第一篇 Passage 1

Q: Prime Minister, you see there are so many people over there. I guess they’ve already known who’s the guest, a very famous guest today to this city. How do you like this place?

答： 故宫代表的是一段辉煌的历史。事实上，十年前我第一次访问贵国时就已经来过这里。我注意到这十年来中国发生了如此巨大的变化，这简直是太了不起了。

Q: So, this is your second time.

答: 我到中国来,这是第二次。

Q: So, Mr. Prime Minister, talking about the Forbidden City, many Chinese people consider the Forbidden City a witness of the contemporary Chinese history. Of course, this also includes the history of our relations. You know during the Boxer war, we had some unpleasant memories between our two countries. Inside these few hundred meters, inside this gate, there were dozens of very huge water vats. During that war, soldiers from the Allied Forces came here and stripped away all the gold platings on them. That of course has become history. That’s something already in the past. As you have said, with the return of Hong Kong to China, we’ve already lifted the burden of history and we are expecting a brand-new era for relations between our two countries. So, today you came here as a guest and also as a leader of the British government. How do you plan to turn the new leaf in our new history?

答: 我认为中英之间如今已经有了一种新型关系。你提到在历史上我们两国关系曾有过一些麻烦的时候，你是对的；但另一方面，我们两国之间历史上的联系也很紧密，而我们现在所要做的就是把这种紧密关系重新恢复起来。香港回归对中英两国来说都是一个很重要的时刻，而且进展得很顺利，进展得超乎人们预料的顺利。我想这一切都很好。至于香港的情况，在回归之前，也有一些人曾表示忧虑。现在证明这些忧虑是没有根据的。香港的回归是很成功的，这对中英两国都很好。我们两国有着许多共同的利益，比如在相互开放贸易，协助中国在世界上发挥大国决定性的作用等方面。

Q: You just mentioned the United Nations, and China and Britain are both countries with considerable influence in the world. We are both permanent members of the UN Security Council, so how do you think we can promote this cooperation in international affairs, like drug smuggling in the world?

答： 我认为在这些问题上，我们的合作越紧密，我们的工作就会做得越好。当今世界给我们最大的启示就是我们面临种种巨大的挑战。不论是国际性的犯罪、贩毒，还是全球性的经济危机，或者是世界各个地区的政局动荡，对于这些问题，我们只有联起手来一起去解决。这些问题只能由那些认识到它们有着共同的利益，尽力想办法面对困难、迎接挑战的国家予以解决。比如说对于全球性的犯罪和贩毒问题，我们正和中国在内的其他国家一起合作，尽力树立起一种正确的信念，以便我们能够追捕那些从事毒品走私的犯罪分子。我认为中国在这方面的作用是非常重要的。这也给人们一种强烈的印象，中国在全球讨论这类问题的过程中正发挥着它应有的作用。