Key sentence

Declining, like most recent prime ministers, the customary offer of a seat in the House of Lords, he has devoted himself to business and charitable activities.

像最近几任首相一样，他拒绝了在上议院获得席位的惯例，转而投身于商业和慈善活动。

Cameron’s premiership from 2010 to 2016 coincided almost wholly with the Obama presidency, Joe Biden was the vice president.

卡梅伦在2010年至2016年担任首相期间，几乎与奥巴马的总统任期完全重合，当时副总统是乔·拜登。

Second, the Cameron appointment signifies that Sunak seeks to govern not from the right, but from the center. A key feature of the reshuffle was the sacking of the already once-fired Suella Braverman, the controversial home secretary and a favorite of right-wing Conservatives.

其次，卡梅伦的任命表明，Sunak寻求的不是由右翼执政，而是由中间派执政。这次改组的一个关键特点是解雇了曾经被解雇的内政大臣、右翼保守党的宠儿苏拉·布雷弗曼（Suella Braverman）。

She had spoken insensitively on homelessness, declaring it “a lifestyle choice”. More crucially, she had infuriated the prime minister by breaking collective responsibility when she ignored his concerns in relation to an article that she had contributed to the TIMEs of London, which critics argued had sought to undermine the operational independence of the police in advance of a large pro-Palestinian march last week.

她毫不敏感地谈到了无家可归，宣称这是“一种生活方式的选择”。更关键的是，她无视总理对她为伦敦《泰晤士报》（TIMEs of London）撰写的一篇文章的担忧，违背了集体责任，激怒了总理。批评人士认为，在上周一场大规模亲巴勒斯坦游行之前，这篇文章试图破坏警方的行动独立性。

Third, and perhaps most importantly, Sunak badly needs to rejuvenate the Conservative Party, which appears tired, uncertain, and lacking direction – having been in government for 13 years either alone or in coalition. The Conservatives have, according to survey evidence, been between 15 and 20 percent behind the Labour Party in the polls for many months.

第三，或许也是最重要的一点，Sunak迫切需要重振保守党，该党在单独或联合执政的13年里，显得疲惫、不确定、缺乏方向。调查显示，数月来，保守党在民调中一直落后工党15%至20%。

Were this to be replicated in a general election, which must be held some time before January 2025, Labour would win a landslide greater than that secured by former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who in 1997 gained a majority of 179 seats.

如果这种情况在2025年1月之前举行的大选中重演，工党将以压倒性的优势赢得胜利，超过前首相托尼•布莱尔（Tony Blair）在1997年获得的179个多数席位。

Indeed, since 1964, no party that has been so far ahead at this stage of a parliamentary term has failed to gain the most votes in the ensuing general election.

事实上，自1964年以来，在议会任期的这个阶段，没有一个政党在随后的大选中未能获得最多的选票。

And governmental reshuffles, however imaginative, rarely alter the political weather. No disillusioned Conservative is likely to say - now that Cameron has been brought back to government and Braverman has been sacked, “I can safely return to the fold.”

而政府的改组，无论多么富有想象力，也很少能改变政治气候。没有一个幻想破灭的保守党人可能会说——既然卡梅伦已经回到政府，布雷弗曼已经被解雇，“我可以安全地回归了。”

The Conservative Party faces two fundamental problems. The first is that it seems to have no philosophy with which to meet the cost-of-living crisis and a widespread feeling that public services - in particular healthy care, social care, and housing - are not working effectively.

保守党面临两个根本问题。首先，它似乎没有应对生活费用危机的哲学，而且人们普遍认为，公共服务——特别是医疗保健、社会保健和住房——没有有效地发挥作用。

The Conservatives have not yet confronted this problem and appear to have no clear sense of direction. Since Brexit, they have been unable to decide whether they are an interventionist or free-market party, whether they believe in an active government or one which tells voters not to look to the state to resolve their problems.

