英国新任外交大臣的惊人语录
7 Times Boris Johnson, Britain’s New Foreign Secretary, Was Anything but Diplomatic
英国新任外交大臣的惊人语录
London — Boris Johnson, Britain’s new foreign secretary, has a quality unusual for a nation’s top diplomat: He can be spectacularly undiplomatic.
伦敦——英国新任外交大臣鲍里斯·约翰逊(Boris Johnson)身上有种鲜见于国家最高外交官的特点：他口无遮拦起来十分惊人。
Johnson has suggested that President Barack Obama had an “ancestral dislike of the British Empire,” written a poem insinuating that Turkey’s president had sexual relations with a goat, and likened the European Union — which he helped lead the campaign for Britain to leave — to Hitler’s Third Reich.
约翰逊曾表示贝拉克·奥巴马总统有“源自先辈的对大英帝国的反感”，他写了一首诗暗示土耳其总统和一只山羊发生性关系，并将欧盟比作希特勒的第三帝国——他是英国脱离欧盟运动的领导人之一。
And that was only this spring.
以上这些还只是今年春天的言论。
In December, he compared Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, to Dobby the House Elf, a “Harry Potter” character. In 2007, he wrote that Hillary Clinton looked like “a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital.” In 2002, he referred to Africans as “flag-waving pickaninnies.”
去年12月，他把俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京(Vladimir Putin)比作“哈利·波特”(Harry Potter)系列中的人物——家养小精灵多比。2007年，他撰文说希拉里·克林顿(Hillary Clinton)像精神病院里的一个“虐待狂护士”。2002年，他把非洲人叫做“挥舞着小旗的黑小子”。
So it was with no little shock that the world reacted to the news Wednesday evening that Britain’s new prime minister, Theresa May, had named Johnson to lead the rarefied Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which employs 14,000 people in nearly 270 diplomatic offices and works with the secret intelligence service MI6.
因此，当周三晚上传出消息，新任首相特丽莎·梅(Theresa May)将让约翰逊领导清贵的外交与联邦事务部(Foreign and Commonwealth Office)时，全世界都颇为震惊，这个部门掌管着近270座外交办事处的1.4万名雇员，还要和秘密情报机构军情六处(MI6)合作。
Informed of the appointment, the State Department’s spokesman struggled to keep a straight face. The French foreign minister told a radio station that Johnson had “lied a lot to the British people” while campaigning for Britain’s exit from the European Union. Carl Bildt, a former prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden, lamented on Twitter: “I wish it was a joke, but I fear it isn’t.”
在得知这个任命时，美国国务院发言人忍俊不禁。法国外交部长接受电台采访时说，在呼吁英国退出欧盟的行动中，约翰逊“对英国人民撒了很多谎”。前瑞典首相和外交大臣卡尔·比尔特(Carl Bildt)在Twitter上哀叹：“我希望这是个玩笑，但恐怕不是。”
Putting Johnson — whose aspirations for prime minister were dashed by the betrayal of an erstwhile ally, Michael Gove — at the helm of the foreign office may have been an astute move by May. He will frequently be out of the country. He will have limited say over trade and withdrawal from the European Union, tasks May gave to other proponents of a “Brexit.” And perhaps, at least in his public style, he’ll have to grow up a little.
曾经的盟友迈克尔·戈夫(Michael Gove)的背叛，令约翰逊的拜相之梦破灭，而此时让他去执掌英国外交，似乎是梅的一个高招。他会频频出国。他在贸易和退欧事务上的发言权是有限的，梅已经把这些事务交给其他脱欧支持者。此外他可能得让自己显得更像个成年人，至少在公众形象上。
His defenders argue that for all of his verbal daggers, Johnson is at heart a liberal internationalist. He was born in New York City, grew up partly in Brussels, speaks French and Russian, and sprinkles his sentences with Latin phrases. He is a polymath who studied at Eton and Oxford and was a prolific journalist and author who wrote a well-regarded book on his hero Winston Churchill.
