在政治家当中，英国前首相布莱尔属于能塑造时代的那一类型。他毕业于牛津大学，1994年成为英国工党领袖，1997年带领工党结束了保守党此前18年的执政期，也成为英国自1812年以来最年轻的首相。2007年，布莱尔黯然卸任，并于2010年推出了回忆录《A Journey: My Political Life》，记述了英国自黛安娜王妃去世到发起反恐战争这数年间的历史。书中充满了坦率无畏并且不乏嘲讽的细节，记录了布莱尔执政生涯的起起落落，让读者不仅窥见一位政治家，也走近一个普通人。
2011年8月，这本关于英国政治权力本质及其运用的书推出中文版。布莱尔亲临该书的首发式，还邀来知名女星李冰冰朗诵了书中的精彩片段。
本节选描写了黛安娜王妃车祸后作为首相的布莱尔的应对以及想法。一位出色的政治人物，如何面对重大的历史事件，如何在紧要关头发挥作用，从中或许可见一斑。
英式发音 适合泛听
At about 2 a.m., something most peculiar happened. 1)Cherie is difficult to wake once asleep, but I woke to find a policeman standing by the bed, which as you can imagine was quite a surprise. As I struggled into consciousness he told me that he had tried the bell but I hadn’t heard it; that Princess Diana had been seriously injured in a car crash; and that I should immediately telephone Sir Michael Jay, the British ambassador in Paris.
凌晨两点左右，最非比寻常的事情发生了。切丽一旦睡着就很难醒来，而我却惊醒了，当时发现床边站着一个警察。你可以想象，那多么的吓人。当我竭力清醒过来后，他告诉我，他按过门铃，可我没有听见；他又说，黛安娜王妃遭遇车祸，受了重伤；他还说，我应该立刻给身在巴黎的英国大使迈克尔·杰伊爵士打电话。
At 4 a.m. I was phoned again, however, to be told that she had died.
然而，到了凌晨四点，我又接到一个电话，说王妃已经去世了。
I know that sounds 2)callous. I was genuinely in grief. I liked her and I felt desperately sorry for her two boys, but I also knew that this was going to be a major national, in fact global event like no other. How Britain emerged was important for the country internally and externally.
我知道，这听起来很无情。我悲痛万分。我喜欢她，我为她的两个儿子深感痛心，可是我也明白，这事非同小可，它会轰动全国，事实上还会震惊全球。不论对国内还是国外，英国的表现都非常重要。
As I 3)contemplated her death and what I would say, I felt a sense of obligation as well as sadness. I felt I owed it to her to try to capture something of what she was. I sat in my study in Trimdon as the dawn light streamed through the windows, and thought about how she would have liked me to talk about her.
当思忖她去世的事以及自己应该如何发言时，我心里不但有悲伤，还有责任感。我觉得，自己应该尽力表达出最真实的她，这是我欠她的情。我坐在特里姆登的书房里，曙光透过窗户射进屋内，我心中想着：她会希望我如何谈论她呢？
The Palace had, of course, put out a statement, but there was no intention for the Queen to speak.
王室当然已经发布了声明，可是，女王并不打算发表讲话。
By then I had worked out what I wanted to say. I 4)scribbled it on the back of an envelope, and discussed it with 5)Alastair. The last thing you need at a time like that is a back-coverer, 6)vacillator or 7)sycophant.
那时的我已经想好自己要说的话。我在一只信封的背面草草写下这些话，并跟阿拉斯泰尔讨论起来。在这种形势下，最要不得的就是推托、犹疑和逢迎。
The phrase “people’s princess” now seems like something from another age. And corny. And over the top. And all the rest of it. But at the time it felt natural and I thought, particularly, that she would have approved. It was how she saw herself, and it was how she should be remembered. What they loved was precisely that she was a princess but still vulnerable, still 8)buffeted by life’s ups and downs, capable of healing their wounds because she herself knew what it was like to be wounded.
现在听来，“人民的王妃”这个词仿佛来自另一个时代，俗气、过火，诸如此类。不过，这在当时感觉很自然，而且我尤其认为黛安娜会喜欢这个称号。那是她对自己的定位，而且人们也应该以此记住她。人们爱戴她，正是因为她虽然贵为王妃，却仍然容易受到伤害，仍然会受到人生起起落落的打击；她能够治疗人们的伤痛，因为她明白受伤的感觉。
We drove the couple of miles to the green in the centre of Trimdon where the old church stands. Alastair had arranged for a pooled press group to be present. I got out of the car and just walked up and spoke. It was odd, standing there in this little village in County Durham, on the grass in front of an ancient small church, speaking words that I knew would be carried around the country and the world. They would be a major part of how people thought of me. Even today people talk to me about it. You think of the great speeches, prepared over days and weeks, the 9)momentous events that shape modern history and in which I played a part, the political battles, the crises, the times of 10)elation, and despair; yet those few words scribbled on the back of an envelope probably had as much coverage as anything I ever did.
