最后一次！梅姨以首相身份的绝唱演说！“人要学会妥协与中庸！”

不出意外地，鲍里斯·约翰逊接替特蕾莎·梅，出任英国首相一职。7月17日下午，梅姨也最后一次以首相身份在伦敦查塔姆研究所发表长篇演说，在英国政坛留下自己最后的印记……她回顾了50余年的从政生涯，阐述一直以来坚持的政治信念！梅姨抛出问题：是做一位有执着信念的政治家，还是一位实用主义者？"政治，并不是非黑即白非赢即输，有时妥协中庸才是良策"！

中英全文

This will most likely be the last time that I will speak at length as Prime Minister, and I would like today to share some personal reflections on the state of politics in our country and around the world.

这应该是，我最后一次以首相身份发表长篇演说。今天我想谈谈，对英国政治现状，以及世界政治状况的一些个人看法。

Now I've lived politics for half a century. From stuffing envelopes for my local party in my school years to serving as a local councillor, fighting a by-election,winning a seat, serving for 12 years on the opposition front bench and for 9 years in the Cabinet as Home Secretary and Prime Minister.

我从政已逾半个世纪。高中时代，我便帮助地方保守党分装信封、派发传单。后来担任地方议员参加补选，最终赢得席位。之后，任反对党前排议员12年有余，此后加入内阁，任内政大臣和首相整整9年。

Throughout that time, in every job I have done. I've been inspired by the enormous potential that working in politics and taking part in public life holds. The potential to serve your country, to improve peoples' lives and – in however big or small a way – to make the world a better place.

纵观我的政治生涯,我做过的每份工作,我都一直深受鼓舞。参加政治工作、参与社会公共生活拥有着极大的潜能，让我们能够服务于国家、改善人民生活。无论力量强大或微小，都有机会让整个世界变得更美好。

Both domestically and internationally, in substance and in tone. I'm worried about the state of politics. That worry stems from a conviction that the values on which all of our successes have been founded cannot be taken for granted. They may look to us as old as the hills, we might think that they will always be there, but establishing the superiority of those values over the alternatives was the hard work of centuries of sacrifice. And to ensure that liberal inheritance can endure for generations to come, we today have a responsibility to be active in conserving it, If we do not, we will all pay the price: rich and poor, strong and weak, powerful and powerless.

但如今，无论英国国内、还是整个世界。无论实际行动、还是语言表达。我对当前的政治现状感到忧心忡忡。这种担忧，源于这样一种信念：绝不可将为我们带来成功的基本价值观视作理所应当。我们或许认为，这些价值观落伍陈旧；我们或许认为，这些价值观自始至终一直都在。但实际上，确立这些价值观之于其他观念的优势地位，是用几个世纪来，奉献牺牲的艰苦工作换得的。为确保自由民主的价值遗产能够延续传承几代人，我们现在必须肩负责任、积极保护这些价值观。若不这么做，我们必将付出代价：贫富悬殊、强弱分化、尊卑两极。

As a politician, my decisions and actions have always been guided by that conviction. It used to be asked of applicants at Conservative candidates election meetings 'are you a conviction politician or are you a pragmatist'?

作为一名政客，我的一切决定和行动，自始至终都以这一信念为指导。以前，在保守党员的甄选会议上，候选人会被问到一个问题："你是一位有执着信念的政治家、还是一位实用主义者？"

I've never accepted the distinction. Politics is the business of turning your convictions into reality to improve the lives of the people you serve. As a Conservative——I have never had any doubt about what I believe in: security, freedom and opportunity, decency, moderation, patriotism. Conserving what is of value but never shying away from change. Indeed, recognising that often change is the way to conserve. Believing in business but holding businesses to account if they break the rules. Backing ambition, aspiration and hard work. Protecting our Union of nations –and being prepared to act in its interest.

我从不认为这二者有别。所谓政治，就是将你的信念变成现实，以改善你所服务的人民的生活。作为保守党人，我从未怀疑过自己的信仰、安全、自由、机遇、正派、中庸、爱国、保存有价值的事物。但绝不规避改变，实际上要认识到，很多时候，改变也是保存的一种方式。对商业有信念，但若企业违反规则，就必须承担责任、支持雄心壮志抱负宏愿和勤勉努力，保护我们的联合王国，并时刻准备好，以其利益行事。

Even if that means steering a difficult political course. And remaining always firmly rooted in the common ground of politics where all great political parties should be. I didn't write about those convictions in pamphlets or make many theoretical speeches about them. I have sought to put them into action.

