VOA新闻杂志2022--英国首相特拉斯宣布辞职 上任仅6周

Britain’s Prime Minister Liz Truss Resigns after Six Weeks

British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned Thursday after only six weeks in office.

Truss was brought down by economic policy that shook financial markets and divided her Conservative Party.

A party leadership election will be completed within the next week to replace Truss. She will be the shortest-serving prime minister in Britain's history. The earlier record-holder, George Canning, died in office after 119 days in 1827.

Truss said, "I cannot deliver the mandate¹ on which I was elected." She said, "I have therefore spoken to His Majesty² the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party."

Conservative lawmakers have increasingly called on Truss to step down after she was forced to drop most of her economic policy. The program announced on September 23 sent the British pound lower, creating disorder³ in the financial markets.

"It's time for the prime minister to go," said lawmaker Miriam Cates. Another, Steve Double, said of Truss: "She isn't up to the job, sadly." And legislator Ruth Edwards said, "it is not responsible for the party to allow her to remain in power."

Just a day earlier Truss had promised to stay in power, saying she was "a fighter and not a quitter." Truss apologized and admitted she had made mistakes during her six weeks in office. But she said that by changing the program she had "taken responsibility and made the right decisions in the interest of the country's economic stability."

But Truss could not hold on after a senior minister quit her government and a vote in the House of Commons turned chaotic⁴.

Truss was elected leader of the Conservatives and became Prime Minister following the resignation of Boris Johnson. Party lawmakers said her most likely replacement⁵ could be former finance minister Rishi Sunak, or Penny Mordaunt, who came third in the race to become the next prime minister six weeks ago.

A national election does not have to be held until 2024. But opposition⁶ leader Keir Starmer of the Labor⁷ Party said, "Britain cannot afford the chaos⁸ of the Conservatives anymore. We need a general election now."

Words in This Story

mandate –n. the power to act that voters give to elected leaders

allow –v. to permit something to happen

chaotic –adj. in a state of complete disorder

1 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

2 majesty   

n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权

参考例句：

• The king had unspeakable majesty.国王有无法形容的威严。
• Your Majesty must make up your mind quickly!尊贵的陛下，您必须赶快做出决定！

3 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

4 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

5 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

8 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。