刚刚，伯纳姆正式成为英国首相

今天，英国执政党工党新任党首安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）在白金汉宫与英国国王查尔斯三世会面，获国王任命成为新一任首相。

今天你练听力了吗？

🤔️小作业：

1. Which of the following statements about Burnham's speech is NOT true according to the passage?

A. He spoke without using notes or a lectern.

B. He admitted that the government had not been good enough.

C. He promised to announce financing details for his measures immediately.

D. He acknowledged that people are tired of politics.

无注释原文：

Burnham's Day 1 as Prime Minister: A Homeless Shelter, a Palace and Downing Street

From: The New York Times

Andy Burnham's day began with a visit to a homeless shelter in central London, where he chopped mushrooms and chatted with other helpers preparing breakfast.

A few hours later, by now wearing a suit and tie, he shook hands with King Charles III in the gilded splendor of Buckingham Palace. Accepting the monarch's request to form a government, Mr. Burnham, who was named leader of the governing Labour Party on Friday, became Britain's seventh prime minister after a decade of extraordinary turbulence.

Mr. Burnham's early-morning trip to the homeless charity seemed designed to send a signal to the country about his priorities, and to underscore his pledge to tackle social issues and reshape British politics.

On a day of ritual and ceremony, Mr. Burnham pledged in a short speech outside 10 Downing Street to “put the care of people at the heart of everything I do.” He described his move into Britain's top job as a “circuit-breaker moment” to change the direction taken by a succession of neoliberal governments over the past four decades that favored privatization and deindustrialized the country.

“I know people at home are fed up with politics,” he told the public, speaking without notes and minus the lectern that prime ministers usually speak from outside Downing Street. “I hear you, and I want to be honest with you: We have not been good enough, and we need to be better. We will be.”

The speed of Mr. Burnham's ascent to the top job in British politics is striking. Earlier this year, his path to Downing Street seemed blocked when he was prevented from running for a parliamentary seat that he needed to challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer. But after a disastrous set of elections in Scotland, Wales and English municipalities in May, Mr. Starmer had to relent and allow Mr. Burnham to run in a special election — which he won emphatically.

That put him in pole position to succeed Mr. Starmer, whose popularity had sunk to some of the lowest levels recorded for a British prime minister, just two years after winning a general election in 2024.

Supporters hope Mr. Burnham will revive his party's fortunes after more than a year during which the populist right-wing party Reform U.K. has led opinion polls, albeit with about 25 percent of voter support.

Mr. Burnham's rise follows a period of political turmoil that began with the Brexit vote in 2016, when voters severed ties to the European Union. In his speech Mr. Burnham, the first lifelong Roman Catholic to become Britain's prime minister, said he would move quickly to announce measures to ease the burden on voters frustrated with stagnating living standards and impatient for change.

Promising to “give people some breathing space now,” he said he would explain how such measures would be financed in the coming days. He also said that later this year he would propose a 10-year plan for the country.

- ◆ -

注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为纽约时报官方译文，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Burnham's Day 1 as Prime Minister: A Homeless Shelter, a Palace and Downing Street

From: The New York Times

Andy Burnham's day began with a visit to a homeless shelter in central London, where he chopped mushrooms and chatted with other helpers preparing breakfast.

这一天，安迪·伯纳姆先是去了伦敦市中心一家无家可归者收容所，他在那里切蘑菇，并与其他正在制作早餐的志愿者聊天。

chop /tʃɒp/ 表示“劈；砍；剁碎，切碎”，英文解释为“to cut something into pieces with an axe, knife, or other sharp instrument”举个🌰：Chop (up) the onions and carrots roughly. 把洋葱和胡萝卜切成大块。

A few hours later, by now wearing a suit and tie, he shook hands with King Charles III in the gilded splendor of Buckingham Palace. Accepting the monarch's request to form a government, Mr. Burnham, who was named leader of the governing Labour Party on Friday, became Britain's seventh prime minister after a decade of extraordinary turbulence.

