背景知识
北爱尔兰问题即北爱尔兰的归属问题。第一次世界大战后，爱尔兰爆发武装起义。1920年英政府采取“分而治之”政策，允许爱尔兰南部二十六个郡成立“爱尔兰自由邦”，有自治权；北部六个邦仍置于英国统治之下。1937年南爱尔兰宣布为独立共和国。1948年爱尔兰宣布脱离英联邦，英国继续保留北部六个郡，改国名为“大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国”。
早起卡
One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve. —— Nietxsche
翻译卡
Few people were talking about Irish reunification in the spring of 2016: Most assumed that the Good Friday Agreement had put the issue on ice for the foreseeable future. Northern Ireland's mainly Protestant pro-British majority and the Catholic minority, which traditionally favored reuniting with the Republic of Ireland, had been living in peace after decades of sectarian violence. Where was the urgent need for such a drastic change?
Then the unforeseen happened. The United Kingdom voted narrowly to leave the European Union. Suddenly, Northern Ireland—which, as part of the U.K., had voted to remain in the EU—was to be taken out of the bloc; the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state, would once again be a tangible barrier to movement and trade after a protracted period of near-invisibility.
Warnings proliferated of the consequences—economic, security, political—of separating the two sides of the island of Ireland. Chief among these was the risk that the border would again be a flashpoint for conflict, a resumption of the Troubles, which killed more than 3,500 people over 30 years.
选自：The Atlantic（大西洋月刊）
作者：Ed O'Loughlin
原文标题：The ‘Messy and Angry’ Prospect of Ireland Reunifying
原文发布时间：21 Oct. 2019
单词释义
reunify
英 [?ri??ju?n?fa?]        美 [?ri??ju?n?fa?]
v. 重新统一
favor
英 [?fe?v?]        美 [?fe?v?r]    
n. 喜爱，宠爱，好感，赞同;偏袒，偏爱;善行，恩惠
v. 赞同;喜爱，偏爱;有利于，便于
bloc
英 [bl?k]     美 [blɑ?k]            
n. (政治利益一致的)国家集团
proliferate
英 [pr??l?f?re?t]      美 [pr??l?f?re?t]    
v. 迅速繁殖(或增殖);猛增
参考翻译
早起卡 ?  人所犯的最危险的错误之一就是忘记自己的目标是什么。——尼采
翻译卡 ?  2016年春天，几乎没有人谈论爱尔兰重新统一的问题: 多数人认为，《贝尔法斯特协议》（即《北爱和平协议》）让爱尔兰重新统一的问题短期内被搁置到了一边。北爱尔兰由亲英新教徒组成的多数派和历来支持与爱尔兰共和国统一的天主教少数派，在经历了数十年的宗教暴力冲突后，和平相处。如此巨大的转变有什么迫切需求呢?
接下来，意想不到的事情发生了。英国以微弱优势投票决定退出欧盟。作为英国一部分的北爱尔兰，曾投票支持留在欧盟，突然要被赶出欧盟；在经历了很长一段隐形边界(几乎没有边界)的时期之后，北爱尔兰与欧盟成员国爱尔兰共和国之间的边界，将再次成为人口流动和贸易的切实障碍。
关于分割爱尔兰岛两岸的经济、安全、政治后果的警告激增。其中最主要的是边界安全风险，边界问题可能会再次成为冲突的导火索，导致北爱尔兰问题重新爆发，在长达30年的(北爱尔兰)暴动中，有3500多人丧生。