:28]