刚刚，英国首相约翰逊宣布辞职

刚刚，英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊（Boris Johnson）发表讲话，正式宣布辞去英国保守党党首职务，但仍将留任首相至选出新党魁。

无注释原文：

Boris Johnson’s Fight for Survival, Explained

The New York Times

One of his predecessors described him as a “greased piglet”: a man who could slip out of any tight situation.

And despite a damaging scandal involving parties during Britain’s coronavirus lockdown that brought him a fine and a stinging official report, Prime Minister Boris Johnson might have expected to be in a strong position.

Little more than two and a half years ago, Mr. Johnson led the Conservative Party to its biggest election victory in decades. Until the next general election — on a date set by the prime minister, and potentially as late as January 2025 — only his own party’s lawmakers can force him out.

Early in June, they declined to do so, backing him in a no-confidence vote. And yet his position has only grown weaker: Two top ministers resigned Tuesday night in response to yet another scandal, and a growing clutch of colleagues have followed suit, leading analysts to declare him at “the end of the road.”

Here’s a guide to how he got here, and to what could happen next.

The trouble started with ‘partygate,’ but it hasn’t ended.

Since late last year, Mr. Johnson has been grappling with a series of reports about parties in Downing Street, where British prime ministers both live and work, while Covid lockdown rules were in force. The scandal became known as “partygate.”

In May, a long-awaited internal inquiry by a senior civil servant, Sue Gray, found that 83 people violated the rules at parties, during which some drank heavily, fought with each other and damaged property. The London police said they had imposed 126 fines for breaches of social distancing. Mr. Johnson himself received only one, for a surprise lunchtime birthday celebration, despite being present at several gatherings for which others were fined.

But in a country that banned almost all social contact for months and kept lesser, but still onerous, restrictions far longer, the claims of rule-breaking have packed an extraordinary emotional punch. Members of Parliament responded to Mr. Johnson’s initial denials of wrongdoing, and then to his apologies, with testimony from people who were barred from visiting dying relatives at the time of the gatherings.

A series of sexual misconduct scandals among Conservative lawmakers have further damaged Mr. Johnson. This week’s cabinet resignations followed the departure of Chris Pincher, a deputy chief whip — responsible for disciplining Conservative lawmakers — who was promoted by Mr. Johnson despite accusations of inappropriate behavior. Ministers and other officials denied on Mr. Johnson’s behalf that he had been aware of those accusations, only for that account to rapidly unravel.

Boris Johnson’s critics already tried to force him out and failed.

In Britain, it is hard to get rid of a prime minister, but far from impossible. The job goes to the leader of the political party with a parliamentary majority. The party can oust its leader and choose another one, changing prime ministers without a general election.

Under the Conservative Party’s rules, its members of Parliament can hold a binding vote of no confidence in Mr. Johnson if 15 percent of them — which currently means 54 lawmakers — write to formally request one. That moment came for Mr. Johnson on June 6, with a vote the same evening.

Mr. Johnson received 211 votes — just under 60 percent of his party’s 359 lawmakers — with 148 against him.

That’s a weaker result than it sounds, because almost half of those lawmakers also have government jobs that normally oblige them to back Mr. Johnson. This vote was a secret ballot, however, so it’s impossible to know if all of them did.

There’s also an asterisk on the other detail of the process that might sound reassuring for Mr. Johnson. Current Conservative rules say that he cannot face another party no-confidence vote for at least a year. But the party’s lawmakers set those rules. If a clear majority of them want him out, they can simply rewrite the rule book.

But cabinet resignations often indicate the beginning of the end.

Winning the no-confidence vote was essential, but it may not be enough. Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May were both out of office within a year of defeating a leadership challenge, by larger margins than Mr. Johnson.

One key factor is whether cabinet ministers rebel. The catalyst for Mrs. Thatcher’s demise in 1990 was the resignation of Geoffrey Howe, a disaffected former ally, and Mrs. May lost several ministers, including Mr. Johnson, who quit as foreign secretary in 2018.

