On July 13th 2016 Theresa May strode(大步走) to a podium in Downing Street and launched an assault on the “burning injustices(亟待解决的不公正)” of Britain. Under her government, young black men would no longer fear the police; women would no longer endure lower pay than men. Social concerns would trump(胜过，压倒) economic ones. Their systemic causes would be eradicated. It was a hymn(颂歌，赞美诗) to identity politics. It was, in short(简而言之), woke.
2016年7月13日，特蕾莎·梅大步走向唐宁街的讲台，对英国的“灼热不公”发起猛烈抨击。在她的政府领导下，年轻黑人男子将不再惧怕警察；女性将不再忍受比男性更低的薪酬。社会关切将压倒经济考量。这些不公的系统性根源将被根除。这是一曲身份政治的颂歌。简而言之，这是“觉醒”。
Mrs May—now Lady May—was Britain’s first and probably last woke prime minister. It is a strain to accept this, at first. The thought makes both her allies and enemies wince(畏缩，皱眉). The mp who in 2000 voted against the repeal of Section 28(英国禁止学校推广同性恋的法规), which forbade the “promotion” (or rather acceptance) of homosexuality in schools? The authoritarian(威权主义的) home secretary, rigidly in favour of the Conservatives’ attempts to reduce immigration at any cost(不惜任何代价)? The prime minister who railed against(猛烈抨击) “citizens of nowhere(梅对全球主义者的批评用语)”? How can Mrs May, a creature of curtain-twitching(窥视的，好管闲事的) suburban England, be woke?
梅夫人——现在是梅女爵——是英国第一位、也可能是最后一位觉醒首相。一开始很难接受这个说法。这个想法让她的盟友和敌人都畏缩不前。那位在2000年投票反对废除第28条（该条款禁止在学校“推广”——或更确切地说，接受——同性恋）的议员？那位威权主义的内政大臣，固执地支持保守党不惜一切代价减少移民的努力？那位痛斥“无处归属的公民”的首相？一个代表着英格兰郊区窥视文化的梅夫人，怎么会是觉醒的呢？
If the idea seems absurd, it is because Britain has drifted(漂移，偏离) so far from the ideas and ideologies that dominated the country barely a decade ago. The policies Mrs May pursued—from trans rights to hammering(猛烈抨击，打击) the police for anti-black racism to pursuing “net zero” and eliminating “modern slavery”—are now seen as excesses from a different era. Mrs May is Britain’s only woke prime minister in the same way that Richard Nixon—responsible for environmental reforms and affirmative action as well as the carpet bombing of Cambodia—is probably America’s last truly liberal president.(梅是英国唯一的觉醒首相，就像尼克松是美国最后一位真正自由派总统一样。) Mrs May was right-wing and right-on(（俚语）激进正确的，左派教条的). An iron fist wrapped in a Pride flag(铁拳裹着骄傲旗); Britannia(不列颠尼亚（英国拟人化形象）) in a rainbow lanyard. Mrs May was woke.
如果这个想法看起来荒谬，那是因为英国已经偏离了仅仅十年前还主导这个国家的观念和意识形态太远了。梅女士追求的政策——从跨性别权利到抨击警察的反黑人种族主义，再到追求“净零”和消除“现代奴隶制”——现在被视为来自不同时代的过激之举。梅女士是英国唯一的觉醒首相，就像理查德·尼克松——他既负责环境改革和平权行动，也负责轰炸柬埔寨——可能是美国最后一位真正自由派的总统一样。梅女士既是右翼又是政治上正确。铁拳包裹在骄傲旗中；不列颠尼亚系着彩虹挂绳。梅女士是觉醒的。
Woke whiggery
觉醒式的辉格史观