几个小时后，换上西装领带的他在金碧辉煌的白金汉宫与国王查尔斯三世握手。于周五被任命为执政党工党领袖的伯纳姆接受了君主的组建政府请求，成为英国在这动荡不安的十年里的第七位首相。

gilded /ˈɡɪl.dɪd/ 1）表示“镀金的；有金色涂层的；涂成金色的”，英文解释为“covered with a thin layer of gold or a substance that looks like gold”举个🌰：The gilded dome of the cathedral rises above the city. 大教堂的金色穹顶高耸于城市上空。

2）表示“富有的；上流社会的，上层阶级的”，英文解释为“rich or of a higher social class”举个🌰：The story revolves around the gilded youth of the 1920s and their glittering lifestyles. 故事围绕一群20世纪20年代的上流社会公子哥儿及其奢华靡丽的生活方式展开。

📍词根“gild-”来自古英语“gyldan”，意味着“覆以金属”，尤其是金。想象一个镀金的框架使画作看起来更加引人注目。近义词: golden（金色的），同根词: gild（镀金），常用短语: gilded age（镀金时代）

splendor/splendour 表示“壮丽；雄伟；豪华；华丽”，英文解释为“grand and impressive beauty”举个🌰：The palace has been restored to its former splendor. 宫殿经过修葺，重现出昔日的富丽堂皇。

monarch /ˈmɒn.ək/ 表示“君王；国王，皇帝；女王，女皇”，英文解释为“a king or queen”如：a hereditary monarch 世袭的国王。

turbulence /ˈtɜː.bjə.ləns/ 表示“骚乱；动荡，混乱”，英文解释为“a state of confusion without any order”

Mr. Burnham's early-morning trip to the homeless charity seemed designed to send a signal to the country about his priorities, and to underscore his pledge to tackle social issues and reshape British politics.

清晨的无家可归者慈善机构之行似乎旨在向全国发出关于其优先事项的信号，并强调他关于解决社会问题和重塑英国政治的承诺。

On a day of ritual and ceremony, Mr. Burnham pledged in a short speech outside 10 Downing Street to “put the care of people at the heart of everything I do.” He described his move into Britain's top job as a “circuit-breaker moment” to change the direction taken by a succession of neoliberal governments over the past four decades that favored privatization and deindustrialized the country.

在这个充满仪式和典礼的日子里，伯纳姆在唐宁街10号外发表简短演讲，承诺“将关爱民众置于我所做一切的核心”。他将自己入主英国最高职位描述为一个“断路器时刻”，要改变过去四十年来一系列新自由主义政府所走的方向——这些政府偏好私有化并导致国家去工业化。

ritual /ˈrɪtʃ.u.əl/ 表示“例行公事，老规矩；（尤指）仪式”，英文解释为“a set of fixed actions and sometimes words performed regularly, especially as part of a ceremony”举个🌰：Coffee and the newspaper are part of my morning ritual. 喝咖啡和读报纸是我早晨必做的事情之一。

circuit breaker /ˈsɜː.kɪt ˌbreɪ.kər/ 表示“（电流）断路器”，英文解释为“a safety device that stops the flow of current in an electrical circuit when there is a fault”

neoliberal /ˌniː.əʊˈlɪb.ər.əl/ 表示“新自由主义的（支持增加市场自由度，减少政府干预和花费，降低税收）”，英文解释为“supporting a large amount of freedom for markets, with little government control or spending, and low taxes”

“I know people at home are fed up with politics,” he told the public, speaking without notes and minus the lectern that prime ministers usually speak from outside Downing Street. “I hear you, and I want to be honest with you: We have not been good enough, and we need to be better. We will be.”

“我知道国内民众对政治已经厌倦，”伯纳姆对公众说——他没有讲稿，也没有使用首相通常在唐宁街外演讲时会用的讲台。“我听到了你们的声音，我想诚实地告诉你们：我们做得不够好，我们需要做得更好。我们会的。”

表示“讲台”，英文解释为“A lectern is a high sloping desk on which someone puts their notes when they are standing up and giving a lecture.”