On Tuesday evening, two of Mr. Johnson’s top ministers — Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sajid Javid, the health secretary — resigned within minutes of one another.

Not every big resignation is fatal: John Major remained as prime minister for almost four years after his chancellor, Norman Lamont, quit with a stinging speech in 1993.

But in an ominous sign for Mr. Johnson, even as he moved quickly to fill the vacancies left by Mr. Sunak and Mr. Javid, a growing stream of more junior colleagues were following their lead.

He could succumb to pressure from behind the scenes.

But there isn’t a clear successor.

One of the reasons Mr. Johnson’s fate has been unpredictable is that there is no consensus on who would replace him, and therefore no single cabal plotting to remove him.

And it might take a while to chose one.

- ◆ -

注：中文文本为纽约时报官方译文，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Boris Johnson’s Fight for Survival, Explained

丑闻、内阁倒戈与幕后压力：约翰逊如何走到辞职这一步

The New York Times

One of his predecessors described him as a “greased piglet”: a man who could slip out of any tight situation.

伦敦——他的一位前任称他为“抹了油的小猪”：一个可以摆脱任何紧张局面的人。

predecessor表示“前任，前辈；原有事物，前身”，英文解释为“someone who had a job or a position before someone else, or something that comes before another thing in time or in a series”。

📍successor表示“继任者，接替者；继承人；接替的事物”，英文解释为“someone or something that comes after another person or thing”举个🌰：

This range of computers is very fast, but their successors will be even faster.

这个系列的电脑速度很快，但它的换代产品速度会更快。

表示“用油脂涂；给…加润滑油”，英文解释为“to put fat or oil on something”举个🌰：

Grease the tins well before adding the cake mixture.

在烤盘里面涂好油脂，然后再把蛋糕混合料加进去。

表示“小猪，猪崽”，英文解释为“a baby pig”举个🌰：

The sow had two piglets.

母猪下了2头猪崽。

📍sow表示“母猪”，英文解释为“an adult female pig”

And despite a damaging scandal involving parties during Britain’s coronavirus lockdown that brought him a fine and a stinging official report, Prime Minister Boris Johnson might have expected to be in a strong position.

尽管首相鲍里斯·约翰逊（Boris Johnson）在英国新冠病毒封锁期间开派对的破坏性丑闻使他遭到罚款以及一份尖刻的官方调查报告，人们本以为他会处于强势地位。

此处作形容词，可以指“激烈的；刺人的，让人苦恼的”；sting本身作动词，可以指“（昆虫、植物或动物）叮，刺，蜇”，也可以表示“（伤害人的话）刺痛，使苦恼”，英文解释为“If someone's unkind remarks sting, they make you feel upset and annoyed.”举个🌰：

She knew he was right, but his words still stung.

她知道他是对的，但他的话仍旧伤害了她。

He was stung by her criticisms.

他被她的指责刺痛了。

🎬电影《绝命海拔》（Everest）中的台词提到：Yeah. It's stinging,huh? 刺痛吧？

Little more than two and a half years ago, Mr. Johnson led the Conservative Party to its biggest election victory in decades. Until the next general election — on a date set by the prime minister, and potentially as late as January 2025 — only his own party’s lawmakers can force him out.

仅仅两年半前，约翰逊带领保守党取得了几十年来最大的选举胜利。直到下一次大选前，只有他自己政党的议员才能迫使他下台，而大选的日期由首相设定，可能最迟到2025年1月。

Early in June, they declined to do so, backing him in a no-confidence vote. And yet his position has only grown weaker: Two top ministers resigned Tuesday night in response to yet another scandal, and a growing clutch of colleagues have followed suit, leading analysts to declare him at “the end of the road.”

