外刊精读笔记 |《纽约时报》评英国女王伊丽莎白（一）
外刊精读笔记 |《纽约时报》评英国女王伊丽莎白（二）
外刊精读笔记 |《纽约时报》评英国女王伊丽莎白（三）
配合笔记食用哦 ，风味更佳~
Reconfigured (=changed，改组，指的是“英联邦”改组为“现代英联邦”) in 1949 to accommodate (=consider，考虑到，顾及) newly independent Asian republics, the Commonwealth was the empire’s sequel (=result，结果) and a vehicle (=way/means/tool/avenue/tactic，手段，工具，方法) for preserving Britain’s international influence.
背景解读：
1949年，为了减少非殖民化对自身的冲击，英国与其主要的前殖民地国家：澳大利亚、加拿大、斯里兰卡、印度、新西兰、巴基斯坦、南非一同改组了英联邦。改组后的英联邦不再以效忠英国君主为基础，且名称为体现非殖民化，也去掉了和英国有关的描述。英联邦的英文官方名称从最初的“British Commonwealth of Nations”更改为“Commonwealth of Nations”，从而演变为现代英联邦，以示减少殖民色彩。
主要是因为当时新独立不到2年的印度想成为共和国，但又想继续留在英联邦内，1949年4月的《伦敦宣言》才决定将“British”从“英联邦”的名称中删除。此后，不少独立的英国殖民地在成为共和国后，依然留在英联邦内。
Queen Elizabeth II with representatives of the Commonwealth in 1953.
In photographs (=picture/photo/shot/snapshot/snap/print，照片) from Commonwealth leaders’ conferences, the white queen sits front and center among dozens of(=a vast amounts of / a body of / a slew of / a host of / a plethora of / scores of / a heap of / a rash of / a pate of / a cascade of / a string of 等，都理解为many，英语中“a n. of”基本都表示“许多many/much”这个意思) mostly nonwhite premiers (=prime minister，首相，总理), like a matriarch (=女族长，莫名让我联想起「蜂后」) flanked (=be placed on both sides，站在两侧) by her offspring (=descendants / the future generations，后代).
She took her role very seriously (严肃对待), sometimes even clashing with (=have different opinion with，有分歧，想法上冲突) her ministers to support Commonwealth interests over narrower political imperatives (=important things，重要的事), like when she advocated multifaith Commonwealth Day services (= religious ceremony，宗教仪式) in the 1960s and encouraged a tougher line on (=take a tougher stance against / tough on / strike a defiant tone on，态度强硬)apartheid (种族隔离制度) South Africa.
What you would never know from the pictures — which is partly their point — is the violence that lies behind them. In 1948 the colonial governor of Malaya declared a state of emergency (宣布进入紧急状态，政府可以在此期间暂停/改变行政、立法、司法机构的某些职能) to fight communist guerrillas (共产主义游击队), and British troops used counterinsurgency (镇压叛乱) tactics the Americans would emulate (=imitate/mimic/copy/ape/simulate，模仿，效仿) in Vietnam.
In 1952 the governor of Kenya imposed a state of emergency (也是宣布进入紧急状态) to suppress an anticolonial movement known as Mau Mau, under which the British rounded up (=arrest/capture，围捕，围剿) tens of thousands of Kenyans into detention camps and subjected them to (=make sb experience/suffer，使某人遭受...) brutal, systematized torture (=成体系化的酷刑，比如电视剧甄嬛传就提到「慎刑司七十二道刑罚」).
■ 关于detention：
环球时报报道李易峰嫖娼的文章标题就是：Multiple brands ‘end cooperation’ with Chinese actor Li Yifeng after detention over prostitution (因嫖娼而被拘，prostitution 除了表示“卖淫”还可以表示“嫖娼”)
In Cyprus in 1955 and Aden, Yemen, in 1963, British governors again declared states of emergency to contend with (= cope with / grapple with / see to / attend to / tackle / handle / sort out / manage / come/get to grips with / rise to the occasion/the challenge，都表示「处理、解决问题 deal with」) anticolonial attacks; again they tortured civilians (=innocent people / ordinary people，平民).
Meanwhile, in Ireland, the Troubles brought the dynamics of emergency (紧急状态，所以dynamics要理解为「状态state」) to the United Kingdom.
In a karmic turn, the Irish Republican Army assassinated the queen’s relative Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last viceroy (总督，女王指派来管辖殖民地的人) of India (and the architect (=matchmaker，婚姻的促成者，也就是常说的「月老，红娘，牵红线的人」) of Elizabeth’s marriage to his nephew, Prince Philip), in 1979.
karmic 是「报应 karma」的形容词形式
in a karmic turn在这个语境中，可以理解为「报应不爽」
We may never learn what the queen did or didn’t know about the crimes committed in her name. (What transpires (=happen，发生) in the sovereign’s weekly meetings with the prime minister remains a black box at the center of the British state.)
black box 黑盒子，黑匣子
指一个只知道输入输出关系而不知道内部结构的系统或设备。
这里用来比喻女王和首相关于殖民地主权相关的周会内容，表达出会议内容的保密性。
Her subjects (国民，臣民，子民) haven’t necessarily gotten the full story (=the whole story / the panorama of / the full/whole picture，事情的全貌), either.
Colonial officials destroyed many records that, according to a dispatch (=message/report，（军事人员或政府官员之间的）急件，快信) from the secretary of state (=head of government depart，英国大臣) for the colonies, “might embarrass Her Majesty (=queen，对女王/国王的称呼)’s government” and deliberately concealed (=hide / obscure / cover up / belie / sweep/brush something under the carpet，掩盖 ) others in a secret archive (=document/record，档案，文件) whose existence was revealed only in 2011.
Though some activists such as the Labour M.P. (=Labour Member of Parliament，工党议员) Barbara Castle publicized and denounced (=strongly criticize / condemn / accuse sb of / was publicly rebuked for... / censure / ，谴责，本质上程度很深的、对某事物的「不赞同，反对 disagree」) British atrocities (=cruel and violent acts，暴行), they failed to gain wide public traction (=support，支持).
■ traction本义是「牵引力」，短语gain/get traction在词典里没有权威解释，但是在外刊中确是一个高频表达，有2个意思：
①「获得牵引力」，引申为「获得支持」，get support
例句：Orrin Hatch once ran for the presidency in 2000 in a campaign that never gained traction.
奥林·哈奇曾在2000年竞选总统，但他的竞选活动从未获得支持。
②「获得关注」「变得流行」，get popularity / become popular
As the notion that a meatless diet could improve personal health gained traction, more meat alternatives became available.
随着“无肉饮食可以改善个人健康”这一概念逐渐流行开来，市面上的替代肉也越来越多了。
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