英国财长不知7乘8得几 前任曾答54

 　　George Osborne refused to answer a simple times table as a panel of children quizzed him on his maths skills.

　　英国财政部长乔治·奥斯本在一组儿童测验他的数学能力时，拒绝回答一道简单的乘法题目。

　　Asked to give the answer to 7x8 by Samuel Raddings, aged¹ 7 from Manchester, one of the panel’s youngest interviewers, the Chancellor² said he made it a "rule in life not to answer a load of maths questions".

　　这组小记者中的一员，来自曼彻斯特的7岁的萨默尔·拉丁斯提问7乘8等于几。财政部长说他的人生信条就是不回答数学问题。

　　Samuel helped out the Chancellor pointing out with no hesitation³ that 7x8 equals 56.

　　萨默尔帮财政部长回答了这个问题，他毫不犹豫的报出了答案：56。

　　The young interviewer from a panel of readers of First News - the UK's first national newspaper for young people - had previously⁴ asked Mr Osborne whether he was “good at maths”.

　　First News是英国第一家面向年轻人的全国性报纸。这名小记者是该报的一名读者。他在此前曾问奥斯本财长的数学是否很好。

　　The Chancellor said he had done a “maths A-Level” and had been “tested at school”.

　　财长说他通过了A-Level数学，也在学校里参加了测验。

　　“Of course there is a lot of maths in my job but it is also about making judgments⁵ about where the Government should spend its money”, he added.

　　他补充道：“显然，在我的工作中有大量的数学，但主要是决定政府该往哪儿投钱。”

1 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

2 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

3 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

4 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

5 judgments   

判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判

参考例句：

• A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
• He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。