6月初，他们拒绝推翻约翰逊，在一次不信任投票中支持了他。然而他的地位开始动摇：周二晚上，两名级别最高的大臣因另一起丑闻辞职，越来越多的同事也纷纷效仿，以至于分析人士宣称他“走到了尽头”。

1）单数，表示“一群（人或动物）；一批（物品）”，英文解释为“a group of people, animals or things”举个🌰：

He's won a whole clutch of awards.

他获得一大堆奖。

2）通常复数，表示“势力范围；控制；掌管”，英文解释为“power or control”举个🌰：

He managed to escape from their clutches.

他设法摆脱了他们的控制。

表示“跟着做；仿效”，英文解释为“If people follow suit, they do the same thing that someone else has just done.”举个🌰：

Efforts to persuade the remainder to follow suit have continued. 

说服其余的人也跟着做的努力在继续。

Here’s a guide to how he got here, and to what could happen next.

以下是他走到这一步的过程，以及接下来会发生什么。

The trouble started with ‘partygate,’ but it hasn’t ended.

麻烦始于“派对门”，但仍未结束。

Since late last year, Mr. Johnson has been grappling with a series of reports about parties in Downing Street, where British prime ministers both live and work, while Covid lockdown rules were in force. The scandal became known as “partygate.”

自去年年底以来，约翰逊一直在疲于应付一系列关于唐宁街派对的报道，作为英国首相的府邸和办公室，新冠防疫封锁规则对其仍然有效。丑闻被称为“派对门”。

1）表示“扭打；搏斗”，英文解释为“to take a firm hold of sb/sth and struggle with them”举个🌰：

Passers-by grappled with the man after the attack.

袭击之后过路人便与这男人扭打起来。

2）表示“努力设法解决；尽力解决；设法对付；尽量克服”，英文解释为“to try hard to find a solution to a problem”举个🌰：

The government has yet to grapple with the problem of air pollution.

政府还需尽力解决空气污染问题。

🎬电影《钢铁侠3》（Iron Man 3）中的台词提到：trying to grapple with something from some hard-crypt data files 希望能在一些加密的数据文件里找到线索

In May, a long-awaited internal inquiry by a senior civil servant, Sue Gray, found that 83 people violated the rules at parties, during which some drank heavily, fought with each other and damaged property. The London police said they had imposed 126 fines for breaches of social distancing. Mr. Johnson himself received only one, for a surprise lunchtime birthday celebration, despite being present at several gatherings for which others were fined.

5月，由高级公务员苏·格雷（Sue Gray）领导的一场久候的内部调查发现，有83人在派对上违反新冠措施，其中一些人酗酒、打架和损坏财产。伦敦警方表示，他们已对违反社交距离的行为处以126项罚款。约翰逊本人仅为一场生日惊喜午餐庆祝收到一单罚款，然而他也多次出席其他派对，这些派对有出席者被罚款。

1）表示“推行；强制实行”，英文解释为“to officially force a rule, tax, punishment, etc. to be obeyed or received”举个🌰：

Very high taxes have recently been imposed on cigarettes.

最近对香烟开征很高的税。

📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇分析拜登贸易政策的文章中提到：The other matter is what Mr Biden will do with the tariffs imposed by Mr Trump. 另一件事是拜登将如何处理特朗普实施的关税。

2）表示“把（尤指信仰或生活方式）强加于”，英文解释为“to force someone to accept something, especially a belief or way of living”举个🌰：

I don't want them to impose their religious beliefs on my children.

我不希望他们把自己的宗教信仰强加给我的孩子们。

3）表示“勉强；打扰，麻烦”，英文解释为“to expect someone to do something for you or spend time with you when they do not want to or when it is not convenient for them”举个🌰：

She's always imposing on people - asking favours and getting everyone to do things for her.

她总是强人所难——要人帮忙做这做那。

But in a country that banned almost all social contact for months and kept lesser, but still onerous, restrictions far longer, the claims of rule-breaking have packed an extraordinary emotional punch. Members of Parliament responded to Mr. Johnson’s initial denials of wrongdoing, and then to his apologies, with testimony from people who were barred from visiting dying relatives at the time of the gatherings.

