The promise and the perils of impeachment

[lihe]

The Supreme Court

Brexit has infected British politics from top to bottom

To cure the fever will require another vote

1. infect v. 感染，影响
2. twaddle v. 废话，蠢话 = nonsense

No british institution is any longer immune to the Brexit virus. On September 24th the
Supreme Court ruled that the queen herself had been led to act unlawfully when her
prime minister, Boris Johnson, advised her to suspend Parliament in the run-up to
Britain’s departure from the European Union (see article). Unanimous, the judges
ruled that the government had not provided “any reason—let alone a good reason”
for this intrusion on “the fundamentals of democracy”. The very next day mps returned
to work triumphant.

1. institution n. 机构；政府机关 / 组织
2. be immune to 不受...的影响
3. illegal = unlawful 违法的
4. suspend v. 暂停
5. the run-up to sth.（重要事件的）前夕
   • in the run-up to the election 在选举前夕
6. unanimous adj. 一致通过的
   • a unanimous decision / vote 一致通过的决定 / 投票
7. the intrusion on 对...的侵犯
8. triumphant adj. 胜利的；洋洋得意的；耀武扬威的；

This was the worst week in Mr Johnson’s extraordinarily bad two months in office. The
unelected prime minister has lost every vote he has faced, squandered his majority
and fired a score of mps from his Conservative Party. Following the court’s ruling, he
was dragged back from a un summit in New York to face the music in Westminster,
where mps now have ample time to grill him not only about his fraying Brexit plans
but also on allegations of corruption during his stint as mayor of London.

1. unelected adj. 未经选举的
2. squander v. 挥霍，浪费
   • squander sth. on sth.
   • squander a number of chances in the first half 在上半场浪费了好几次机会
3. drag one's feet / heels 做事拖拉，迟迟不做
   • sb. is always dragging his feet over doing sth. 在某件事上做事拖拉
4. face the music 为自己的行为接受批评 / 惩罚
5. be music to your ears （某人的话）听起来很中听
   • Your words is music to my ears.
6. grill v. 审问，盘问
   • grill sb about / on sth.
7. fray v. 磨损；（使）恼怒 = annoying
   • n. 争吵，大家
     • enter the fray
8. stint n. 固定的时期（做某项工作或活动）
   • do a two-year stint in the army 服了两年兵役
   • his stint as chairman 主席任期

Mr Johnson is an unworthy occupant of 10 Downing Street. And yet the man who
would replace him, Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, is hardly more appealing. At its
conference this week Labour set out a platform of wildly far-left policies, including
the expropriation of a tenth of the equity of every large company, a big round of
nationalisation, the seizure of private schools’ assets and a four-day working week.
The extreme nature of the programme was matched only by the extreme viciousness
of the infighting, and the extreme incompetence with which plots were hatched and
backs were stabbed.

1. unworthy adj. 有失身份的（行为，态度）
   • is unworthy of a mayor 没有市长的样子
2. far-left 极左（左派）
3. expropriate v. 征用，没收
   • expropriation n.
4. equity n. 公正；取票
5. round n. 一系列常规活动，惯常的活动
   • an endless round of meeting 没玩没了的会议
   • the daily round of commuting and shopping 每天...的例行实物
   • round of applause 一阵掌声
   • it's my round 轮到我请客了
   • do / go the rounds 传播，流传（观点，故事，疾病）
6. vicious adj. 恶毒的；凶险的 = malicious
7. infighting n. 内讧，内部斗争
8. plot n. 密谋，阴谋；情节
   • the plot thickens 情况开始复杂起来，事情越来越纠缠不清了
9. hatch v. 孵化
   • hatch a plot 密谋
10. stab sb. in the back 背后伤人；背叛某人 = betray

It may seem like an awful twist of fate that at such a crucial time Britain has both the
worst prime minister and worst leader of the opposition in living memory. But it is no
coincidence. Both men, wholly inadequate to their roles, are in place only because
Brexit has upended the normal rules of politics. This turbulent week has shown more
clearly than ever that, until Britain’s relationship with the eu is resolved, its broader
politics will be dangerously dysfunctional.