And actually getting things done rather than simply getting them said requires some qualities that have become unfashionable of late. One of them is a willingness to compromise.

即使这意味着，要走上一条艰难的政治道路，并始终牢牢扎根于共同的政治基础。所有伟大的政党都应如此，我倒没有将这些信念写在小册子里，也没有就这些信念发表过理论性演说。我试图做的是，将这些信念付诸行动，要真正把事情做好，而不是简单地空口承诺。这就要求，我们拥有一些，如今看来有点过时的品质，其中之一便是愿意妥协。

That does not mean compromising your values. It does not mean accepting the lowest common denominator or clinging to outmoded ideas out of apathy or fear. It means being driven by, and when necessary standing up for your values and convictions. But doing so in the real world – in the arena of public life where others are making their own case, pursuing their own interests. And where persuasion, teamwork and a willingness to make mutual concessions are needed to achieve an optimal outcome. That is politics at its best.

这并不意味着要违背你的价值观，也不意味着要刻意迎合大众口味，或是因冷漠或恐惧而抱住落后的想法不撒手。这意味着，要被你自己的价值观和信念所驱使；并在必要时，坚决捍卫它们。但在现实世界中，在公共生活的舞台上，其他人都在自我展现、追名逐利。在这样的舞台上，只有说服劝说、团队合作、并愿意做出相互让步，才能实现最佳结果，这才是政治的最佳状态。

The alternative is a politics of winners and losers of absolutes and of perpetual strife and that threatens us all. Today an inability to combine principles with pragmatism and make a compromise when required seems to have driven our whole political discourse down the wrong path. It has led to what is in effect a form of "absolutism", one which believes that if you simply assert your view loud enough and long enough, you will get your way in the end. Or that mobilising your own faction is more important than bringing others with you. This is coarsening our public debate. Some are losing the ability to disagree without demeaning the views of others.

政治的另一种选择是：非赢即输的极端状态。绝对主义和永久的冲突，这将威胁到我们所有人。当前，政客们缺乏将原则和实用主义结合起来的能力，也不愿在必要时做出妥协，这似乎将我们的整个政治语言推向了错误方向。这导致了某种形式的"绝对主义"。对这些绝对主义者来说，只要你一直强调自己的观点，声音够大，坚持得够久。最终，你就会如愿以偿、达成目的。拉拢小团体，动员派系斗争比团结他人凝聚力量更为重要。这使我们的公共辩论，变得粗鄙不堪。对有些人来说，用贬低他人观点的方式表达反对意见，已成为习惯。

Online technology allows people to express their anger and anxiety without filter or accountability. Aggressive assertions are made without regard to the facts or the complexities of an issue in an environment where the most extreme views tend to be the most noticed. This descent of our debate into rancour and tribal bitterness, and in some cases even vile abuse at a criminal level is corrosive for the democratic values which we should all be seeking to uphold. It risks closing down the space for reasoned debate and subverting the principle of freedom of speech. And this does not just create an unpleasant environment. Words have consequences and ill words that go unchallenged are the first step on a continuum towards ill deeds, towards a much darker place where hatred and prejudice drive not only what people say, but also what they do.

如今的网络技术让人们得以肆意泄愤和表达焦虑。语言不经筛选，也不会被问责。做出咄咄逼人的激进断言，却从不考虑事实或问题的复杂性，而且通常是在越极端的观点越能吸引眼球的地方。发表此类言论，这导致我们的辩论陷入怨怒敌意和族群仇恨。在某些情况下甚至是犯罪层面的卑鄙虐待。这对我们都应力求维护的民主价值观具有强烈的腐蚀性。不但给理性辩论空间造成了威胁，也违反了言论自由的原则。这不仅仅创造了一种不愉快的环境，言语会带来后果。不受质疑的恶言是迈向恶行的第一步，掉入更黑暗的深渊。在那个深渊里，仇恨和偏见不仅掌控着人们的语言，也掌控着人们的行为。

We are living through a period of profound change and insecurity. The forces of globalisation and the pursuit of free markets have brought unprecedented levels of wealth and opportunity for the country and for the world at large. But not everyone is reaping the benefits. The march of technology is expanding the possibilities for humanity in ways that once could never have been conceived. But it is changing the nature of the workplace and the types of jobs that people will do. More and more working people are feeling anxious over whether they and their children and grandchildren will have the skills and the opportunities to get on. And although the problems were building before the financial crisis that event brought years of hardship from which we are only now emerging.

