撒切尔夫人生平讣文: 追忆往昔皆浮云, 剽悍人生永流传

Legacy

遗留下来的宝贵财富

Few politicians have exercised such dominance during their term in office and few politicians have attracted such strength of feeling, both for and against.

几乎没有哪个政治家在任期间会像撒切尔夫人那样保持着一如既往的统治地位，也没有哪个政治家能勾起外界这么强烈的情感，这其中有支持，也有反对。

To her detractors she was the politician who put the free market above all else and who was willing to allow others to pay the price for her policies in terms of rising unemployment and social unrest.

在批评者眼中，她是一位视自由市场高于一切的政治家。针对上升的失业率和动荡不安的社会，她推出的政策却要别人来买单。

Her supporters hail her for rolling back the frontiers of an overburdening state, reducing the influence of powerful trades union leaders and restoring Britain's standing in the world.

支持者拥戴她，因为她为一个负担过重的国家减轻了不少压力，减小了工会领导人的影响力，而且恢复了英国的世界地位。

She was, above all, that rare thing, a conviction politician who was prepared to stand by those convictions for good or ill.

最重要的是，她是一位有执着信念的政治家，无论对错，她都坚守着自己的信念，真可谓“人间珍品”。

Her firm belief that deeply held convictions should never be compromised by consensus was her great strength and, at the same time, her greatest weakness.

但凡她坚持的信念，她都不会做出任何妥协，这种坚定是她的长处，同时也是她最大的弱点。

For many, her philosophy was summed up in a magazine interview she gave in 1987.

在很多人看来，撒切尔夫人1987年接受的一个杂志采访很好地总结了她的人生观。

"I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand 'I have a problem, it is the government's job to cope with it!' or 'I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!'; 'I am homeless, the government must house me!' and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society?

“我觉得我们经历了这样一个时期，不少人（包括孩子）理所当然地认为：‘我遇到问题了，政府有职责去解决这个问题！’或者‘我遇到问题了，我得获得（政府）资助才能解决’，又或者‘我无家可归，政府必须给我一个住的地方’。这样一来，他们都把自己的问题归咎于社会，那么社会是什么呢？”

"There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families, and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first.

“根本就不存在这样一个东西！社会上存在的就是个体的男人、女人和家庭，政府只有通过人民才能有所作为，人民最先依赖的还应该是他们自己。”

"It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our neighbour and life is a reciprocal business and people have got the entitlements too much in mind without the obligations."

“照顾好自己是我们的职责，当然我们也有责任帮助照顾好邻里。生活就是有来有往，互利互惠。人们太过专注于自己的权利，却忽视了应该承担的责任。”

Margaret Thatcher, who has died following a stroke, was one of the most influential political figures of the 20th Century.

撒切尔夫人，20世纪最有影响力的政治人物之一，在2013年4月8日，因中风不幸逝世。

Her legacy had a profound effect upon the policies of her successors, both Conservative and Labour, while her radical and sometimes confrontational approach defined her 11-year period at No 10.

她深深影响了她之后的包括保守党和工党在内的历届英国首相。这样一位激进的，有时甚至带有攻击性的“铁娘子”担任了长达11年之久的英国首相。

Her term in office saw thousands of ordinary voters gaining a stake in society, buying their council houses and eagerly snapping up shares in the newly privatised industries such as British Gas and BT.

她在任职期间推动社会改革，成千上万的英国普通选民购买了政府公屋，抢购了诸如英国天然气和英国电信等新近私有化行业的股份。

But her rejection of consensus politics made her a divisive figure and opposition to her policies and her style of government led eventually to rebellion inside her party and unrest on the streets.

但她对舆论政治的排斥使她备受争议，同时她的政策也招致反对。最终她所领导的政党内部反声一片，社会也混乱不堪。