很久以前看到的妙文一篇^_^翻譯出來，與眾分享。之前發于weibo。

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/ben_macintyre/article7129129.ece

Cameron and Clegg: who is more upper crust?
卡梅倫和克萊格，誰更“上等”？

“IT is most odd,” said my friend, a Frenchman now living, like most sensible Frenchmen, in London. “Your country has given birth to twins. This Cameron and Clegg, he is the same person, no? They are both, how you say, posh?”

“看起來真古怪，”我的一位法國朋友說。如同多數明智的法國人，他住在倫敦。
“你們國家選出一對雙胞胎啦。這個卡梅倫和克萊格，其實是一個吧？他們都……像你說的，上等（posh）？”

“Yes,” I explained. “But they are different sorts of posh.”
He looked confused: “But both went to private school, both are rich, both are sons of financiers. Even the hair is similar.”

“是的。但那是不同形式的上等?！?BR>他疑惑了：“但他們都進私校，都有錢，都是金融家的富二代出身。就連發型都很像?！?/p>

“True,” I conceded. “But they are not the same species of posh. David Cameron is Eton-Oxford-country-clubby-cutglass-shooting party sort of posh, whereas Nick Clegg is Westminster-Cambridge-metropolitan-foreign-glottal stop-trustfund sort of posh. Cameron is upper-upper-middle class with a dash of English gentry, but Clegg is middle-upper-middle class with a hint of European aristocracy. These are quite different things.”

“沒錯，”我承認，“但他們不是同一種形式的上等。卡梅倫是伊頓-牛津-鄉村-俱樂部會員-cut-glass 口音）-射擊聚會式的上等，而克萊格是威斯敏斯特-劍橋-都會-海外-glottal stop口音-信托基金式的上等。卡梅倫是走一點英式名門風的上-上-中層，克萊格是帶一點歐陸貴族氣的中-上-中層。這是很不一樣的東西?！?/p>

（這一段里每一個詞都可以做論文?。。?/p>

From the look on his bemused Gallic face, I could see I was not getting through. So I started from basics.

看到他那張困惑的高盧臉，我知道我解釋得不夠明白。于是我從最基本的講起。

In British society there are not three classes but an infinite variety of sub-classes, governed by a multiplicity of minute distinctions, invisible and incomprehensible to anyone outside the system. These are partly dependent on wealth, geography and education, but also on lineage, accent, pastimes, parsimony and where you buy your shoes.

不列顛社會絕非僅有上中下三個階層，它還包括無數的次階層和子階層，種種繁瑣而細微的區別，對于任何體系外的人，都是看不見、摸不著也是全然無法理解的。它部分取決于你的財產、住址和教育，但也和你的家譜、口音、娛樂方式、儉省與否、在哪買你的鞋子等等息息相關。

In France, there are just two classes: the ruling and the ruled. In Britain, as pointed out by former deputy prime minister John Prescott, there is only one class, the middle, to which all belong. All members of the middle class are equal, but some are more equal than others.

法國就兩個階層：統治者和被統治者。在不列顛，如前副首相約翰·普雷斯科特所指出的，只存在一個容納了所有人的中等階層。所有中等階層的成員都是平等的，不過其中一些比另一些更加平等。

“Aha,” said my French friend, Frenchly. “Then who is more grand, Cameron or Clegg? Who is plus posh?”

“啊哈，”我的法國朋友非常法國式的笑了，“那么，卡梅倫和克萊格，誰更強一點？哪一個更加上等？”

This is a tricky question, and one worthy of Anthony Powell, the great observer and chronicler of the English class system. An insatiable snob, Powell understood better than any other novelist, with the possible exception of Evelyn Waugh, the minute gradations of British class and social placement that once separated, say, a baronet who has joined the middle class from a self-made peer who buys his own furniture.