然而在长达数月的时间内，这个国家曾几乎禁止所有社交接触，此后仍保持着虽然有所减缓、但仍相当严厉的限制，违反规定的指控引发了非同寻常的愤怒。议员们对约翰逊最初否认有不当行为作出回应，然后又对他的道歉作出回应，并提供了一些人的证词，这些人在派对进行的时间里被禁止探访弥留之际的亲属。

onerous /ˈəʊ.nər.əs/ 表示“繁重的；麻烦的；艰巨的”，英文解释为“difficult to do or needing a lot of effort”如：the onerous task of finding a peaceful solution 寻找和平解决方案的艰巨任务。

表示“有巨大作用（或影响）”，英文解释为“to have a lot of force or a great effect”举个🌰：

His speech packed quite a punch.

他的演说铿锵有力。

These cocktails taste quite innocent, but they really pack a punch!

这些鸡尾酒喝起来觉得没什么，可实际上后劲非常大！

表示“证词；证言；口供”，英文解释为“a formal written or spoken statement saying what you know to be true, usually in court”，如：a sworn testimony 宣誓证词。

表示“禁止，阻止”，英文解释为“If someone is barred from a place or from doing something, they are officially forbidden to go there or to do it.”举个🌰：

The players are barred from drinking alcohol the night before a match.

运动员在参赛前夜不得喝酒。

🎬电影《逆转王牌》（Runner Runner）中的台词提到：He said I'd be barred from re-entering the country.他说我下次回国时会被禁止入境。

A series of sexual misconduct scandals among Conservative lawmakers have further damaged Mr. Johnson. This week’s cabinet resignations followed the departure of Chris Pincher, a deputy chief whip — responsible for disciplining Conservative lawmakers — who was promoted by Mr. Johnson despite accusations of inappropriate behavior. Ministers and other officials denied on Mr. Johnson’s behalf that he had been aware of those accusations, only for that account to rapidly unravel.

保守党议员之间的一系列性行为不端丑闻进一步损害了约翰逊。负责管束党员的保守党党鞭克里斯·平彻（Chris Pincher）尽管被指控行为不当，却仍得到了约翰逊的提拔，本周一些内阁成员在平彻离开后相继辞职。大臣和其他官员替约翰逊否认了他对这些指控知情，但是这个说法很快就被揭穿了。

表示“失职；处理不当；行为不端”，英文解释为“unacceptable behaviour, especially by a professional person”如：gross misconduct = very serious misconduct 严重失职，professional misconduct 玩忽职守。

📍conduct作名词，表示“行为，举止”（a person's behaviour in a particular place or in a particular situation），如：优良作风 fine conduct或者说excellent conduct，2020年报告Part 2中提到的加强党风廉政建设 improve Party conduct and build a clean government.

📺美剧《芝加哥警署》（Chicago P.D.）中的台词提到：I could have you arrested for official misconduct. 我可以以渎职罪逮捕你。

表示“内阁”，英文解释为“The cabinet is a group of the most senior advisers or ministers in a government, who meet regularly to discuss policies.”举个🌰：

The announcement came after a three-hour cabinet meeting.

这项公告是在3小时的内阁会议之后发布的。

1）表示“辞职；辞去（职务）；放弃（工作）”，英文解释为“the act of telling your employer that you are leaving your job”

2）表示“无奈的顺从；顺从；听任”，英文解释为“Resignation is the acceptance of an unpleasant situation or fact because you realize that you cannot change it.”举个🌰

He sighed with profound resignation.

他极度无奈地叹气。

表示“（政党在议会或立法机关中监督该党其他党员在投票时出席并按规定投票的）组织秘书，党鞭”，英文解释为“(in many elected political systems) a member of a political party in a parliament or in the legislature whose job is to make certain that other party members are present at voting time and also to make certain that they vote in a particular way”。

1）作动词，表示“惩罚，惩罚”，英文解释为“to punish someone”举个🌰：

The workman was disciplined by his company but not dismissed.

