2015考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》：宪法改革英国剧变
2015考研英语复习正是强化复习阶段，考研英语阅读在考研英语中占了40分，所以考研英语阅读是英语科目中重要的一项。新东方名师范猛老师曾建议过考研生需要坚持每天泛读10-15分钟的英文原刊。强烈推荐了杂志《经济学人》杂志中的文章也是考研英语的主要材料来源.希望考研考生认真阅读，快速提高考研英语阅读水平。Constitutional reform
宪法改革
All change
英国剧变
Britain is on the verge of constitutional upheaval
英国正在宪法剧变的边缘
THIS may seem an odd moment to make the claim,but Britain is a country in the grip of a modernisingfrenzy. The outside world may see an unvaryingkingdom of royal weddings, golden carriages andclip-clopping Horse Guards, with a young prime minister drawn from the old Establishment.But strip away the pageantry, and David Cameron’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition isproposing radical changes to the constitutional order.
现在似乎还不是下结论的时候，但是英国正受到对现代化的狂热情绪支配。在国外人看来这个王国并无变化：皇室婚礼、黄金马车、马蹄得得的皇家骑卫队以及正当权的年轻首相。但是在这华丽的虚饰下，大卫??卡梅隆的保守党、工党、自民党联合政府正提议彻底改革宪法。
A national referendum on May 5th and months of parliamentary wrangling lie ahead. But if allthe changes being proposed by the coalition come to fruition, British democracy could lookand feel very different by the next general election, set by the coalition for May 2015.
5月5日全国范围的公民投票后是长达数月的议会辩论。如果所有联合政府提出的改革都得到成效，下一次联合政府举行大选时(2015年5月)英国的民主会让人们看到、体会到很大的不同。
Depending on the outcome of the referendum, that general election may be held using a newvoting system: supporters of change call it the biggest shake-up since votes for women in1928. Voters are to be asked to choose between keeping the winner-takes-all system of first-past-the-post (FPTP) and moving to the alternative-vote (AV) method, in which voters rankcandidates in numbered order of preference. Under AV, if no candidate wins more than 50%of voters’ first preferences, the least popular candidate is eliminated and the secondpreferences of those who voted for him are distributed. The process continues, redistributingthird, fourth or lower preferences until someone crosses the 50% line.
公投的结果将决定大选是否会采取新的投票体制：改革支持者称之为继1928年妇女获得投票权后最大的改革.投票人将选择是保留赢者通吃的简单多数制(FPTP)还是改为排序投票制(AV)，后者框架下投票人根据喜好对候选人排序，如果没有候选人获得超过半数的首选，得票最少的候选人将被淘汰，其选票划入排在第二位的候选人名下。以此类推，经过对排在第三位、第四位甚至更靠后的候选人选票重新划分直到有人的得票超过半数。
The House of Commons is also set to shrink from650 to 600 seats, and almost every constituency willhave new boundaries. With few exceptions, the seatswill be more uniform, with around 76,000 votersapiece—a change that will mean many seatsstraddling county borders for the first time, and themerger of many small seats, notably in Wales. Thenext parliament might also have a fixed term of fiveyears, ending the privilege enjoyed by British primeministers of choosing the date (within five years) tocall a general election.
下议院的席位将从650个缩减到600个，几乎所有的选区都要重新划分。总体来说席位将更加均衡，每个议员代表近7.6万的投票人，这一改变将意味着有很多席位首次跨郡，很多量小的席位合并，尤其是在威尔士。下一届议会的任期大概也是5年，首相将不再享有(在5年内)选择大选日期的特权。
Under another set of proposals due to be unveiled in May, the present House of Lords isearmarked for abolition. Its 792 serving members are to be replaced, after a transition period,by a semi-elected house (possibly called a Senate) of as few as 300 members. According topress leaks, 80% of its members would be elected by a form of proportional representation (PR)—ie, a system in which a party that polls a fifth of the votes wins roughly a fifth of the seats—for single terms of 15 years. The remaining 20% would be appointed, in an awkward trade-off between democracy and the expertise brought to Lords debates by retired military chiefs,judges, scientists and other grandees who may be unwilling to run for party-political office.The 92 remaining hereditary peers would be ejected from Parliament, as would most (but notall) of the 25 Anglican bishops and archbishops who sit in today’s House of Lords.
在其他将于5月揭晓的一系列提案中，当前的上议院又被打上了待废止的标签。792名议员将在过渡期后被300人左右半选举产生的议院(可能名为参议院)代替。据媒体透露，80%的成员由比例代表制(PR)选举产生，该体系下得到五分之一投票的政党得到五分之一的席位，每轮任期15年。剩下的20%通过任命确定，在对民主和专家艰难权衡后，上议院的议会辩论将加入退休的军长、法官、科学家和其他无意加入任何党派的显贵要人。目前的92位世袭贵族将被挤出议会，25位圣公会的大主教和主教中大部分(但不是全部)也是一样。
Many peers expect their elected successors to be much more assertive towards the House ofCommons, straining old conventions that the Lords should bow before the primacy of theelected chamber. Government ministers play down the prospect of clashes, saying there is noreason why the relationship should alter. That seems a stretch. At the least the newrelationship will probably have to be written down in statutory form. And then, notes VernonBogdanor of King’s College London, Britain would be “halfway to a written constitution”. Thatmarks another break, this time with the tradition that Britain’s constitution exists merely invirtual form, scattered across the statute books and buttressed by precedent andconvention.