我们开车走了几英里，来到特里姆登的草地。那所古老的教堂就耸立在村子中间的草坪上。阿拉斯泰尔已经安排了一群新闻记者到场。我下车，走上前，开始讲话。身处达勒姆郡的这个小村庄，站在一座古老的小教堂前面的草地上，说着一些我心知将会传遍英国和世界的话，感觉很奇异。这番话将会成为人们对我的印象的一个重要组成部分，即使到了今天，还会有人跟我提起。也许你会想到花上数天、数周准备的重要演讲，想到我参与其中的塑造现代历史的重大事件，想到政治斗争、危机、得势的时刻、绝望的时刻；然而，草草写在信封背后的那几句话，其传播范围也许比我做过的任何事情都要广。
The national mood was exactly what we thought: an outpouring of sadness. But already it was tinged with anger that she had been taken away. At first, the rage was turned on the paparazzi who had been following her. It is perhaps hard to convey what it is like to be a public figure and feel hounded. And for perfectly understandable reasons, many people don’t feel sorry for the famous, most of whom have willingly taken that path. They take the upside, so the argument goes, and should jolly well put up with the downside. Anyway, small price to pay, isn’t it?
国内的情绪正如我们所料：悲伤之情倾泻而出。但是，其中已经夹带了一种对她死于非命而感到愤怒的情绪。起初，怒火烧向跟踪她的狗仔队。常人也许难以理解公众人物受人追踪时的感受，而且，出于完全可以理解的理由，大多数人并不会为名人感到悲哀，因为其中很多人还很愿意走上那条路。人们如此争辩道：他们占据了社会的上层，就该哄下层的人开心——此争论一直不休。无论如何，代价很小，不是吗？
Except in Diana’s case it had gone way beyond a small price. She was literally hunted down. She was a gold mine that was constantly 11)plundered. The digging was deep and unusually desperate because the gains were so immense. Of course, media people say she was happy to pursue the media when it suited her, but this is a far less 12)compelling argument than it seems. The truth is, in the full glare of media attention, you have no option but to engage with them, to try to mould their view of you, to try to prevent a different and often unflattering and unfair view from taking hold. In other words, sometimes there is no choice: either you attempt to feed the beast or the beast eats you. Now, at points she fed them more than was necessary, but that doesn’t alter the basic fact: she was subject to a degree of persistent, intrusive and 13)dehumanising harassment that on occasions was frightening, excessive and wrong.
只不过就黛安娜事件来说，代价远远超出了小的范围。她被切切实实地“猎杀”了。她是一座频繁遭到洗劫的金矿。他们挖得很深、不顾一切，因为收获是如此丰厚。当然，媒体说，如果媒体报道符合她的心意，她是很喜欢跟媒体打交道的。这话听起来很对，然而，真相却远非如此。真相是，完全暴露在媒体的关注下，除了跟它们交手，你别无选择，你得竭力让它们支持你的观点，尽量阻止不一样的而且通常是反对你的、不公平的言论占据主导地位。换句话说，有时候，别无选择：你要么设法喂饱野兽，要么被野兽吃掉。于是，她喂野兽，有时候还喂得太饱，却无法改变基本事实：她长期受到骚扰，备受非人性的折磨，这些折磨有时候还是那么的可怕、过分和错误。Tony Blair/文
1) Cherie 即Cherie Booth，布莱尔的妻子
2) callous [5kAlEs] a. 无情的，冷淡的
3) contemplate [5kɒntempleIt] v. 凝思，沉思
4) scribble [5skrIbl] v. 潦草地写，乱写
5) Alastair 即Alastair Campbell，布莱尔的新闻顾问
6) vacillator [5vAsIleItE] n. 犹豫不定的人
7) sycophant [5sIkEfEnt] n. 拍马屁的人，谄媚者，奉承者
8) buffet [5bQfIt] v. 打击，搏斗
9) momentous [mEJ5mentEs] a. 重大的，重要的
10) elation [I5leIF(E)n] n. 得意洋洋，兴高采烈
11) plunder [5plQndE] v. 抢劫
12) compelling [kEm5pelIN] a. 强制的，强迫的，引人注目的
13) dehumanising [di:5hju:mEnaIzIN] a. 失掉人性的，成兽性的