这名工人被他的公司处罚了，但没有被开除。

2）表示“训练，教导”，英文解释为“to teach someone to behave in a controlled way”，如：a guide to the best ways of disciplining your child 管教子女最佳方法指南。

3）表示“自我控制；严格要求（自己）”，英文解释为“to control the way you behave and make yourself do things that you believe you should do”，举个🌰：

He disciplined himself to exercise at least three times a week.

他规定自己每周至少锻炼三次。

unravel /ʌnˈræv.əl/ 1）表示“揭开，弄清，阐明（谜团或复杂问题）；被澄清；被解决”，英文解释为“If you unravel a mysterious, unknown, or complicated subject, you make it known or understood, and if it unravels, it becomes known or understood.”举个🌰：

We have a long way to go before we unravel the secrets of genetics.

在揭开遗传学之谜前，我们还有很长的路要走。

2）表示“（把布、结或线团）解开；拆散”，英文解释为“If a piece of knitted or woven cloth, a knot, or a mass of thread unravels, it separates into a single thread, and if you unravel it, you separate it into a single thread.”举个🌰：

You'd better mend that hole before the whole sweater starts to unravel.

你最好把那个洞补上，免得整件毛衣脱线。

3）表示“破坏（成就等）；解体；崩溃；瓦解”，英文解释为“to start to fail or no longer stay together as a whole”举个🌰：

As talks between them broke down, several months of careful diplomacy were unravelled.

由于他们之间的会谈破裂，几个月精心策划的外交努力付诸东流。

Boris Johnson’s critics already tried to force him out and failed.

鲍里斯·约翰逊的批评者已经尝试赶他下台但未能成功。

In Britain, it is hard to get rid of a prime minister, but far from impossible. The job goes to the leader of the political party with a parliamentary majority. The party can oust its leader and choose another one, changing prime ministers without a general election.

在英国，要首相下台很难，但绝非不可能。首相由议会多数党领袖担任。该党可以罢免这位领导人并选择另一位，无需大选即可更换首相。

表示“议会的”，英文解释为“of or relating to a parliament”如：a parliamentary candidate 议会候选人。

表示“罢黜；把…撤职；驱逐”，英文解释为“If someone is ousted from a position of power, job, or place, they are forced to leave it.”举个🌰：

Police are trying to oust drug dealers from the city.

警方正试图将毒品贩子们从市中心撵走。

🎬电影《斯诺登》（Snowden）中的台词提到：or helping to oust somethird-world leader who's not playing ball. 或是用来把某些第三世界不配合的领导赶下台。

Under the Conservative Party’s rules, its members of Parliament can hold a binding vote of no confidence in Mr. Johnson if 15 percent of them — which currently means 54 lawmakers — write to formally request one. That moment came for Mr. Johnson on June 6, with a vote the same evening.

根据保守党的规定，如果其中15%的议员——目前意味着54名议员——写信正式提出要求，则本党议员可以对约翰逊进行具有约束力的不信任投票。约翰逊的这个关键时刻发生在6月6日，当天晚上进行了投票。

表示“有约束力的”，英文解释为“A binding promise, agreement, or decision must be obeyed or carried out.”，如：a binding contract/promise/agreement 具有约束力/必须履行的合同/承诺/协议。

Mr. Johnson received 211 votes — just under 60 percent of his party’s 359 lawmakers — with 148 against him.

保守党共有359名议员，约翰逊获得了211票支持——略低于60%，以及148票反对。

That’s a weaker result than it sounds, because almost half of those lawmakers also have government jobs that normally oblige them to back Mr. Johnson. This vote was a secret ballot, however, so it’s impossible to know if all of them did.