捍卫他的人称，尽管语言伤人，但约翰逊本质上是一个崇尚自由主义的国际主义者。他出生于纽约市，在布鲁塞尔生活过一段时间，会说法语和俄语，还会在讲话时穿插引用一些拉丁语。曾在伊顿和牛津就读的他学识渊博，以前还是一名高产的新闻工作者和作家，写过一本颇受好评的著作，是关于他心目中的英雄温斯顿·丘吉尔(Winston Churchill)的。
As London’s mayor — from 2008 until May of this year — Johnson proved to be both popular and canny, presiding over a successful Olympic Games in 2012, improving public transportation (the city’s shared-cycling program is still informally known as “Boris Bikes”) and traveling the world to raise the city’s profile as a capital of commerce and finance.
事实证明，担任伦敦市长期间——从2008年一直到今年5月——约翰逊既受民众欢迎，又谨慎精明：在他的领导下，伦敦成功举办了2012年的奥运会；公共交通得到改善（在非正式场合，该市的公共自行车项目依然被叫做“鲍里斯自行车”）；为了提高伦敦作为商业和金融中心的地位，他在全世界奔走。
Here, however, are some of Johnson’s memorable utterances that may shadow him in his new role as Britain’s top diplomat:
然而，以下是约翰逊一些令人难忘的言论。它们可能会在他担任英国最高外交官期间给他蒙上阴影：
He Called Obama Part-Kenyan
他称奥巴马是一半肯尼亚人
When Obama urged Britons in April to remain in the European Union, Johnson was not amused. In a column in The Sun, he mentioned a theory, prominent in the U.S. far-right, that Obama was motivated by a radical anti-imperialist agenda and that “the part-Kenyan president’s ancestral dislike of the British Empire” had motivated the removal of a bust of Churchill from the White House. (Obama, a native of Hawaii, had limited contact with his Kenyan father. There is no evidence that the bust, a loan from the British government, was removed for political reasons. Another Churchill bust remains in the White House.)
奥巴马4月呼吁英国留在欧盟时，约翰逊感到不快。在《太阳报》(The Sun)的一个专栏里，他提到了一个理论，即促使奥巴马这么做的是一个激进的反帝国主义议程，且“这个一半是肯尼亚人的总统源自先辈的对大英帝国的反感”导致丘吉尔的一尊半身塑像移出白宫。这个理论在美国的极右翼中很著名。（实际上，作为一个土生土长的夏威夷人，奥巴马与来自肯尼亚的父亲联系有限。而且没有证据表明，从英国政府借来的那尊半身塑像是因为政治原因被移走的。丘吉尔的另一尊半身塑像仍在白宫里。）
Asked Wednesday evening if he planned to apologize to Obama, Johnson replied: “The United States of America will be at the front of the queue.” (That might have been a nod to Obama’s warning that Britain would be at the “back of the queue” in trade negotiations with the United States if Britons voted to leave the European Union.)
周三傍晚被问及是否打算向奥巴马道歉时，约翰逊回答说：“美利坚合众国排在第一位。”（这可能是对奥巴马早前发出的警告的一种示意。奥巴马曾表示，如果英国投票决定退出欧盟，在与美国进行贸易谈判时将“排在最后一位”。）
He Has Insulted Hillary Clinton
他曾侮辱希拉里·克林顿
As a columnist for The Telegraph — a job for which he has reportedly been paid 275,000 pounds ($365,000) a year — Johnson wrote of Clinton in 2007, when she was running for president: “She’s got dyed blonde hair and pouty lips, and a steely blue stare, like a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital.” He concluded, however, that she should become president, “not because we necessarily want her for herself, but because we want Bill in the role of first husband. And if Bill can deal with Hillary, he can surely deal with any global crisis.” (Johnson later apologized.)
在2007年，为《每日电讯报》(The Daily Telegraph)担任专栏作家的约翰逊写到了当时正在竞选总统的克林顿：“她有着一头染过的金发和肥大的嘴唇，用蓝色的眼睛冷冰冰地盯着人看，就像精神病医院里的一个虐待狂护士。”不过，他在文章结尾处写道，她应该当总统，“不是因为我们必然希望她当总统，而是因为我们希望比尔当第一丈夫。如果比尔应付得了希拉里，他肯定也能应付任何全球危机。”（约翰逊后来表示了道歉。）据称，这份工作一年带给他的收入是27.5万英镑（约合250万元人民币）。
He Called Donald Trump Crazy
他曾说唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)疯了
Asked about a proposal by Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, to bar Muslims from entering the United States, Johnson responded that Trump was “clearly out of his mind.”
