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　　中英文本

　　Politics

　　英国政治

　　Winding down

　　时钟停摆

　　Over a year before the general election, Parliament isalready clocking off

　　大选后一年多，议会已像时钟一样停摆

　　PARLIAMENT feels different from usual. The lobbies and corridors are quieter. The queues in thecanteens are shorter. Records of internet activity in the Palace of Westminster show thatmonthly visits to YouTube have overtaken those to Parliament's information pages. Visits tocricket websites are up, too. The division bells still ring in MPs' offices to announce votes andthe wood-panelled committee rooms are still busy—but debates tend to be on independent(and sometimes eccentric) initiatives by MPs rather than on government bills. Each seems to bedoing his own thing.

　　英国议会与往常大不一样。议会大厅和走廊比以往安静许多，在餐厅钱排队的人也变少了。议会大厦网络活动记录显示，YouTube的月访问量已经超过了议会信息网页。板球运动网站访问量也有所增长。议员办公室的分组表决铃依然在宣布着投票结果，镶木会议室里依然繁忙——然而，议会辩论与其说是关于政府债券，倒不如说是关于议员的自主(有时略显诡异)积极性。大家似乎各行其是。

　　Britain's Parliament normally stands out for its raucous debates, its might and its bustle. UnlikeAmerica's Congress, it is not prone to long spells of deadlock; unlike France's NationalAssembly, it is not subordinate to a monarch-like president; unlike the German Bundestag,regional legislatures do not dilute its power. And not long ago it was a whirlwind of activity. Inthe 2010-12 session the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition passed 42 bills overhauling thenational finances and most major public services.

　　英国议会一向以其激烈的辩论、威严的力量和热闹的场面而著称。英国议会不像美国国会那样长期僵持，也不像法国国民议会那样从属于一个君主式的总统，更不会像德国联邦议院那样使地区立法机关将其权利分流。不久以前，英国议会活动频繁。在2010-2012年间，保守党和自由民主党联合通过42项法案，大力整改了国家财政和大部分公共服务机构。

　　But last year's Queen's Speech introduced just 15 bills, several of them minor. With sevenweeks left in the parliamentary year, MPs have passed only 801 pages of governmentlegislation (excluding money-raising measures and bills mostly debated in the last session).Even in the unusually short 2012-13 session they managed more than twice as much. Thirteenmonths before the next general election, the legislative motor is spluttering.

　　但是去年的女王演讲仅仅引进了15项法案，其中一些都是小修小改。本届议会任期还有七周，但议员们仅仅通过了801页政府立法(除了筹款措施和上届议会主要讨论的法案)。即使是在2012-2013年较短的任期内，议员们通过的法案也比现在多出一倍。距离下届大选还有13个月， 而立法运动举步维艰。

　　Why? “They passed a hell of a lot of legislation in early sessions, much more so than Blair orThatcher,” explains Peter Riddell of the Institute for Government. So the government soon ranout of policies that both sides of the coalition found acceptable. It is now stuck. Having fixedthe parliamentary term at five years, it must sit out the remaining months.

　　这一切原因何在?这是因为“他们在早期的议会中已经通过许多立法法案，比布莱尔和撒切尔时期还要多，”政府研究院的彼得·里德尔(Peter Riddell)解释道。因此，政府很快就穷于政策，无法使联合议会的双方都满意。所以如今，立法进程受阻。议会将任期修改为5年，所以他们在剩下的几个月必须耐着性子坚持到底。

　　The slumber of all parliaments

　　麻木的议会

　　Amid the torpor, minds are turning to the election. “A year ago all the conversations wereabout policy; now it is positioning and campaigning,” observes one MP. Those with swing seats,particularly Lib Dems who need to overcome their party's poor polling, are using the quiet timeto woo constituents. Some spend as little as a day a week in Westminster.

　　议会已经麻木，人们的想法渐渐向大选转移。一位议员观察到，“一年以前，大家都在谈论政策，如今，大家都在谈论定位和运动”。一些议员尤其是需要力克其正当惨淡的投票情况的自由民主党人，正需要利用这一麻木期来争取那些立场不坚定的选民。有些议员一周仅在议会大厦工作一天。

　　Other MPs are away from Parliament for different reasons. For those with comfortablemajorities, foreign junkets and media careers beckon. “I've never had more time towrite,”chuckles one. So occupied are some MPs with their second jobs that Andrew Lansley,the leader of the House of Commons, is said to have reminded them that their first duty is totheir voters. Scottish MPs have a less cushy distraction: canvassing voters ahead of thereferendum on independence, which will take place in September.