这个投票结果实际上比看上去的还要弱，因为其中几乎一半议员在政府内任有职务，一般来说有支持约翰逊的义务。然而，这次投票是无记名投票，所以无从知道这些议员是否都投了支持票。

oblige /əˈblaɪdʒ/ = obligate 表示“责成；强迫，迫使”，英文解释为“to force someone to do something, or to make it necessary for someone to do something”举个🌰：

The law obliges companies to pay decent wages to their employees.

法律强制公司向其雇员支付适当的工资。

ballot /ˈbælət/ 1）表示“无记名投票”，英文解释为“A ballot is a secret vote in which people select a candidate in an election, or express their opinion about something.”举个🌰：

The result of the ballot will not be known for two weeks.

本次无记名投票的结果将在两周后才会揭晓。

2）表示“选票”，英文解释为“A ballot is a piece of paper on which you indicate your choice or opinion in a secret vote.”举个🌰：

Election boards will count the ballots by hand.

选举委员会将手工清点选票。

There’s also an asterisk on the other detail of the process that might sound reassuring for Mr. Johnson. Current Conservative rules say that he cannot face another party no-confidence vote for at least a year. But the party’s lawmakers set those rules. If a clear majority of them want him out, they can simply rewrite the rule book.

该程序还有一个细节，可能会让约翰逊感到安心。根据目前保守党的规定，他至少在一年内不用再面对又一次的党内不信任投票。但这些规则是由该党的立法者制定的。如果他们中的绝大多数人希望他下台，他们只需要改写规则就行了。

表示“令人感到宽慰的；使人安心的；使人放心的”，英文解释为“making you feel less worried”举个🌰：

He smiled at me in a reassuring way.

他对我露出宽慰的一笑。

But cabinet resignations often indicate the beginning of the end.

但内阁的辞职往往预示着结束的开始。

Winning the no-confidence vote was essential, but it may not be enough. Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May were both out of office within a year of defeating a leadership challenge, by larger margins than Mr. Johnson.

赢得不信任投票至关重要，但这可能还不够。撒切尔夫人（Margaret Thatcher）和特雷莎·梅（Theresa May）都在击败对其领导权的挑战后，不到一年就下了台，两人获得的优势都比约翰逊更大。

One key factor is whether cabinet ministers rebel. The catalyst for Mrs. Thatcher’s demise in 1990 was the resignation of Geoffrey Howe, a disaffected former ally, and Mrs. May lost several ministers, including Mr. Johnson, who quit as foreign secretary in 2018.

一个关键因素是内阁大臣是否会倒戈。1990年撒切尔夫人下台的催化剂是心怀不满的前盟友杰弗里·豪（Geoffrey Howe）的辞职，梅则是失去了几位大臣，包括2018年辞去外交大臣职务的约翰逊。

表示“叛逆，反叛”，英文解释为“to refuse to obey rules or people in authority”举个🌰：

He rebelled against his parents' plans for him and left school at the age of 16.

他反抗父母替他做好的计划，在16岁就辍学了。

📺英剧《我欲为人》（Being Human）中的台词提到：Erin is just looking for things to rebel against. 爱琳只是想找点事来表达叛逆心。

catalyst /ˈkætəlɪst/ 原意表示“催化剂”（a substance that makes a chemical reaction happen faster without being changed itself），此处有“促使变化的人；引发变化的因素”的含义，英文解释为“a person or thing that causes a change”举个🌰：

I see my role as being a catalyst for change.

我认为我的角色是促成变革。

📍 今年政府工作报告Part 15中就出现类似的说法，以开放促改革促发展 make opening up a catalyst for reform and development，字面意思就是：让开放成为改革和发展的催化剂，以...(sth.) 促进 ... 就可以说：make sth. a catalyst for ...

