Level 5-Day 20.Margaret Thatcher 'Against European Unity' (1)

词汇提示

1.bastions 堡垒

2.sanctuary 避难所

3.tyranny 暴政

原文

Margaret Thatcher: 'Against European Unity' (1)

Nor is the European idea the property of any group or institution.

We British are as much heirs to the legacy of European culture as any other nation.

Our links to the rest of Europe, the continent of Europe, have been the dominant factor in our history.

For 300 years we were part of the Roman Empire and our maps still trace the straight lines of the roads the Romans built.

Our ancestors - Celts, Saxons and Danes - came from the continent.

Our nation was - in that favorite Community word - 'restructured' under Norman and Angevin rule in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

This year we celebrate the three-hundredth anniversary of the Glorious Revolution in which the British crown passed to Prince William of Orange and Queen Mary.

Visit the great churches and cathedrals of Britain, read our literature and listen to our language: all bear witness to the cultural riches which we have drawn from Europe - and other Europeans from us.

We in Britain are rightly proud of the way in which, since Magna Carta in 1215, we have pioneered and developed representative institutions to stand as bastions of freedom.

And proud too of the way in which for centuries Britain was a home for people from the rest of Europe who sought sanctuary from tyranny.

But we know that without the European legacy of political ideas we could not have achieved as much as we did.

From classical and medieval thought we have borrowed that concept of the rule of law which marks out a civilized society from barbarism.

And on that idea of Christendom -for long synonymous with Europe - with its recognition of the unique and spiritual nature of the individual, we still base our belief in personal liberty and other human rights.

Too often the history of Europe is described as a series of interminable wars and quarrels.

Yet from our perspective today surely what strikes us most is our common experience.

For instance, the story of how Europeans explored and colonized and - yes, without apology - civilized much of the world is an extraordinary tale of talent, skill and courage.

We British have in a special way contributed to Europe.

Over the centuries we have fought to prevent Europe from falling under the dominance of a single power.

We have fought and we have died for her freedom.

Only miles from here in Belgium lie the bodies of 120,000 British soldiers who died in the First World War.

Had it not been for that willingness to fight and to die, Europe would have been united long before now - but not in liberty, not in justice.

It was British support to resistance movements throughout the last war that helped to keep alive the flame of liberty in so many countries until the day of liberation.

翻译

玛格丽特·撒切尔:“反对欧洲统一”(1)

欧洲理念也不是任何团体或机构的财产。
我们英国人和其他国家一样，都是欧洲文化遗产的继承者。
我们与欧洲其他国家、欧洲大陆的联系，一直是我们历史上的主导因素。
300年来，我们一直是罗马帝国的一部分，我们的地图上仍然可以看到罗马人修建的直线道路。
我们的祖先——凯尔特人、撒克逊人和丹麦人——来自欧洲大陆。
我们的国家——用那个最受欢迎的共同体词汇来说——在11世纪和12世纪诺曼和安吉文的统治下“重建”了。
今年，我们庆祝光荣革命300周年，在这场革命中，英国王位传给了奥兰治的威廉王子和玛丽女王。
参观英国的伟大教堂和大教堂，阅读我们的文学作品，聆听我们的语言:所有这些都见证了我们从欧洲汲取的文化财富，以及其他欧洲人从我们这里汲取的文化财富。
自1215年签订《大宪章》以来，我们英国人开创并发展了代表自由的机构，我们理应为此感到自豪。
几个世纪以来，英国一直是欧洲其他地区寻求暴政庇护的人们的家园，我为此感到自豪。
但我们知道，如果没有欧洲政治理念的遗产，我们不可能取得今天的成就。
我们从古典和中世纪的思想中借用了区分文明社会和野蛮社会的法治概念。
长期以来，基督教世界一直是欧洲的代名词，它承认个人的独特性和精神本质，基于这种理念，我们仍然相信个人自由和其他人权。
欧洲的历史常常被描述为一系列无休止的战争和争吵。
然而，从我们今天的角度来看，最让我们震惊的肯定是我们的共同经历。
例如，关于欧洲人如何探索和殖民，以及——是的，毫无疑问——使世界大部分地区变得文明的故事，就是一个才华、技巧和勇气的非凡故事。
我们英国人以一种特殊的方式为欧洲做出了贡献。
几个世纪以来，我们一直在为防止欧洲落入单一大国的统治而斗争。
我们为她的自由而战，为她的自由而死。
在离这里几英里远的比利时，埋葬着12万死于一战的英国士兵的尸体。
如果不是因为这种战斗和牺牲的意愿，欧洲早就团结起来了——但不是在自由，不是在正义。
正是英国在上一场战争中对抵抗运动的支持，才使自由的火焰在许多国家熊熊燃烧，直到解放的那一天。