保守党还没有面对这个问题，似乎也没有明确的方向感。自英国退欧以来，他们一直无法决定自己是一个干预主义政党还是一个自由市场政党，是相信一个积极的政府还是一个告诉选民不要指望政府来解决他们的问题的政府。

The second problem that the Conservatives face is that of reconciling two opposed constituencies.

保守党面临的第二个问题是如何调和两个对立的选区

It is a familiar observation that social democratic parties in Europe (and perhaps also the US Democrats) need to satisfy two different social groups – a working class that has traditionally been a core constituency of parties of the moderate left but is now decline, as well as a growing professional and graduate middle class.

人们普遍认为，欧洲的社会民主党（或许还有美国的民主党）需要满足两个不同的社会群体——传统上一直是温和左派政党核心选民的工人阶级如今正在衰落，以及不断壮大的专业和受过高等教育的中产阶级。

These two groups tend to favor very different policies. The traditional working class tends to be strongly patriotic, hostile to immigration and multiculturalism, and on the so-called anti-woke side in the culture wars in both countries.

这两个群体倾向于支持截然不同的政策。传统的工人阶级倾向于强烈的爱国主义，反对移民和多元文化主义，在两国的文化战争中都站在所谓的反觉醒的一边。

Sunak has yet to show that he can repeat this trick. He faces a threat not just from Labour on his left, but also on his right from the Reform party, the heir to the United Kingdom Independence Party. UKIP was led for much of its existence by Nigel Farage, a brilliant communicator who is perhaps contemplating a return to politics, believing as he does that there is scope for a realignment on the right.

苏纳克还没有证明他可以重复这个把戏。他不仅面临着来自左翼工党的威胁，还面临着来自右翼改革党（英国独立党的继承者）的威胁。英国独立党大部分时间都是由奈杰尔•法拉奇（Nigel Farage）领导的。法拉奇是一位出色的沟通者，他可能正在考虑重返政坛，因为他相信右翼有重组的空间。

But, of course, Americans and others from the wider world will be less concerned with the ins and outs of the government reshuffle than with Cameron’s foreign-policy attitudes, He is best known for having led the campaign to remain in the European Union in 2016. But having now accepted Brexit, he is in a strong position to recalibrate Britain’s relations with the continent, particularly in regard to defense.

但是，当然，美国人和其他国家的人更关心卡梅伦的外交政策态度，而不是政府改组的来龙去臼。卡梅伦最为人所知的是，他在2016年领导了留欧运动。但现在他已经接受了英国退欧，他处于重新调整英国与欧洲大陆关系的有利地位，尤其是在防务方面。

UK foreign policy, however, depends less on who is foreign secretary and even less on what government is in power than it does on the ineluctable facts of international life.

然而，英国的外交政策更多地取决于国际生活中不可避免的事实，而不是由谁担任外交大臣，更不是由哪届政府执政。

Whoever is in power, Britain will remain a stable and tolerant democracy as well as a staunch, reliable ally. On these matters, the country is broadly united. It would be a mistake to believe that the vigorous and sometimes raucous inter- and intraparty debate in Britain indicates any weakening of resolve.

无论谁掌权，英国都将是一个稳定、宽容的民主国家，也是一个坚定、可靠的盟友。在这些问题上，这个国家基本上是团结一致的。如果认为英国两党之间激烈的、有时甚至是喧闹的辩论表明决心在减弱，那就错了。

重点词汇

核心术语

重点短语解析

1. the ins and outs of

   • 语境：描述政府改组的复杂细节
   • 记忆点：“ins and outs"比喻事物的方方面面

2. in a strong position to

   • 应用场景：外交政策调整时的战略优势
   • 句式拓展：be in a strong position to negotiate（处于有利谈判地位）

3. collective responsibility

   • 关联概念：英国内阁集体负责制原则
   • 记忆点：与"个人责任"形成对比

4. culture wars

   • 典型表现：关于移民政策、历史记忆的争论
   • 当代案例：英国脱欧后的社会分裂