金融时报:FT年度词汇：民粹主义

FT年度词汇：民粹主义

FT评选出了2014年最热的一些词汇，并由编辑们撰文解释和分析。“民粹主义”为何成为年度热词？我们需要知道关于民粹主义的哪些事情？

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

ideology意识形态，观念

Gracchi brothers格拉古兄弟，以发动土改而著称的罗马政治家

on a roll运气好，超常发挥

rollercoaster过山车

agrarian土地的，农业的

A year in a word: Populism(300 words)

by Tony Barber, December 29, 2014 Those who claim to speak for the common people had a good 2014, writes Tony Barber

Populism

noun — political ideology that claims to speak for the common people; a brand of politics hostile to elites and established parties.

From the Gracchi brothers of ancient Rome to Hugo Chávez, the late Venezuelan president, populism boasts a colourful past and a rollercoaster record of political success and failure.

Today populists in parts of Europe believe themselves to be on a roll. In 2014 they enjoyed one of their most encouraging years since the second world war. Insurgent anti-establishment movements recorded electoral triumphs and opinion poll gains everywhere from France and Greece to Spain, Sweden and the UK.

No two European populist parties are alike and half the time they do not like each other, making generalisations risky. But most share a contempt for political elites and anger at the speed, scope and irresistibility of change in the modern world. Among rightwing populists, hostility to immigrants is a common feature.

A few populist parties on the left, such as Syriza of Greece and Podemos of Spain, want the euro to survive, but with socialist-style changes to eurozone economic policies. Germany's Alternative für Deutschland and Italy's Five-Star Movement are anti-euro. The Freedom party of the Netherlands is anti-Islamist, but its tolerant stance on gay sexuality is unpalatable to rightwing populists in Poland.

None of these parties is revolutionary — unlike the Russian intellectuals, known as narodniki (literally, “populists”), who in the 1870s tried, and failed, to stir up the peasants against tsarist autocracy.

The People's party, a mainly agrarian US movement, briefly captured the US imagination in the 1890s by railing against banks, industrial monopolies and urban political elites. By the dawn of the 20th century it was in decline — but its spirit survives in the modern Tea Party.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1.Populism is on the rise in 2014 mainly in?

A.Europe.

B.US.

C.South America.

D.Russia.

答案(1)

2.What is a correct generalisation about populism in Europe?

A.They are hostile to immigration.

B.They don't want the euro.

C.They want socialism for the EU.

D.They despise the establishment and elites.

答案(2)

3.Among historical populists, who is against banks and industrial monopolies?

A.Gracchi brothers of ancient Rome.

B.Hugo Chavez of modern Venezuela.

C.Anti-Tsarist Russian intellectuals.

D.19th century American People's party.

答案(3)

* * *

(1)答案：A.Europe.

解释：第三段一开头划定了范围：Today populists in parts of Europe believe themselves to be on a roll.

(2)答案：D.They despise the establishment and elites.

解释：文中可以读出，欧洲的民粹主义政党有左翼的也有右翼的，有支持欧元的也有反对欧元的，有容忍同性恋的，也有反对的。真正的共同点，在于他们鄙视政治精英阶层，反对世界上迅猛的变化。

(3)答案：D.19th century American People's party.

解释：现代的民粹主义起源于19世纪末的俄国和美国，对今天的世界影响巨大。