1. twist n. 意外转折
   • be round the twist 发疯的；极其愤怒的
2. upend v. 使颠倒
3. turbulence n. 波动
   • turbulent adj. 骚乱的，动乱的；狂风大作的
4. dysfunctional adj. 失常的；有故障的

He fought the law and the law won

The Supreme Court’s welcome slapping down of Mr Johnson’s unlawful suspension of Parliament was a model of neutrality. But the unrepentant prime minister told a febrile Parliament that the court had been wrong to intervene. mps are sabotaging Brexit, he thundered; by ruling out a no-deal Brexit they are surrendering to the Europeans. The man who claimed he wanted to leave the eu to restore power to British institutions has again shown himself ready to vandalise them when it suits hi

1. slap sb. down 训斥

2. unlawful adj. 不合法的

3. suspension n. 暂停；悬浮

4. neutrality n. 中立；

5. unrepentant adj. 顽固的；不知悔改的

6. prime n. 盛年；adj. 主要的；首要的；优质的

7. minister n. 部长；

8. febrile adj. 狂热的

9. court n. 法院

10. intervene v. 介入；干扰

11. sabotage v. 破坏

12. thunder v. 打雷；怒吼；n. 雷；

13. rule sth. / sb. out 排除；拒绝考虑；使（某件事）不可能发生

    e.g. 干旱的土地 rule out most forms of agriculture

    e.g. Her existence rules out my winning the game.

14. surrender v. n. 投降；放弃

15. institution n. 机构；团体；制度

16. vandalise v. 故意破坏

17. suit yourself 随你便吧

There is no doubt, though, that the person most damaged by the ruling is the prime minister himself. As wellas the ignominy of losing the case, the judgment brings more immediate problems. One is the prospect of mps digging into new claims that, as mayor, he funnelled public money to companies owned by a close friend. (He says funds were dispensed to her with “utter propriety”.) Another is that his promise to leave the eu on October 31st under any circumstances looks rasher than ever. He is desperate to do a deal, but striking one that satisfies both the eu and his hardline Brexiteers in Parliament will be a tall order—as it was for his predecessor, Theresa May. The court has shown that it will not tolerate the kind of chicanery that his advisers seemed to think might get him out of this hole.

1. ignominy n. 公开的耻辱 = humiliation

2. prospect n. 展望；情景；前途；可能发生的事

   be excited at the prospect of sth. 对某件（尚未发生的）事感到激动

3. dig into 探究；开始使用

   dig your heels in sth. 拒不让步

   dig deep 动用储存；动用后备力量

   dig a hole for oneself 自食其果

   dig sb. out of trouble 帮助某人摆脱困境

4. funnel v. 汇集

5. dispense v. 分配；免除

6. utter adj. 完全的；v. 说；讲

7. propriety n. 适当；正当

8. circumstance n. 环境；境况

9. rash adj. 鲁莽的；轻率的

10. desperate adj. 渴望的

11. strike v. 罢工；打击；

    strike a deal 达成协议

12. striking adj. 引人注的；异乎寻常的

13. hard-line adj. 硬派的；执着的

14. a tall order 很难完成的要求

    a tall story 荒诞的故事

15. predecessor n. 前任

16. court n. 法院；v. 追求；求婚；吸引；寻求

17. tolerate v. 忍受

18. chicanery n. 诡计；欺骗

19. hole n. 洞；孔

    full of holes 漏洞百出

    be in a hole 处于困境中

    get sb. out of one's hole 帮助某人摆脱困境

If Mr Johnson feels tormented by Brexit, he should think again. His lifelong aim of becoming Conservative leader had long been blocked by fellow mps, who identified him as a lightweight and a liar. Only their panicked belief that the party needed a leader who had backed Leave, and who could win voters from the hardline Brexit Party, persuaded them to overlook the glaring flaws in his character. Brexit may well make Mr Johnson the shortest-serving prime minister. But it was also Brexit that made him any sort of prime minister.

