英首相助威世界杯 官邸将升英格兰旗

The St George’s Cross will fly above Downing Street during the World Cup as a show of support for the England team, David Cameron has announced.

The Prime Minister told the House of Commons he was sure people throughout the United Kingdom “will be cheering ‘come on England’,” and had given orders for the England flag to replace the Union Flag for the duration of the tournament.

At Prime Minister's Questions Mr Cameron was urged to show his support by Nadhim Zahawi, the Conservative MP for Stratford-on-Avon, who said: "I ask you to do a great thing for the people of England and cut through the bureaucracy and nonsense and fly the flag of England over Downing Street for the duration of the World Cup."

Mr Cameron said: "There was some question that this was going to have a cost impact but I've managed to cut through that and I can say that at no additional cost to the taxpayer the flag of St George will fly above Downing Street during the World Cup."

As the residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Downing Street traditionally flies the Union Flag, but because no other home nation had qualified for the World Cup, Mr Cameron said he was sure MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would back the move.

He added: "For the purposes of this I'm looking at all the benches here and I'm sure that everyone in this House, no matter what part of the United Kingdom they come from, will be cheering 'come on England'."

Tony Blair, who was prime minister during the last World Cup in 2006, ordered the England flag to be flown from Number 10 on the days of England matches.

Fabio Capello's team begins its campaign against the USA in Rustenburg, South Africa, on Saturday night. The flag will be hoisted on Saturday morning and will stay in place as long as England stay in the tournament.

英国首相大卫．卡梅伦日前宣布，唐宁街（10号）将在世界杯比赛期间悬挂英格兰圣乔治旗，以表对英格兰队的支持。

卡梅伦对英国议会下院表示，他相信全体英国国民都会发出“英格兰队加油”的呐喊。他已下令在世界杯比赛期间，唐宁街10号挂上英格兰旗，换下通常所挂的英国国旗。

在日前的一次首相质询会上，来自埃文河畔斯特拉特福德的保守党议员纳丁．扎哈维请求卡梅伦对参加世界杯的英格兰队表示支持。扎哈维说：“我请你为英格兰人民做一件伟大的事，那就是克服官僚主义和那些毫无意义的质疑，让唐宁街10号在世界杯期间升起英格兰旗。”

卡梅伦说：“有人质疑这会有成本影响，但我已经解决好了这个问题。我可以保证，世界杯赛期间在唐宁街10号悬挂圣乔治旗不会对纳税人造成任何影响。”

作为英国首相官邸，唐宁街10号通常都是悬挂英国国旗，但由于大不列颠王国的其他几个成员都没能晋级世界杯决赛，所以卡梅伦希望来自苏格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰的议员都能支持这一做法。

他说：“为此，我期望在座的各位都能给予支持。我相信在座的每个人，无论来自大不列颠王国的哪一部分，都会高呼‘英格兰加油’”。

在2006年世界杯期间，时任英国首相托尼．布莱尔下令在英格兰队比赛日期间在首相官邸悬挂英格兰旗。

由法比奥．卡佩罗率领的英格兰队将于本周六晚间在南非的勒斯滕堡迎战美国队，开始他们的世界杯之旅。英格兰旗将于周六早晨在唐宁街10号升起，并将一直挂到英格兰队结束世界杯之旅。

Vocabulary:

St George’s Cross：圣乔治十字旗，为英格兰旗，白底红十字。

bench：a seat occupied by a person in an official capacity（英国议会的议员席）