這是一個棘手的問題，值得安東尼·鮑威爾，這位英國等級體系的偉大觀察者和編年史家探討的問題。身為一位不知足的勢利眼，鮑威爾對英國等級的理解比其他任 何小說家都強，伊夫林·沃可能是個例外，他知道，一位屬于中等階級的從男爵在不列顛階級和社會地位上微妙地優先于一位白手起家獲封的從男爵。后者的家具還 都是新買的。

The drawing of such distinctions, not just between but also within classes, is a peculiarly British urge. As Robert Cecil once wrote: “Directly Man has his most elementary material wants, the first aspiration of his amiable heart is for the privilege of being able to look down on his neighbours.” So who, in the new Cameron-Clegg menage, is looking down on whom? Which was born with the longer silver spoon?

對這種階級內、而不是階級間的差異刻畫是一種鮮明的不列顛特色。如同羅伯特·塞西爾勛爵所說：“人類一旦滿足其最基本的生存需要后，他的第一個愿望便是高高在上地俯視他的鄰居。”于是，在新出爐的卡梅倫-克萊格的配對中，誰可以俯視另一個？誰銜著更長的銀湯匙降生的？

Cameron would seem to be posher, genealogically. He is a descendant of William IV and distantly related to the Queen. His mother is the daughter of a baronet. His mother-in-law is a viscountess. Samantha Cameron is authentic old money county posh, being the eldest daughter of Reginald Adrian Berkeley Sheffield, 8th baronet and a descendant of Charles II.

翻翻家譜，卡梅倫看起來更上等。他是威廉四世的后代，女王陛下的遠親。他的母親是一位從男爵的女兒。他的岳母是一位子爵夫人。薩曼莎·卡梅倫是正宗的鄉村老錢，雷金納德·阿德里安·伯克利·謝菲爾德八世從男爵的長女，查爾斯二世的后裔。

（所謂的后代和后裔，統統都是國王的私生子。不過，卡梅倫的近祖已摻入德裔銀行家的血，卡梅倫夫人看起來似乎比卡梅倫先生還“上等”：見wiki，中學 就讀于牛津郡阿賓頓的圣海倫與圣凱瑟琳私立女校和威爾特郡馬爾博羅學院——教會背景，曾經只招男生的一所私校，丘吉爾家族的爵號是馬爾博羅公爵。大學在坎 伯威爾藝術學院學習藝術基礎課程，隨后在西英格蘭大學分屬創造藝術學院學習美術——不當鹽不當醬不為謀生地選擇文藝社科專業，是一項特權，否則就等著淪為 99%吧——然后在學校里，通過卡梅倫的妹妹認識了未來夫君和首相。）

But there is blueish blood in the Clegg veins too. His grandmother was a White Russian baroness. His great uncle was clubbed to death by his own peasants, which carries a certain aristo-cachet. His great aunt was a spy: it is well known that before about 1992 MI6 did not recruit anyone who was not directly out of the top drawer. On the other hand, his ancestors on the other side were Dutch colonial entrepreneurs: yes, trade.

不過，克萊格的血管里也流著純正的藍血。他的祖母是一位白俄男爵夫人，他的舅公被自己的農奴亂棍打死，這也算是一種貴族的標志。他的姨婆是一名間諜：眾所 周知，在1992年前，MI6 才不會從最上層以外錄用職員。另一方面，他的父系祖先是荷蘭的殖民地實業家：是的，生意人。

（被農奴亂棍打死——類比法國貴族的斷頭臺XP關于間諜的部分很神……）

Cameron’s manners are exquisitely upper-class. Unlike Clegg, who did not hesitate to barge in during the televised debates, Cameron fell silent when interrupted, and when asked to be quiet, was. This may explain why he did not triumph in the debates.

卡梅倫的風度是全然上流的。像克萊格那樣、在電視爭論中毫不遲疑地搶話插嘴，卡梅倫是做不來的，被別人打斷時，他就說不下去了，當別人叫他安靜時，他就真的沉默了。這或許可以解釋，為何他在爭論中每每處于下風。

（好乖好可憐的卡梅倫……不過，據說他已適應到可在別人叫囂時強硬地說下去了）

Cameron is said to enjoy shooting pheasants, whereas the closest Clegg has come to blood sports is at the Liberal Democrat annual conference. “Eton and Oxford” still sounds immeasurably grander than “Westminster and Cambridge”, which sounds merely clever. Cameron is clubbable (Whites, the Bullingdon) in a way that Clegg is not.