1. torment v. 折磨；欺负；使混乱；n. 苦恼
2. lifelong adj. 终生的；
3. block v. 阻塞；阻挠；杜绝；n. 阻碍；块
4. lightweight adj. 不严肃的；微不足道的；n. 微不足道的人
5. liar n. 说谎者
6. panic n. 恐慌
7. back v. 支持；后退
8. glaring adj. 显眼的；刺眼的
9. flaw n. 缺点；裂纹

Something similar is true of Mr Corbyn. He, too,is frustrated that Brexit, which does not much interest him, is distracting from his plans for transforming Britain. Labour’s internal split on the issue is more likely than anything else to bring him down. But it is also Brexit that has catapulted him tothe extraordinary position of preparing to form a socialist government before the end of the year. Brexit has done for two Tory prime ministers and counting, and split the party system in such a way that Labour might yet take office on only a small share of the vote. Even with their humiliations, the Conservatives are ten points ahead in polls. Imagine how poorly Mr Corbyn, the most unpopular opposition leader on record, would be faring in normal times.

1. frustrated adj. 沮丧的；失败的

2. distract v. 转移（注意力）；分散（思想）

   distract sb. from study

3. transform = completely change

   improve greatly = transform sth. for the better

   Mobile network has transformed out life for the better.

   AI / Social network ... has transformed our life / study , for better or for worse, depending on how we use it .

4. internal adj. 内部的；里面的；n. 本质；内脏

5. split n. 分歧；分裂；v. 使分裂；分开

6. bring sb. down 让坏事发生在某人身上，让某人遭殃

   His rudeness brought him down. 他的鲁莽让他遭殃

   bring tears to sb.'s eyes 让某人流泪

   couldn't / cannot bring yourself to do sth. 无法让自己去做某事

   语境：因为如果做了的话会让某人或自己不高兴

   I couldn't bring myself to lie to her.

7. catapult v. 把...弹出去/射出去

   catapult sb. to fame / stardom 让某人一举成名

   catapult sb. to the spotlight 让...成为公众关注的焦点

8. extraordinary adj. 意想不到的；令人惊奇的；奇怪 的；

9. do for 杀死；严重伤害；要了某人的命

10. ... and counting 数字在持续增加

11. vote v. n. 投票

12. humiliation n. 羞辱；丢脸

13. poll n. 民意调查

14. fare well 成功了

    fare badly 失败

    fare better 更成功
    How did you fare in the interview? 你的面试怎么样？

    In terms of democracy, A fares better than B.

Voters will soon face an unappetising choice betweenthese two inadequate leaders. With the government some 40 votes short of a majority, an election is coming. Polls show that many voters (like quite a few mps) are defecting to the moderate Liberal Democrats—a sign that they reject the drift to the extremes in the two main parties. Yet under first-past-the-post voting it would take an earthquake for the next prime minister to be anyone other than Mr Johnson or Mr Corbyn. And as for the great matter of the day, neither man has yet been able to say precisely what type of Brexit, if any, he could bring about. Given the polls, it is likely that neither will end up with a majority, leaving Parliament just as logjammed as today.

1. unappetizing adj. 难吃的；倒胃口的
2. inadequate adj. 不胜任的；不充足的；不够的
3. defect n. 缺陷；短处；不足；v. 背叛；变节
4. moderate v. 缓和；使适中；adj. 适度的；适中的
5. reject v. 排斥；拒收；n. 废品；次品
6. drift n. 趋势；大意；要点；v. 漂移；漂流
7. precisely adv. 精确的；准确的
8. logjam n. 僵局；停滞状态

That is why the Brexit question is best answered by returning it to voters, via a second referendum. We have long argued that they deserve a chance to say whether the final exit deal is preferable to the one they have as eu members. A referendum would resurrect bitter arguments and infuriate Leavers, who see it as a rematch of a contest they already won. But nearly four years will have passed between the original vote and a likely exit date. In addition, what was promised has turned out starkly different from the reality, especially if Britain proposes to leave without a deal. It is thus more important than ever to find out if voters are really in favour of what is being done in their name. The public supports the idea of a second vote and there is just about a majority for it in Parliament, which can agree on little else. Only when people are given a clear choice on this question can the country begin to shake off the Brexit virus.

1. via prep. 通过；经由

2. referendum n. 全民投票

3. argue v. 认为；争论；辩论；说服

4. resurrect v. 重新应用；恢复；

5. bitter adj. 充满怨恨的；激烈的；愤愤不平的；苦的；痛苦的

   to the bitter end 坚持到底；拼到底

   fight ... to the bitter end 与... 作斗争

6. infuriate v. 激怒；使生气

7. starkly adv. 完全的

8. shake v. 摆动；摆脱