尽管与上世纪相比，英国在权力和影响力上长期处于衰落状态，很多英国人仍不愿接受这一新的现实，尤其是在老一辈英国人中。支持英国脱欧的民众梦想回到过去，回到那个幻想的大英帝国。但这只是一个谬论。
By Greg Fountain
Twenty years ago this month, Hong Kong was returned to China - an event that is often considered to mark the formal end of the British Empire.
20年前的7月，香港回归中国。人们通常将这一事件视为大英帝国正式结束的标志。
Yet there seems to be some reluctance, back home in the UK, to admit that the British hegemony of the 19th and early 20th centuries is now a thing of the past.
然而，很多英国民众似乎不愿承认英国19世纪和20世纪初建立的霸权现在已经成为历史。
Last year's European Union membership referendum provided ample evidence of this, with the so-called Brexit vote won, at least in part, because of a certain xenophobic nostalgia for the "good old days".
去年，关于欧盟成员国身份的公投为此提供了充足的证据，所谓的退欧公投取得胜利，至少有一部分是因为一些排外的英国民众还怀念“过去的美好时光”。
Despite the country's extended period of decline in power and influence over the past century, many Britons still refuse to accept this new reality. Fervent nationalism, embodied in such anachronistic "anthems" as Rule Britannia and expounded by certain elements of England's right-wing press, is rife - especially among the older generation.
尽管与上世纪相比，英国在权力和影响力上长期处于衰落状态，很多英国人仍不愿接受这一新的现实。过时的歌曲《不列颠万岁》以及英国右翼报纸中宣扬的狂热的民族主义越来越盛行，尤其是在老一辈英国人中。
In the four years since I left, my homeland once synonymous with statecraft and stability now looks to be foundering.
四年前当我离开英国时，英国还是一个治国有方、团结稳定的国家，而现在似乎已处于崩溃边缘。
In addition to referendums, the British public has twice in as many years been asked to decide on who should run the country. Such a rash of polls hardly smacks of solidity, nor does it serve to inspire confidence in Western-style democracy.
除了脱欧公投，在过去的几年里英国公众两次被要求选出国家治理者。如此草率的投票即不利于英国稳定，又令英国民众对西方民主失去信心。
Contrast that with China, which over the same period has taken on an ever greater role in world affairs with the Belt and Road Initiative and its commitment to combating climate change in the face of the United States' withdrawal.
相比之下，同一时间中国在世界事务中已经发挥越来越大的作用，发起了“一带一路”倡议，且在美国退出《巴黎协定》时做出承诺，全力应对气候变化。
The supposed leaders of the UK, meanwhile, keep calling election after election, vote after vote, each only really serving to make the country weaker.
与此同时，所谓的英国领导人们却号召民众一次又一次地参加选举、投票，每次都使英国变得更脆弱。
Both the Brexit referendum and the latest election which wasn't due for another three years were called needlessly by Britain’s current party of government either in the hopes of healing internal rifts or tightening its grip on power. Neither plan worked. Instead, through such miscalculations and hubris, the future of the UK now looks to be in real doubt.
脱欧公投和提前三年举行大选是执政党的多此一举。他们希望弥合国内裂痕或加强权力掌控，但是没有实现预期效果。相反经历了判断失误和骄傲自大，现在看来英国的未来充满不确定性。
In just two short years, Britain will exit the European Union. That's not a long time to negotiate all the various border, tariff, trade, citizenship, immigration and other issues that need to be sorted out.
在短短的两年里，英国将退出欧盟。多方边界问题、关税、贸易、公民身份、移民问题都要通过谈判解决，还要解决其它有争议的问题，两年的时间实在太短了。
If the country's newly enfeebled government fails to reach a deal in time, then it will go over what's been described as the "cliff edge" cut off from some of its most important allies and biggest economic partners.
如果英国新上任的衰弱的政府未能及时达成协议，届时英国将处在“悬崖边缘”，与一些最重要的盟友和最大的经济伙伴切断联系。
Proponents of Brexit hark back to an imagined past, conjuring up a romanticized view of an imperial Britain that traded with the world. But this is a fallacy.
支持英国脱欧的民众梦想回到过去，回到那个幻想的大英帝国，与全世界都有贸易往来。但这只是一个谬论。
As Danish finance minister Kristian Jensen noted last month: “There are two kinds of European nations - small nations and countries that have not yet realized they are small nations.”
丹麦财政部长克里斯蒂安•延森上个月指出：“欧盟的成员国分为两种：小成员国和还没有意识到他们是小国的国家。”
And it was none other than Sir Henry Tizard, chief scientific adviser to the UK's ministry of defense, who said Britain is "not a great power, and never will be again".
英国国防部首席科学顾问亨利•蒂泽德爵士（Sir Henry Tizard）曾说过，英国“不再是强国，且永远也不会成为强国了”。
He wrote those words in 1949. Perhaps it's time his country heed them.
他在1949年写下这句话。也许英国是时候该听从这句忠告了。
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