[E365]What's in a name?
本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist《经济学人》2016年第9期，China版块。
Politics in Japan
A lacklustre opposition shows signs of life
Feb 27th 2016 | TOKYO
WHAT meagre challenges Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has faced in office[1] have come not from the opposition but from his own side. So it is a triumph of hope over experience[2] that the biggest opposition grouping, the Democratic Party of Japan[3] (DPJ), thinks that will change. The party that underwhelmed[毫不激动的,无动于衷的;感到乏味的;未激起热情的] in office from 2009 to 2012 has announced a merger with the third-biggest opposition party, the Japan Innovation Party[4] (JIP). The move is part of the DPJ’s attempts to remake itself after its recent utter[完全的;彻底的;无条件的] defeats and to be better prepared not only for scheduled elections for the upper house of the Diet[5] (parliament) in July but even for a snap general election[6] for the lower house that Mr Abe may call at the same time (or sooner).
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注释
[1]执政,在位
[2]Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.(结婚是想象战胜了理智，再婚是希望战胜了经验。)——Oscar Wilde(王尔德)
[3]日本民主党
[4]日本维新党
[5]日本国会参议院；Diet这里指(日本、丹麦、瑞士、巴拉圭等国的)国会，议会
[6]A snap election is an election called earlier than expected.(提前选举；临时选举；仓促的选举)
生词
▷meagre ['miːgə]
(of or ) very or not enough
（数量）很少的，不足的a meagre 微薄的薪水The on a meagre . 囚犯们靠少得可怜的食物维持生存。
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The last time Mr Abe called a snap election, for December 2014, the DPJ failed so much as to get a real campaign going. Fool me twice[1]: this time it has chosen a slate of candidates[2] for the lower house and hammered out[3] co-operation agreements[4] with other opposition parties, including the Japan Communist Party[5]. But it will be an uphill task[6], given that in opinion polls[7] only a tenth of the public supports the DPJ. A full two-fifths support the ruling Liberal Democratic Party[8]. And even after the JIP’s two-dozen lawmakers are absorbed, the combined group will hold a mere fifth of the seats in the lower house and less than a quarter in the upper.
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注释
[1]Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.(受骗一次，他人可耻，受骗两次，自己该死/骗我一次，算你狠；骗我两次，算我蠢！
[2]slate means a list of candidates nominated by a political party to run for election to public offices(候选人名单;提名名单;[总称]候选人,人选)
[3]设计出;锤成;苦心想出
[4]合作协议
[5]日本共产党
[6]艰难/费力的工作,艰巨的任务
[7]民意测验,民意调查
[8]日本自由民主党
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The question is what the JIP brings to the party. It had the stuffing knocked out of it[1] when its charismatic right-wing[右翼的;右派的] founder, Toru Hashimoto, split away[2] to form an Osaka-based party last year*. To many inside the DPJ, it seems too much that their leader, Katsuya Okada, has given in to[3] the JIP’s demand to rename the merged party. A new name could hurt prospects at the polls[4]: in both houses (though differently) a proportion of seats is allocated via party lists, and voters might forget a new name—not that one has yet been agreed. Still, says Akihisa Nagashima, a DPJ heavyweight[要人,显赫人物,特别有影响的人,手握实权者;重量级人物], much more important to remember is that voters punished the party last time not because they could not remember its name but because of its unconvincing message and lousy campaigning.
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注释
[1]knock/take the stuffing out of sb/sth
to make someone or something very to make someone feel less confident or physically weaker
严重削弱，使元气大伤Her has really the stuffing out of her.疾病把她折磨得不成人样。[2]分离,分裂
[3]屈服于,向…让步
[4]全民公投
*2015年8月27日，因维新党干事长柿泽未途公开支持民主党、共产党、社民党及生活党联合推荐的无党籍山形市市长候选人梅津庸成引起争议，桥下彻(Toru Hashimoto)与大阪府知事松井一郎宣布退出维新党，专心于大阪的地方政治。——维基百科
生词
▷lousy ['laʊzɪ]
very
糟糕的，差劲的lousy / 糟糕的食物／服务a lousy 糟糕的电影I had a lousy . 周末我过得很糟糕。
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标题：What's in a name?
注：
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."——William Shakespeare
名称有什么关系呢？玫瑰不叫玫瑰，依然芳香如故。——威廉·莎士比亚
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以上言论不代表本人立场。
摘自《经济学人》杂志，仅外语学习之用。
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