據說，卡梅倫喜歡在狩獵季節打野雞，而克萊格所從事的最血腥的運動就是參加自由民主黨的年會?！耙令D和牛津”聽起來就是比“威斯敏斯特和劍橋”莊嚴無數倍，后者的感覺僅是比較聰明而已?？穫愂峭婢銟凡康模ū热绮检`頓），克萊格，否。

Cameron eats fish and chips and enjoys reading cheap paperbacks, which is itself a mark of extreme poshness. Only the very grand are instinctively frugal, as demonstrated by this week’s revelation that the Queen Mother rented a television set for her Scottish castle.

卡梅倫吃炸魚薯條讀廉價的平裝書，這也是非常上等的標志。真正的大人物是發自本能地節儉的，比如本周報導所透露的，皇太后為她的蘇格蘭城堡租了一臺電視機。

Clegg’s accent is fluent BBC, with a hint of the Estuary twang perfected by Tony Blair (lower-upper-middle class). Cameron’s accent, according to friends, used to be rather more “fruity and patrician” – his vowels have grown flatter as he has ascended higher.

克萊格的口音是流利的BBC風格，帶點Tony Blair風味的灣區鼻音。順便，布萊爾是下-上-中層。卡梅倫的口音曾是更加“飽滿和貴族化”的，不過，隨著他的步步高升，他的元音漸漸變平

George Orwell once said of Winston Churchill that the prime minister was “too old to have acquired the modern ‘educated’ accent . . . he speaks with the Edwardian upper-class twang which to the average man’s ear sounds like Cockney”. Today, Clegg has the “educated” accent and Cameron the Edwardian remnants; to the average man (and Frenchman), they sound identical.

喬治奧威爾曾說，丘吉爾這位首相，“已經太老，說不出一口現代的‘經過教育’的口音了……他那仍屬于愛德華時期的上層階級腔調，在一般人聽來，就是老倫敦 東區口音。”如今，克萊格有著“經過教育”的口音，卡梅倫還帶著愛德華時代的殘余，不過，對于一般人（和法國人），都是一樣的。

And that, finally, is the point. Clegg and Cameron occupy very slightly different niches on the social spectrum, but it matters not a jot. The election result has offered conclusive evidence that voters know there are more important considerations than where someone went to school, how they speak and whether they like to kill animals at the weekend.

最后是結論。克萊格和卡梅倫，在社會光譜上占據了不同而差別甚小的位置，但它無關緊要。選舉結果提供了確鑿的證據，比起某人上哪所學校、如何說話和周末是否殘殺生靈，選民有著更重要的考量。

Peter Mandelson, among others, tried to get the class war going by insisting that Cameron was looking down his “rather long toffee nose”.
也有人持不同意見，比如彼得·曼德爾森，就堅稱卡梅倫一直在用他老派的長鼻子俯瞰眾生，以延續一場階級之戰。

But it failed to ignite, for the same reason that the Clegg-Cameron alliance will be seen not as some upper-class, public school conspiracy but as a genuine transformation of the political landscape. British social distinctions are now merely interesting, rather than important.
We are still conscious of class, without being paralysed by class consciousness.

不過戰爭沒有點燃，出于同樣的原因，人們不會把克萊格-卡梅倫的聯合視為上層階級、公立學校的陰謀，而是一個政治格局的真正轉型。如今，不列顛社會的區分僅是個有趣的話題，而不再有重要的意義。
我們仍然有階級意識，但不再被階級的意識所束縛。

“I think I get it,” said my French friend. “These two people are posh in different ways, but it makes no difference.”
“Voila!”
“How very English.”

“我想我明白了，”我的法國朋友說，“這兩個人以不同的方式上等，不過沒有區別。 ”
“Voila！”（You’ve got it?。?BR>“可真英國派呀。”

The Times