📍podium 表示“讲台；讲坛；（乐队的）指挥台”，英文解释为“a small platform that a person stands on when giving a speech or conducting an orchestra, etc.”

📍区分lectern, podium, dais, rostrum: A lectern is the stand on which the speaker's notes are placed, the podium is the platform on which the speaker and lectern stand, a dais is a platform for several people, and a rostrum is a platform for one or more.

The speed of Mr. Burnham's ascent to the top job in British politics is striking. Earlier this year, his path to Downing Street seemed blocked when he was prevented from running for a parliamentary seat that he needed to challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer. But after a disastrous set of elections in Scotland, Wales and English municipalities in May, Mr. Starmer had to relent and allow Mr. Burnham to run in a special election — which he won emphatically.

伯纳姆在英国政坛升至最高位的速度令人瞩目。今年早些时候，他的唐宁街之路似乎被堵死，当时他被阻止参选一个议会席位，而那是挑战首相基尔·斯塔默所必需的。但在5月苏格兰、威尔士和英格兰地方选举惨败后，斯塔默不得不让步，允许伯纳姆参加补选——他以压倒性优势获胜。

relent /rɪˈlent/ 表示“变温和；变宽容；不再拒绝”，英文解释为“to act in a less severe way towards someone and allow something that you had refused to allow before”举个🌰：Her parents eventually relented and let her go to the party. 她父母的态度最后缓和了下来，同意她去参加聚会。

That put him in pole position to succeed Mr. Starmer, whose popularity had sunk to some of the lowest levels recorded for a British prime minister, just two years after winning a general election in 2024.

这让他处于接替斯塔默的有利位置。斯塔默在2024年赢得大选仅两年后，支持率已跌至英国首相有记录以来的最低水平之一。

Supporters hope Mr. Burnham will revive his party's fortunes after more than a year during which the populist right-wing party Reform U.K. has led opinion polls, albeit with about 25 percent of voter support.

支持者希望伯纳姆能重振工党的势头，此前一年多时间里，民粹右翼政党“英国改革党”一直领先民调，尽管支持率仅约为25%。

albeit /ɔːlˈbiː.ɪt/ 表示“尽管；虽然”，相当于“although”举个🌰：He finally agreed, albeit reluctantly, to help us. 尽管勉强，他最后还是同意帮助我们。

Mr. Burnham's rise follows a period of political turmoil that began with the Brexit vote in 2016, when voters severed ties to the European Union. In his speech Mr. Burnham, the first lifelong Roman Catholic to become Britain's prime minister, said he would move quickly to announce measures to ease the burden on voters frustrated with stagnating living standards and impatient for change.

伯纳姆的崛起之时，英国正处在以2016年英国脱欧公投为开端的一段动荡期，在那场公投中，选民决定切断与欧盟的联系。作为英国首位笃信罗马天主教的首相，伯纳姆在演讲中表示，他将迅速宣布措施，以减轻选民因生活水平停滞不前而产生的负担，并满足他们对变革的迫切期待。

stagnate /stæɡˈneɪt/ 表示“停滞不前；不发展”，英文解释为“to stay the same and not grow or develop”举个🌰：The electronics industry is showing signs of stagnating after 15 years of growth. 电子产业在经过15年的飞速发展之后出现了停滞不前的迹象。

Promising to “give people some breathing space now,” he said he would explain how such measures would be financed in the coming days. He also said that later this year he would propose a 10-year plan for the country.

他承诺“立即着手给人们一些喘息空间”，并表示将在未来几天解释这些措施的资金来源。他还说，今年晚些时候将提出一个为期10年的国家计划。

- 词汇盘点 -

- 词汇助记 By AI -

LearnAndRecord

2015年2月8日

2026年7月21日

第4182天

每天持续行动学外语