Is Margaret Thatcher’s Hometown Ready to Put Her on a Pedestal?

 

Is Margaret Thatcher’s Hometown Ready to Put Her on a Pedestal?

柴契爾夫人的故鄉準備好迎接她的雕像了嗎？

【摘要2020.12.25.自由】◎張沛元

Statues of the politically unpalatable have this year been toppled, beheaded and graffitied from the American South to Belgium, and Britain to New Zealand. Not even Winston Churchill was spared.

從美國南方到比利時、英國以至紐西蘭，今年有政治上令人難以接受的人物的塑像被拉倒、斬首與毀損。即便（英國前首相）邱吉爾也無法倖免。

In the English town of Grantham, an 11-foot pedestal now stands empty. That’s not because the statue atop it has been vandalized — though many expect it will be once it is finally installed.

在英格蘭小鎮格蘭瑟姆，一座11呎高的雕像底座上方空無一物。這並非因為底座上的雕像遭到毀損——儘管許多人預料，塑像一旦安座後，就會遭遇此等下場。

Next year, that plinth is to become the base of a stern-looking, larger-than-life bronze monument to Grantham’s most famous daughter：Margaret Thatcher. Known as the "Iron Lady," Thatcher was the first female prime minister of Britain and remains a divisive and polarizing figure three decades after leaving office.

明年，這個基柱將成為格蘭瑟姆最知名的女兒——瑪格莉特．柴契爾－－的一尊表情嚴肅、比真人還大的銅像的底座。被稱為「鐵娘子」的柴契爾夫人是英國首位女首相，卸任30年後仍是備受爭議與兩極化的人物。

新聞辭典

put someone on a pedestal：慣用語，字面意為把某人放上塑像底座／為某人塑像，形容奉某人為完人。pedestal，名詞，（雕像等的）的底座。

unpalatable：形容詞，（事實或想法）令人不快的，讓人難以接受的；（食物）難以下嚥的，不可口的。例句：The unpalatable truth is that women in almost all professions today still encounter glass ceilings in earnings, authority, and promotions.（令人難以接受的現實是，幾乎所有專業領域的女性，如今仍在薪資、職權與升遷上遭遇玻璃天花板。）

spare：動詞，節約，儉省；寬容，饒恕；不傷害。Spare the rod and spoil the child.（不用棍子，寵壞孩子。意指不打不成器。）