From Landslide to Exit in Just Two Years: Why Did UK PM Starmer Fall? — HSK 3 Chinese Listening Practice (4:33) | Fluentide

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From Landslide to Exit in Just Two Years: Why Did UK PM Starmer Fall? — HSK 3 Chinese Listening Practice (4:33) | Fluentide

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原文

Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.

今天，我们聊一件，正在发生的政治大事。

英国首相斯塔默，

就在这个星期，

正式宣布：

他要辞职了。

英国的首相，

你可以简单理解成，

是这个国家，

管事的，最高领导。

这件事，

之所以让很多人吃惊，

是因为它的反差，

实在太大了。

我们先把时间，

拉回到两年前。

那个时候的斯塔默，

可以说是风光无限。

在二零二四年的大选里，

他带领自己的政党，

赢得了一场，

压倒性的大胜。

他们在议会里，

一口气拿下了，

多到惊人的席位。

那是几十年来，

最漂亮的一场胜利之一。

那时候，

几乎所有人都觉得：

这位新首相，

能干很久很久。

他自己也说过，

他想在这个位子上，

一干就是十年。

可是，

谁也没想到，

仅仅过了两年，

一切就，

完全变了样。

那么，

问题到底出在哪？

最根本的一条，

还是老百姓的钱袋子。

这两年，

英国的物价，

一直降不下来。

普通人买东西、

交水电费，

都觉得越来越吃力。

日子过得紧巴巴的，

大家心里，

自然有气。

偏偏在这个时候，

政府这边，

又出了一连串的，

丑闻和"打脸"。

很多原来说好的政策，

后来又改了口。

老百姓就觉得：

你说的话，

到底算不算数？

这种不满，

很快就，

反映到了选票上。

在今年的地方选举里，

斯塔默的政党，

输得一塌糊涂，

丢掉了大量的席位。

这等于是，

选民当面给了他，

一个大大的"差评"。

更要命的是，

连他自己人，

也开始不挺他了。

从今年春天开始，

和他一起工作的官员，

就像多米诺骨牌一样，

一个接一个地辞职。

有管医疗的大臣，

也有管国防的大臣。

就在这个月，

因为在军费问题上谈不拢，

国防部又一下子，

走了好几个人。

这些辞职，

每一次，

都是在公开地告诉外界：

我们，

对这位首相，

没有信心了。

而压垮他的最后一根稻草，

可能是另一个人的崛起。

这个人，

叫安迪·伯纳姆。

他是英国一座大城市的市长，

人气非常高。

有意思的是，

在斯塔默最难的时候，

有人专门，

给伯纳姆腾出了一个，

议会的位子。

这个星期，

伯纳姆顺利赢得了选举，

重新回到了议会。

这一步，

被很多人看作是，

他要去争首相之位的，

关键一步。

前有民意的压力，

后有强敌的追赶，

斯塔默，

终于撑不下去了。

于是，

他宣布辞职，

并且，

为选出下一任领导，

定下了时间表。

说到这里，

我想和你多聊一句。

两年前的大胜，

和今天的离场，

是同一个人。

这中间，

最大的变化，

其实不是他，

而是人心。

权力这个东西，

来的时候轰轰烈烈，

走的时候，

也可能毫不留情。

最后，

我想留给你两个问题。

第一，

你觉得，

一个领导真正的本事，

是赢得选举的那一刻，

还是，

在最难的日子里，

还能不能，

让大家继续相信他？

第二，

当一个人，

发现自己已经，

失去了大家的信任，

体面地离开，

算不算，

也是一种勇气？

这两个问题，

没有标准答案。

但是值得我们，

慢慢去想。

English transcript reference

Today, we'll talk about a major political event unfolding right now.

UK Prime Minister Starmer,

just this week,

formally announced:

he is going to resign.

Britain's prime minister,

you can simply think of as

the country's

highest leader in charge.

This event,

the reason it surprised so many,

is that the contrast

is simply too great.

Let's first turn the clock

back two years.

The Starmer of that time

could be called gloriously triumphant.

In the 2024 general election,

he led his party

to win

an overwhelming victory.

In parliament,

they seized in one go

an astonishing number of seats.

It was, in decades,

one of the most beautiful victories.

At that time,

almost everyone felt:

this new prime minister

could last a very, very long time.

He himself once said

he wanted, in this post,

to serve a full ten years.

But

no one expected

that after only two years,

everything

would completely change.

So,

where did it all go wrong?

The most fundamental thing

is still ordinary people's wallets.

These two years,

prices in Britain

just wouldn't come down.

Ordinary people buying things,

paying water and electricity bills,

all found it harder and harder.

Life was tight and pinched,

and in everyone's hearts,

there was naturally anger.

And precisely at this time,

the government, for its part,

produced a string of

scandals and embarrassing reversals.

Many policies once promised

were later walked back.

Ordinary people felt:

your word —

does it count or not?

This discontent

quickly

showed up in the ballots.

In this year's local elections,

Starmer's party

lost catastrophically,

shedding a huge number of seats.

This was tantamount to

voters handing him, to his face,

a big fat 'fail'.

Even more deadly,

even his own people

began to stop backing him.

Starting this spring,

the officials working with him,

like dominoes,

resigned one after another.

There was the minister for health,

and the minister for defence.

Just this month,

because they couldn't agree on military spending,

the defence ministry, all at once,

lost several people.

Each of these resignations,

every time,

was a public declaration to the world:

we,

in this prime minister,

have lost confidence.

And the last straw that broke him

may be the rise of another man.

This man

is called Andy Burnham.

He is the mayor of a big British city,

and is hugely popular.

Interestingly,

at Starmer's hardest moment,

someone deliberately

cleared, for Burnham,

a seat in parliament.

This week,

Burnham smoothly won the election,

returning to parliament.

This move

is seen by many as

a key step in his bid

for the prime minister's chair.

Public pressure ahead,

a strong rival giving chase behind,

Starmer

finally could hold on no longer.

And so,

he announced his resignation,

and,

to choose the next leader,

set out a timetable.

Speaking of this,

I want to say one more thing to you.

The great win two years ago,

and today's exit,

belong to the same man.

In between,

the biggest change

was not, in fact, him,

but the people's hearts.

Power, this thing,

arrives with great fanfare,

and when it leaves,

it can be utterly merciless.

Finally,

I want to leave you two questions.

First,

do you think

a leader's true skill

is the moment of winning the election,

or

is it whether, in the hardest days,

he can still

keep people believing in him?

Second,

when a person

realizes that he has already

lost everyone's trust,

to leave with dignity —

does that count as

a kind of courage too?

These two questions

have no standard answer.

But they're worth our

thinking about slowly.

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