如今，我们身处一个社会剧变和缺乏保障的时代。全球化的力量和对自由市场的追求，给我们国家和整个世界都带来了前所未有的财富和机遇。但并非每个人都得以从中受益。技术的进步，正在以前所未有的方式扩大人类的可能性。它正在改变我们工作场所的性质以及人们未来从事的工作类型。如今，越来越多的普通劳动者都在深感焦虑。他们为自己、也为自己的子孙后代而忧心忡忡。不知未来能否拥有，维持生计的技能和机遇。尽管这些问题早在金融危机前便已存在形成。而金融危机带来的长达多年的经济困境，如今才刚开始显现。

Populist movements have seized the opportunity to capitalise on that vacuum. They have embraced the politics of division; identifying the enemies to blame for our problems and offering apparently easy answers. In doing so, they promote a polarised politics which views the world through the prism of "us"and "them", a prism of winners and losers which views compromise and cooperation through international institutions as signs of weakness not strength.

民粹主义运动抓住机会，利用这一真空，他们宣扬政治分裂，鼓吹我们的问题所在都是由于敌方的存在。对于复杂的问题，给出简单轻率的答案。在这过程中，他们推动了一种两极分化的政治。将敌我对立，通过"我们"和"他们"分化的棱镜看待世界，一种非赢即输的棱镜。在他们看来与国际机构合作与妥协便是软弱无能，而非力量的象征。

We are here today at St James' Square, the location from which Dwight Eisenhower led the planning for D-Day. It was standing on the beaches of Normandy with otherworld leaders last month, remembering together all that was given in defence of our liberty and our values that most inspired me to come here today to give this speech. Eisenhower once wrote:

"People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable"

"Things are not all black and white"

"There have to be compromises"

"The middle of the road is all of the usable surface"

"The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters"

我们今天在这里，在圣詹姆斯广场。德怀特·艾森豪威尔领导诺曼底登陆计划，就是在这里完成的。上个月，我与世界各国领导人一起站在诺曼底海滩，共同铭记为捍卫自由和价值观，我们所付出的一切，这也是激励着我今天选择这里发表演说的原因所在。艾森豪威尔曾写道："人们在谈论中间路线时，似乎都将其视为不可接受的" "但这世界并不是，非黑即白" "我们必须有所妥协" "其实道路中央才是可供行走的路面" "而左右极端，才会被困于路边的沟壑中"

I believe that seeking the common ground and being prepared to make compromises in order to make progress does not entail a rejection of our values and convictions by one iota rather it is precisely the way to defend them. Not by making promises you cannot keep or by just telling people what you think they want to hear. But by addressing the concerns people genuinely hold

and showing that co-operation not absolutism is the only way to deliver for everyone.

我认为寻求共同点、并为取得进展而准备做出妥协，这丝毫不意味着要拒绝我们的价值观和信念。相反，这恰恰是捍卫价值观和信念的方式，不是做出你无法兑现的承诺，也不是告诉人们你认为他们想听到的事情。而是真正解决人们所忧虑的问题，并向他们展现：只有通力合作，而非绝对主义，才是服务于每个人的唯一方式。

For the future, if we can recapture the spirit of common purpose – as I believe we must, then we can be optimistic about what together we can achieve. We can find the common ground that will enable us to forge new, innovative global agreements on the most crucial challenges of our time from protecting our planet to harnessing the power of technology for good. We can renew popular support for liberal democratic values and international co-operation. And in so doing, we can secure our freedom, our prosperity and our ability to live together peacefully now and for generations to come. Thank you!

对于未来，如果我们能重拾共同目标的精神，我坚信我们必须这样做。那么我们便可以乐观期待未来能够共同取得的成就。我们必须求同，从而才能达成全新的创新的全球协议，并迎接这个时代最关键的挑战。从保护我们的地球到持续利用技术的力量，我们才能重新赢得民众对于自由民主价值观和国际合作的支持。由此以来，我们便可确保我们的自由、我们的繁荣以及我们现在和未来几代人和平共处的稳定生活。谢谢！

（来源：乐活英伦微信公众号   编辑：yaning）