被问及稳获美国共和党提名的总统候选人唐纳德·特朗普禁止穆斯林进入美国的提议时，约翰逊回答称特朗普“显然是疯了”。
As to Trump’s suggestion that parts of London were so overrun with radicalized Muslims that they were no-go areas for police officers, Johnson retorted that Trump had displayed “stupefying ignorance” that made him unfit to be president. He said he would welcome Trump to London to show him the city, “except that I wouldn’t want to expose Londoners to any unnecessary risk of meeting Donald Trump.”
对于特朗普称伦敦部分地区挤满了变得激进的穆斯林，成了不适合警察前往的地区的言论，约翰逊反驳称特朗普表现出的“令人错愕的无知”让他不适合当总统。他说，本来欢迎特朗普来伦敦，让他好好看看这座城市，“只可惜我不想让伦敦民众面临任何不必要的见到唐纳德·特朗普的风险”。
He Compared the European Union to Nazi Germany
他曾将欧盟比作纳粹德国
In May, Johnson told The Sunday Telegraph that European history had been marked by ill-fated attempts to unify the Continent, in efforts to re-create the “golden age” of the Roman Empire. “Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically,” he said. “The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods.”
今年5月，约翰逊对《星期日电讯报》(The Sunday Telegraph)表示，欧洲历史上有多次注定会失败的尝试，意在统一整个欧洲大陆，这些行动旨在重现罗马帝国的“黄金时代”。“拿破仑、希特勒和各种各样的人都尝试过，但均以悲剧收场，”他说。“欧盟是试图用不同的方式来做这件事。”
Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said Johnson had “crossed the boundaries of rational discourse.” But Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative lawmaker, defended the remarks as “absolutely true.” While Hitler and Napoleon wanted to create a single European power through violence, he said, “the EU is trying to do it by stealth.”
欧洲理事会(European Council)主席唐纳德·图斯克(Donald Tusk)表示，约翰逊“越过了理性言论的界限”，但保守党议员雅各布·里斯-莫格(Jacob Rees-Mogg)为约翰逊的言论进行了辩护，称其“绝对属实”。他说，希特勒和拿破仑希望通过暴力建立一个统一的欧洲大国，“欧盟则试图通过暗中行动这么做”。
He Has Offended Commonwealth Nations
他得罪了多个英联邦国家
Johnson has offended people from central Africa to Southeast Asia (not to mention Liverpool, England). He will have to work with a number of African and Asian nations in his new portfolio, which includes handling Commonwealth affairs.
从中非到东南亚（更别说英格兰的利物浦了）的人，都被约翰逊得罪了。在包括处理英联邦事务的新工作中，他将不得不与大量非洲和亚洲国家合作。
In 2002, criticizing a trip by Tony Blair, then prime minister, to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Johnson wrote: “It is said that the queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving pickaninnies.” He added: “No doubt the AK-47s will fall silent, and the pangas will stop their hacking of human flesh, and the tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles to see the big white chief touch down in his big white British taxpayer-funded bird.” (He later apologized.)
2002年，约翰逊在谴责时任首相托尼·布莱尔(Tony Blair)访问刚果民主共和国时写道：“据说女王开始喜欢英联邦，在一定程度上是因为它能为她提供一群群放声欢呼、挥舞旗帜的黑小子。”他接着又说：“看到白人大头领乘坐着那架用英国纳税人的钱购买的白色大鸟着陆时，无疑AK-47会安静下来，非洲大砍刀会停下砍人肉的动作，部落武士也会露出西瓜似的笑容。”（他后来为此道歉。）
In 2006, describing his own party, Johnson wrote: “For 10 years, we in the Tory Party have become used to Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing,” stunning leaders of the Pacific nation, which is part of the Commonwealth. He apologized, but only halfheartedly.
在2006年，约翰逊在写到自己所在的政党时说：“10年来，我们托利党（保守党的俗称——译注）内部已经习惯了巴布亚新几内亚式的食人和弑主狂欢”，这让位于太平洋地区的英联邦国家巴布亚新几内亚的领导人大为震惊。他后来也道歉了，但只是敷衍了事。