很多贵族期待他们通过选举产生的继任者能在下议院更有自信，由此打破旧时上议院屈从于下议院的惯例。政府部长们试图减少可能的冲突，表示没有理由改变现有的关系。这似乎也是行得通。最终新形成的关系很可能也要以文字形式立法。伦敦大学国王学院的韦农??波格丹诺(Vernon Bogdanor)表示那时英国算是“向成文的宪法迈进了一半”。那会是另一次突破，过去英国宪法只以道德形式存在的传统，将为法令全书所打破并受到判例和惯例的支持。
Will all these changes happen? Previous attempts at bold reform have often been watereddown. Ordinary voters may determine part of the answer. Plans for reforming the upper houseare—like plans for AV—Liberal Democrat ambitions, and are the personal responsibility of NickClegg, the Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister. If May 5th sees a series of defeats forthe Lib Dems—notably in the AV referendum, but also in elections held the same day to localcouncils and devolved parliaments—Mr Clegg will need something to cheer up his party. If, onthe other hand, AV is approved, furious Tory MPs may demand that the House of Lords be leftalone.
这些改变会成为现实吗?先前大胆的改革努力通常都被冲淡了。普通的投票人也许会对结果有一定的决定作用。改革上议院的计划——如采用AV——是自民党的宏愿，也是自民党领袖及副首相尼克??克莱格(NickClegg)的个人责任。如果5月5日自民党遭受一连串的打击——尤其是在就是否采取AV的公投，以及同日就市政委员会和江河日下的议会的选举——克莱格先生就得想办法来给自己的政党鼓气了。如果情况相反，AV得以通过，怒火中烧的托利党国会议员也许会要求喊停上议院改革。
Even pro-reform politicians admit that many knotty issues would have to be resolved before a Senate could rise from the ashes of the House of Lords. If some members are appointed, will they have less legitimacy than elected colleagues? If a few Anglican bishops are allowed to stay, what about leaders of other faiths? And will today’s peers vote for their own eviction? The 2010 coalition agreement talks of “grandfathering” to allow current peers to remain for some time. The terms of that transition will be considered by a joint committee drawn from both houses of parliament, but “most change is evolutionary in this country”, says the minister soothingly. Senior peers talk of proposals for giving ejected members a soft landing. One proposal would offer retired peers associate membership, including the right to return and visit the House of Lords for tea.
支持改革的政客们也认为在废除在上议院与建立参议院之间还有许多棘手的问题需要解决。如部分议员由任命产生，他们的地位是否会低于选举产生的同僚?又如圣公会的部分大主教可以保留席位，其他教派的领袖呢?今日还在位的贵族会愿意给将代替他们的人投票吗?2010联合政府协议表示基于“祖父条款”(即新的法律或规定通过之前享受的特权或权利)现任贵族将保留一段时间。过渡时期的任期将由来自上下两院的议员组成的联合委员会衡量，但是委员会委员长安慰道“这个国家绝大部分的改变都是革命性的”。一项提议表示给予退休的贵族议员副会员的资格，包括有权回到上议院喝喝茶。
Unfinished business未竟的事业
With so many economic headaches, it may seem puzzling to find the government so focused on constitutional change. Part of the explanation lies in unfinished business. The years of Labour rule, from 1997 until 2010, were a time of frequent (and frequently rushed) alterations to the ancient, patched fabric of Britain’s constitution. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were given their own devolved governments and parliamentary assemblies, with (depending on the region) more or less sweeping powers over everything from schools and health care to transport, housing and policing. The ancient office of Lord Chancellor—formerly the head of the judiciary, presiding officer of the House of Lords and a cabinet minister all at once—was broken into three. A Supreme Court of the United Kingdom was established and hundreds of hereditary peers kicked out of the Lords. London gained a directly elected mayor, as did a clutch of other local authorities and boroughs. Forms of PR were introduced for elections to the European Parliament, the new devolved regional assemblies, the Greater London Assembly and for the direct election of those mayors. But several democratic flaws were left unfixed.
在众多经济难题尚未解决之时，政府如此集中精力改革宪法让人感到迷惑。这部分要归结于一些未竟的事业。工党领导下的1997年至2010年，是频繁(且仓促的)给过去英国宪法打补丁的时期。苏格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰日益衰退的政府和议会召开大会，或多或少的(各地区情况不同)取得对教育、健康、交通、住房和治安的广泛权力。过去的大法官——曾是集司法部长、上议院议长和内阁大臣三权于一身——现在分权为三人。联合王国的最高法院得以成立，数百名世袭贵族被赶出上议院。伦敦通过直接选举产生市长，另有一批当地官员和大伦敦自治市也是如此。欧洲议会采取PR进行选举，如大伦敦会议等其他新的地区会议也通过直接选举产生市长。但一些民主的缺陷却没有得到弥补。
Political leaders say they are responding to public demands to mend a system that is “broken”. They are right that trust in politicians has collapsed, notably after a string of revelations about MPs and peers caught fiddling their expenses in the last parliament (leading to prison for some). Fully 40% of voters told the latest British Social Attitudes survey that they “almost never” trust any government to put the national interest first. But alas, several of the constitutional fixes on offer are designed to serve the interests of those in power.
政治领袖们表示他们正依公众要求修缮“受损”的体制。公众对政客的信任已经崩塌，尤其是在一系列国会议员和贵族被揭露在议会伪造账目(部分人因此坐牢)等事发后。最近一次英国社会态度调查显示的不少于40%的投票人表示“几乎从不”相信能有哪届政府把国家的利益放在第一位。然而可叹的是，尚有的不少宪法修正方案就是为服务执政人利益而提出的。
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