英新任领袖首次记者会相互打趣

Britain's new coalition government is a source of some bewilderment in a country used to one-party governments -- but its two leaders seemed determined to see the funny side on Wednesday.

Sketchwriters said Prime Minister David Cameron of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrat chief Nick Clegg turned their first joint press conference into the "Dave and Nick" show, complete with a jovial, almost matey atmosphere.

After serious pledges on tackling the economy and earnest reassurances that their forced marriage could work, the two men seemed to let their hair down after the five days of tense negotiations since the indecisive election.

One questioner referred to the occasion when Cameron was asked what his favourite political joke was and replied "Nick Clegg".

"I'm afraid I did once," Cameron laughed, his face visibly reddening, and mumbled something about people sometimes having to eat their words.

Clegg, the deputy prime minister, affected to walk away from the lectern, while Cameron jokingly cried out: "Come back!"

Cameron was also asked how the new arrangement would work in practice in the normally brutally adversarial weekly session of questions for the Prime Minister in the House of Commons.

Cameron said: "It'll be different because obviously I'm not going to be answering Nick's questions, but he's going to be answering some of mine."

Turning to a puzzled-looking Clegg, Cameron explained to laughs from the audience: "Well, if I'm not there you're going to be answering my questions... I'm looking forward to a lot of foreign travel."

Cameron reassured journalists that for a by-election later this month sparked by the death of a candidate, both parties would still campaign separately, although he suggested the leaders could travel there together.

英国新组建的联合政府让这个已经习惯了一党揽政的国家感到有些迷茫，但本周三两位新任领导人似乎决意要一展他们风趣的一面。

时事专栏作家们评论称，新任首相、保守党领袖大卫．卡梅伦和自由民主党领袖尼克·克莱格将他们的首次联合新闻发布会变成了一场“大卫、尼克秀”，旨在营造愉快、融洽的氛围。

除承诺应对经济难题、保证两党的“联姻”经得起考验外，两人在发布会现场不时地开起了玩笑。而此前，参选各方在大选无果后进行了长达五天的紧张谈判。

现场一名记者提到了卡梅伦先前在被问及他最喜欢的政治笑话时回答说“尼克．克莱格”一事。

卡梅伦笑着说：“我恐怕是说过一次。”而此时，他的脸明显泛红，含糊不清地说了些有时不得不收回前言的话语。

这时，将出任副首相的克莱格假装要走下台，而卡梅伦则开玩笑地冲他大喊：“别走！”

卡梅伦还被问到了新的联合政府在下议院每周召开的首相质询会上将如何配合的问题。首相在该质询会上通常要接受严厉尖锐的质询。

卡梅伦说：“这会有所不同，因为很明显我不能替尼克回答问题。但他可以替我回答一些。”

现场的观众笑了起来，卡梅伦则转向一脸迷惑的克莱格解释道：“噢，如果我不在场的话，你就要帮我回答问题了。所以我希望能经常出访。”

由于某选区的一名候选人去世，还需在本月末举行一次补缺选举。卡梅伦向在场的记者表示称，两党在补缺选举中仍将分开竞选，但他表示可能将与克莱格一同前往。

Vocabulary:

sketch writer: a person who writes a column in a newspaper giving a brief description of political affairs（时事专栏作家）

jovial：marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer（愉快的，友好的）

matey：sociable; friendly（亲热，套近乎）

let one's hair down：to relax; behave informally（放松，轻松一下）

eat one's words: to retract one's statement, esp. with humilit（收回前言，认错道歉）

affect：to give the appearance of; pretend or feign（假装，装作）