书名：《The Economist》2020-12-19
板块：Britain
主题：Animal welfare
Politicians are competing in an animal-welfare arms race
背景介绍：
动物福利的提出最早可以追溯到19世纪的英国。1822年，英国国会议员 Richard Martin 在议会倡议设立草案，认为基于人类的慈善仁慈之心，应当禁止虐待马牛羊。到了20世纪，现代动物福利者遍布西方各地，动物福利的理念广为传播，许多国家对动物福利进行了立法。时至今日，英国仍是世界上动物福利制度最完备的国家之一。
Michael Jackson had Bubbles, a chimpanzee. Justin Bieber had OG Mally, a capuchin, until it was seized by German customs officials and put in a zoo. Rihanna has been photographed bottle-feeding a baby monkey on holiday. The trio of stars would find few fans in the British government, which on December 12th proposed new restrictions on keeping primates as pets. Somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000 marmosets, lemurs, tamarins and other little species are kept in private ownership in Britain, the government reckons, often bored to misery.
chimpanzee n.黑猩猩
capuchin n.卷尾猴
primate n.灵长类动物
marmoset n.狨猴，小猿
lemur n.狐猴
tamarin n.绢毛猴
One of the benefits of cutting loose from the horse-eating continent is that Britain can give full rein to its passion for animals. Politicians are only too happy to oblige, for pet-friendly policies are cheap and popular. In last year’s election, the Tories promised to help councils reunite strays with their owners by making it mandatory to microchip cats and to tackle puppy-smuggling. (Sir Roger Gale, an MP, says bootleggers should have their cars crushed at Dover and be made to walk home.) It will end the live export of farm animals, a symbol for eurosceptics of EU inflexibility. Labour promised to ban the live-boiling of lobsters in restaurants, and to review the use of whips by racing jockeys.
cut loose 摆脱影响；摆脱束缚
cutting loose from the horse-eating continent 这里指“英国脱欧”
give full rein 全力以赴
mandatory adj.强制的，命令的
- the Tories 托利党，保守党的前身，此处指保守党 ；英国议会第一大党，代表人包括撒切尔夫人和丘吉尔等（Tory Party）（Conservative Party）
- Labour 工党；英国议会第二大党（Labour Party）
MP 国会议员（下院议员）
bootlegger 走私贩子
eurosceptic n.疑欧派，欧元观怀疑论者；指反对英国与欧盟关系密切的人
Yet Britain’s animal-welfare laws are already among the most comprehensive in the world, according to the Animal Protection Index, a league table. The Animal Welfare Act of 2006, which imposed obligations on keepers to properly feed, house and stimulate animals, and to protect them from pain, disease and suffering, could be used to tackle monkey-keeping. The government is increasing the maximum penalty for abuse to five years in prison. But new laws offer more political mileage.
penalty n.惩罚
political mileage 政治利益
Wild animals in travelling circuses were banned by law last year, but a dwindling public appetite for parades of elephants and tigers balanced on stools had already put an end to the business. By the time the ban was imposed, only two licensed animal circuses were left in Britain, comprising a sad menagerie of six reindeer, four camels, four zebras, two racoons, a zebu, a macaw and a fox.
circus n.马戏团，马戏
menagerie n.动物园，动物展览
reindeer n.驯鹿
camel n.骆驼
racoon n.浣熊
zebu n.瘤牛
macaw n.金刚鹦鹉
Private members’ bills are popular vehicles for pro-pet signalling. A bill proposed by Bill Wiggin, a Tory MP, last year would have criminalised the eating of dog meat. Selling dog meat is already illegal. Mr Wiggin conceded there was “no evidence” that people eat dogs in Britain, but said it would set a good example to China, where they do.
MPs are moved by the traumatic loss of pets to motor accidents. James Daly, the Tory MP for the ultra-marginal seat of Bury North, has proposed “Gizmo’s Law”, named after a constituent’s cat, the victim of a hit-and-run accident, which was cremated without its owner’s knowledge. The law would oblige councils that retrieve dead animals from the roadside to scan them for microchips, so that they can be reunited with their grieving owners rather than being anonymously incinerated. A draft bill in 2018 proposed criminalising drivers who failed to stop after striking a cat. (Hit-and-runs on dogs, pigs, goats and humans are already illegal.)
incinerate v.n.焚化，火化
One of the most popular proposals, judging by two petitions to Parliament which have secured more than 250,000 signatures between them, is a new offence of pet theft, which would recognise that for owners, dognapping feels more like the abduction of a child than the purloining of a television. Stealing a pet is already punishable by up to seven years in prison under the Theft Act, and judges can already account for the emotional distress when passing sentence. Still, it could be just the thing for the next manifesto.
petition n.请愿书
parliament n.议会，国会
abduction n. 绑架；诱导
purloin v. 偷窃
manifesto n.宣言
After this passage ，I have 4 questions for u.
1.From the text, we can know what commitments the Conservative Party has made for animal welfare?
2.And how about Labor Party？
3.What is the main content of Gizmo’s law?
4.What are the maximum penalties for animal abuse and pet theft?
