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  3. King Juan Carlos of Spain once insisted "kings don’t abdicate, they die in their sleep." But embarrassing scandals and the popul

King Juan Carlos of Spain once insisted "kings don’t abdicate, they die in their sleep." But embarrassing scandals and the popul

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问题    King Juan Carlos of Spain once insisted "kings don’t abdicate, they die in their sleep." But embarrassing scandals and the popularity of the republican left in the recent Euro-elections have forced him to eat his words and stand down. So, does the Spanish crisis suggest that monarchy is seeing its last days? Does that mean the writing is on the wall for all European royals, with their magnificent uniforms and majestic lifestyles?
   The Spanish case provides arguments both for and against monarchy. When public opinion is particularly polarised, as it was following the end of the Franco regime, monarchs can rise above "mere" politics and "embody" a spirit of national unity.
   It is this apparent transcendence of politics that explains monarchs’ continuing popularity as heads of state. And so, the Middle East excepted, Europe is the most monarch-infested region in the world, with 10 kingdoms (not counting Vatican City and Andorra). But unlike their absolutist counterparts in the Gulf and Asia, most royal families have survived because they allow voters to avoid the difficult search for a non-controversial but respected public figure.
   Even so, kings and queens undoubtedly have a downside. Symbolic of national unity as they claim to be, their very history — and sometimes the way they behave today — embodies outdated and indefensible privileges and inequalities. At a time when Thomas Piketty and other economists are warning of rising inequality and the increasing power of inherited wealth, it is bizarre that wealthy aristocratic families should still be the symbolic heart of modern democratic states. The most successful monarchies strive to abandon or hide their old aristocratic ways. Princes and princesses have day-jobs and ride bicycles, not horses (or helicopters). Even so, these are wealthy families who party with the international 1%, and media intrusiveness makes it increasingly difficult to maintain the right image.
While Europe’s monarchies will no doubt be smart enough to survive for some time to come, it is the British royals who have most to fear from the Spanish example.
   It is only the Queen who has preserved the monarchy’s reputation with her rather ordinary (if well-heeled) granny style. The danger will come with Charles, who has both an expensive taste of lifestyle and a pretty hierarchical view of the world. He has failed to understand that monar-chies have largely survived because they provide a service — as non-controversial and non-politi-cal heads of state. Charles ought to know that as English history shows, it is kings, not republicans, who are the monarchy’s worst enemies.
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答案 西班牙国王胡安-卡洛斯曾坚称“国王不会退位，只会在睡眠中离世。”但令人尴尬的丑闻和共和党人在最近的欧洲选举中所受到的欢迎度让他自打嘴巴，被迫退位。那么，西班牙的危机是否表明，君主制正在见证它最后的日子?这是否意味着，对所有欧洲王室成员而言，他们华丽的制服和宏伟的生活方式终结在即? 西班牙的例子为支持和反对君主制均提供了理由。正如佛朗哥政权终结之时的情况那样，当公众的意见尤为两极分化时，君主可以超越“纯粹的”政治，并“体现”民族团结的精神。 正是这种对政治的明显超越，解释了君主作为国家元首继续流行的现象。因此，除中东以外，欧洲是世界上君主最多的地区，拥有多达十个王国(不包括梵蒂冈城和安道尔)。但是，不同于海湾地区和亚洲的专制同行，大多数欧洲王室幸存下来是因为他们使选民们免除了寻找一个没有争议、但又受人尊敬的公众人物的困难。 即便如此，国王和王后们无疑都有其不利的方面。即使他们声称自己象征着民族团结，他们的历史——以及他们当前的一些行为方式——却体现着过时且站不住脚的特权和不平等现象。就在汤玛斯．皮克提和其他经济学家警告不平等现象加剧和继承财富的力量越来越强大的时候，富有的贵族家庭居然依旧是现代民主国家的核心象征，这显得很怪异。 最成功的君主们都力求放弃或隐藏他们的旧贵族行为方式。王子们公主们有日常工作，骑自行车而不是骑马(或乘直升机)。即便如此，这些都是与全球1％的人为伍的富裕家庭，媒体的侵扰使得他们越来越难以维持恰如其分的形象。 欧洲大陆的君主们的聪明才智无疑可以让他们再幸存一段时间，而最害怕西班牙的前车之鉴的莫过于英国皇室了。 只有女王以她那相当大众化(但穿着考究的)老奶奶形象，还保留着君主制的声望。查尔斯则会面临险境，他对生活方式有着奢华品味，并对世界具有很深的层级观念。他没有认识到大量君主得以幸存，是因为他们提供着一项服务——担当无争议的、非政治性的国家首脑。查尔斯应该知道，正如英国历史所昭示的那样，国王们，而不是共和党人，才是君主制的最可怕敌人。
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