For the last 20 years, Britain was unable to put a barrel on its tanks(为坦克安装炮管) without buying from abroad. Relying on foreign allies seemed like a reasonable choice during years of relative security(相对安全) (for wealthy countries at least) after the end of the cold war(冷战).
过去20年里，英国如果不从国外购买，就无法为坦克装上炮管。冷战结束后的那些年相对安全（至少对富裕国家而言），依赖外国盟友似乎是个合理的选择。
But Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has changed the calculation(改变了盘算) – and prompted a scramble(匆忙争夺) to rearm(重整军备) among European countries, including the UK.
但2022年俄罗斯对乌克兰的全面入侵改变了这一盘算，并促使包括英国在内的欧洲国家纷纷匆忙重整军备。
Evidence of that scramble was on display on Thursday in Shropshire, where the UK defence secretary, Wes Streeting, opened a factory hastily(匆忙地) constructed by Germany’s Rheinmetall(莱茵金属公司) to make barrels for artillery(火炮) and British tanks.
这场军备竞赛的证据周四在什罗普郡展示出来：英国国防大臣韦斯·斯特里廷为德国莱茵金属公司匆忙建造的工厂揭幕，该工厂用于生产火炮和英国坦克的炮管。