1）表示“（曾经存在的事物的）终止，结束，消亡”，英文解释为“the end of something that used to exist”如：the imminent demise of the local newspaper 地方报纸的即将停刊，也可以直接指“死亡”。

🎬电影《史酷比2：怪兽偷跑》（Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed）中的台词提到：This is only the first rung on the ladder of your demise. 直译：这是你们死亡阶梯上的第一步。字幕组翻译为：这只是你们捐献战利品的第一步。

表示“失望的，不满的；叛逆的，对社会不满的”，英文解释为“no longer supporting or being satisfied with an organization or idea”举个🌰：

It's hard to cope with a class of disaffected teenagers.

与一帮叛逆的少年打交道很不容易。

On Tuesday evening, two of Mr. Johnson’s top ministers — Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sajid Javid, the health secretary — resigned within minutes of one another.

周二晚上，约翰逊的两位高级大臣——财政大臣里希·苏纳克（Rishi Sunak）和卫生大臣萨吉德·贾维德（Sajid Javid）——在几分钟内相继辞职。

the Exchequer /ɪksˈtʃek.ər/ 表示“（英国等国的）财政部”，英文解释为“the government department that receives and gives out public money, in the UK and some other countries”

chancellor /ˈtʃɑːn.səl.ər/ 表示“（政府）大臣，总理，大法官；（大学）校长”，英文解释为“a person in a position of the highest or high rank, especially in a government or university”举个🌰：

Helmut Kohl became the first Chancellor of a united Germany in 1990.

赫尔穆特‧科尔于1990年成为德国统一后的首任总理。

Not every big resignation is fatal: John Major remained as prime minister for almost four years after his chancellor, Norman Lamont, quit with a stinging speech in 1993.

并不是每一次重大辞职都是致命的：1993年，财政大臣诺曼·拉蒙特（Norman Lamont）发表了言辞尖刻的演讲并辞职，随后约翰·梅杰（John Major）依然担任了将近四年的首相。

But in an ominous sign for Mr. Johnson, even as he moved quickly to fill the vacancies left by Mr. Sunak and Mr. Javid, a growing stream of more junior colleagues were following their lead.

但对约翰逊来说，一个不祥的迹象是：即使他迅速采取行动填补苏纳克和贾维德留下的空缺，还有越来越多级别较低的同事追随他们的脚步。

表示“（使人感到）不吉利的，不祥的”，英文解释为“making you feel that something bad is going to happen”举个🌰：

‘How long will she be ill?’ he asked. There was an ominous silence.

“她的病多久会好？”他问。大家的沉默让人感觉不妙。

He could succumb to pressure from behind the scenes.

他可能会屈服于来自幕后的压力。

succumb /səˈkʌm/ 1）表示“屈从，屈服；放弃抵抗；承认失败”，英文解释为“to lose the determination to oppose something; to accept defeat”举个🌰：

I'm afraid I succumbed to temptation and had a piece of cake.

我还是没顶住诱惑，吃了一块蛋糕。

2）表示“病死；生病；受病痛折磨”，英文解释为“to die or suffer badly from an illness”举个🌰：

Thousands of cows have succumbed to the disease in the past few months.

过去几个月里，几千头奶牛都得了这种病。

But there isn’t a clear successor.

但目前还没有明确的继任者。

One of the reasons Mr. Johnson’s fate has been unpredictable is that there is no consensus on who would replace him, and therefore no single cabal plotting to remove him.

约翰逊的命运之所以难以预测，原因之一是对于谁将取代他的位置没有达成共识，因此没有形成一个想要密谋除掉他的小集团。

consensus /kənˈsen.səs/ 表示“一致的意见；共识”，英文解释为“a generally accepted opinion or decision among a group of people”举个🌰：

The general consensus in the office is that he can't do his job.

办公室成员一致认为他无法胜任工作。

cabal /kəˈbæl/ 表示“（尤指策划政治行动的）阴谋小集团，阴谋团伙”，英文解释为“a small group of people who plan secretly to take action, especially political action”举个🌰：

He was assassinated by a cabal of aides within his own regime.

他被自己政权内部的幕僚们所组成的阴谋集团暗杀了。

And it might take a while to chose one.

而且，选出继任者可能需要一段时间。

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