介绍： Brexit and Scotland
Leave one union, lose another
This was meant to be the week when a proud, sovereign nation served notice that it wanted to leave the overbearing, unrepresentative union to which it had long been shackled. And so it was—but not in quite the way that Theresa May had imagined. Britain’s p...

介绍： Brexit and Scotland
Leave one union, lose another
This was meant to be the week when a proud, sovereign nation served notice that it wanted to leave the overbearing, unrepresentative union to which it had long been shackled. And so it was—but not in quite the way that Theresa May had imagined. Britain’s prime minister had planned to trigger Article 50 of the European Union treaty, beginning the two year process of Britain’s exit from the EU. But she was forced to delay her plans when Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, upstaged her by announcing that she would seek a new referendum on Scottish independence.
shackle英 [ˈʃækl] 美 [ˈʃækəl]n.束缚;手铐，脚镣;[机]钩环;[电]绝缘器
vt.束缚，加枷锁;妨碍，阻碍;给…上手铐;[电]在…装绝缘器

The Scottish independence referendum of 2014 was billed by nationalists as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity”. But they are right to demand another. Ms Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party(SNP) won an election last year on the promise of a new referendum in the event of a “material change” in circumstances. Brexit is as material as it gets. Mrs May and Britain’s Parliament, the consent of which is needed for another plebiscite, must not deny the Scottish people a second vote.
plebiscite英 [ˈplebɪsɪt] 美 [ˈplɛbɪˌsaɪt, -sɪt]n.公民投票;[罗史]全民表决
But Mrs May has the power to delay it—and on March 16th she said that there should be no referendum before Britain’s relations with the EU are clear. Ms Sturgeon wants the vote to take place at some point between autumn 2018 and spring 2019, when Brexit negotiations will be entering their final, fraught phase. She suggested this week that this would allow an independent Scotland speedily to rejoin the EU. That is mistaken. There is no prospect of Scotland completing “Scoxit” before Britain leaves the EU . European officials have made clear that there would be no “fast track” entry process for a country that was previously part of a member state.

What holding a referendum during Brexit negotiations would achieve, as Ms Sturgeon surely knows, is maximum pressure on the British government, which would be in capable of fighting on a second front in Scotland. And it would damage Scotland’s own interests: first by muddying the Brexit talks, in which Scotland has a stake, whether it ends up as part of Britain or not; and second by forcing Scots to vote before it is clear what sort of deal Britain is going to get with the EU.
stake英 [steɪk] 美 [stek]n.股份;桩;刑柱;（在公司、计划等中的）重大利益vt.用桩支撑;以…下注[打赌];用桩区分，界分

Whenever the second referendum campaign begins, Brexit will make life trickier for the unionist side. Already Mrs May is finding that her position on the European Union makes it harder to defend the British union. Ms Sturgeon says she wants Scots “to be in control of events and not just at the mercy of them”. How can British ministers disagree, when so many of them urged Britons to “vote Leave, take control” last summer?

Yet Brexit creates problems for the nationalists, too. As she has pointed out, it is a bad idea to leave the single market to which you send the lion’s share of your exports. For Scotland, that means Britain. She laments the hardening of Britain’s borders with Europe. Yet an independent Scotland might well mean a harder border with England, particularly if Scotland rejoined the EU. Pro-Europeans have noted that the sovereignty your again by leaving a union is illusory when it also means losing the clout you get as a member of a more powerful group. So it would be if Scotland left Britain: it would indeed be more sovereign in a pure sense, but at the cost of its seat on the UN Security Council, nuclear weapons, G7 membership and much else that aids true self-determination in the world.
lament英 [ləˈment] 美 [ləˈmɛnt]vt.& vi.悲叹;悔恨;痛惜;（为…）哀悼n.哀歌，挽歌;悲恸，恸哭;悲痛之情;悼词
illusory英 [ɪˈlu:səri] 美 [ɪˈlusəri, -zəri]adj.虚无缥缈;貌似真实的，虚幻的

The Scots are in a wretched position. But they should be in no doubt: exit from Britain would compound the mistake Britain is making by leaving the EU. Though Brexit is the main motive for Ms Sturgeon’s renewed independence push, it is also a warning of the perils of going it alone.

peril英 [ˈperəl] 美 [ˈpɛrəl]n.危险;冒险vt.置…于危险中;危及