✸✸FOR months, as the clock hastuckedtowards a two-year deadline for Britain to leave the

European Union in March 2019, Theresa May’s government has been criticised for being ill-prepared, divided and unrealistic in itsapproach toBrexit. And rightly so. However, this week it took abelatedstep towards reality in the first two ofa series ofBrexit papers, on future customs arrangements and on Northern Ireland. It accepted explicitly, for the first time, that a temporary transition, or interim period, will be necessary to avert a damaging cliff-edge exit in March 2019, and that in thisinterim periodBritain should be in a customs union with the EU.

1） tuck 英 [tʌk]   美 [tʌk]  vt.<英俚>吃，喝;折叠（衣服的）褶;包起，裹起;挤进 n.鼓声，喇叭声;活力，精力;（袖子等上的）褶皱;卷起，盖住

He tried to tuck his flapping shirt inside his trousers

他设法把飘起的衬衫塞到裤子里。

短语：tuck in 英 [tʌk in]   美 [tʌk ɪn]  尽情吃

tuck away 英 [tʌk əˈwei]   美 [tʌk əˈwe]  畅饮，大嚼

tuck into 英 [tʌk ˈɪntuː]   美 [tʌk ˈɪntu]  藏进，<口>把食物塞进肚子里，痛快地吃…

2) approach to英 [əˈproʊtʃ tu:]   美 [əˈprəʊtʃ tu]接近

I have an analytical approach to every survey.

对每项调查我都采用分析方法。

3) belated英 [bɪˈleɪtɪd]   美 [bɪˈletɪd]adj.过时的;来得很迟的;来得很晚的;陈旧的

Clarissa and I were on a belated honeymoon when I spotted this seafood restaurant.

克拉丽莎（clarissa）和我正在此地共度我们迟来的蜜月，我偶然看到了这个海鲜餐馆。

4) a series of英 [ei ˈsiəri:z ɔv]   美 [e ˈsɪriz ʌv]一系列;一连串

The students have put forward a series of questions.

学生们提出了一系列问题。

5) interim period 英 [ˈintərim ˈpiəriəd]   美 [ˈɪntərɪm ˈpɪriəd]  [财]过渡期

An interim period refers to a reporting period which is shorter than a full accounting year.

中期，是指短于一个完整的会计年度的报告期间。

✸✸That is a big step forward. It is all the more surprising, because it came just days after Philip Hammond, the chancellor, and Liam Fox, the trade secretary, promised in a newspaper article that, even in an interim period, Britain would be out of the EU’s single market and customs union. The official Brexit paper acknowledges that this may happen eventually, and offers ideas for a new customs regime that, although burdensome and quite possibly impractical, at least tries to minimise the costs to traders (see page 44). Butin the meantimethe paper proposes an interim temporary customs union that will betantamountto staying in the current one. Dr Fox insists that, as is not the case today, he will be able to negotiate free-trade deals with third countries while Britain is in this interim customs union. He is wrong. No trade deal can take effect so long as Britain is in a customs union. And no country will be willing to negotiate the details of any deal until Britain’s own future trade arrangements with the EU are clear.

1) in the meantime 英 [in ðə ˈmi:ntaim]   美 [ɪn ði ˈminˌtaɪm]  与此同时;在…期间，同时

I'd been doing some quiet investigating in the meantime and had an ace up my sleeve.

与此同时，我不动声色地展开了调查，掌握了一张王牌。

2) tantamount 英 [ˈtæntəmaʊnt]   美 [ˈtæntəˌmaʊnt]  adj.相等的，相当的

What Bracey is saying is tantamount to heresy

布雷西的言论简直就是异端邪说。

✸✸A transitional period with a temporarycustoms unionwillput offthe problem of how to keep the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic as frictionless as possible. But once Britain leaves the customs union, border controls in some form will surely be necessary. This will damage the island’s economy and destabilise its politics; the Irish government is rightly unhappy. Although the British government’s paperpersists inthe vain search for a technological solution that can magically avoid any border at all, it does at least acknowledge that Brexit will involve significant administrative costs for both parts of the island.

1) customs union 英 [ˈkʌstəmz ˈju:njən]   美 [ˈkʌstəmz ˈjunjən]  n.关税联盟

A customs union would integrate the economies of these countries.

关税联盟会把这些国家的经济紧密结合在一起。

2) put off 英 [put ɔf]   美 [pʊt ɔf]  延期;敷衍;使分心;脱去（衣、帽等）

Women who put off having a baby often make the best mothers

晚育的女性经常会成为最优秀的母亲。

3) persist in 英 [pəˈsist in]   美 [pɚˈsɪst ɪn]  坚持;偏要;执

Mr Straw issued a stern warning to those who persist in violence

斯特劳先生向那些坚持进行暴力活动的人发出了严正警告。

✸✸Those trade-offs

✸✸The government now needs to build on this new, moresoberapproach. Detail and realism should be the hallmarks of the big Brexit speech that Mrs May plans to give next month. One part of this must be to concede that Britainis bound toface a substantial exit bill, for without this the EU will not be prepared even to talk about trade. And when it comes to these talks, Mrs May must be more open about the compromises they involve. Put crudely, the more control Britain takes back from Brussels, the bigger will be the hit to its trade and thus to Britons’ living standards.

1) sober 英 [ˈsəʊbə(r)]   美 [ˈsoʊbə(r)] adj.头脑清醒的，冷静的;未醉的，没喝醉的;有节制的;朴素的，素净的 vt.& vi.（使）冷静，（使）清醒;使严肃

When Dad was sober he was a good father.

不喝醉的时候，爸爸是一个好父亲。

短语：sober up 英 [ˈsəubə ʌp]   美 [ˈsobɚ ʌp]  v.醒酒;清醒起来

2） is bound to英 [iz baund tu:]   美 [ɪz baʊnd tu]势必会;一定

A wealthy man like yourself is bound to make an enemy or two along the way

像你这样的有钱人，一路走来注定会结下一两个仇人的。

✸✸Mrs May also needs to accept that other countries also have politics. Too much of the Brexit debate in London has been internally focused: resolving cabinet disputes, trying to keep Parliament onside, working out what the Labour opposition really wants. In the end, however, the trickiest negotiations will be with the EU 27. Securing the necessary majority in Brussels for an exit deal will be hard enough. But when it comes to transition or, even more crucially, to the ultimate trade arrangements, the other countries must agree unanimously and their parliaments mustratifythe deal. That will take time, probably years, and it will need defter diplomacy than Mrs May’s government has displayed so far. This week’s papers are but a first step towards a more realistic approach to Brexit.

1） ratify 英 [ˈrætɪfaɪ]   美 [ˈrætəˌfaɪ]  v.批准;认可

The parliaments of Australia and Indonesia have yet to ratify the treaty.

澳大利亚和印度尼西亚的国会尚未批准该条约。