It’s a long and complex story but let's begin by answering the most fundamental question.

這故事既富有歷史又錯綜複雜，但讓我們先從最簡單的一個問題開始:

Where is Scotland anyway?

蘇格蘭到底在哪裡?

The country of Scotland is right here, at the top of the island of Great Britain, the

蘇格蘭這個國家就位於這裡，在大不列顛群島的最北端

crazy hat worn by the bearded troll who appears to be looking west, toward Ireland and laughing.

像是頂戴在一個看向西方的愛爾蘭還長了鬍子的山怪頭上的怪異帽子

On Thursday the 18th of September, the people of Scotland will vote to decide whether or

在今年的九月十八號星期四，蘇格蘭的人民將會自行透過投票決定蘇格蘭

not it will become a country in its own right. But wait, I hear you ask. Didn’t you just

是否能成為一個國家。慢著，我聽到你問了。你剛剛不是

call Scotland a country? Isn’t Scotland already a country?

才說蘇格蘭是個國家嗎?這樣蘇格蘭不早就是個國家了嗎?

The definitive answer to that question is: sort of.

對於這個問題最標準的答案是:部分是啦

Technically Scotland is a country within a country known as the United Kingdom. Scotland

準確的來說，蘇格蘭是一個被涵蓋在一個被稱作英國的國家之中的國中國。蘇格蘭

may have its own church, its own legal system, its own professional soccer league and its

或許有著他們自己的教會，自己的法律體制，自己的職業足球聯盟還有

own dietary idiosyncrasies, but it’s still part of the UK, which also includes the countries

他們獨有的飲食習慣，但蘇格蘭仍然是英國的一部分，包含英格蘭的鄉村地區，

of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scottish people have British passports.

威爾斯以及北愛爾蘭。而蘇格蘭人民領的也是英國的護照。

Scotland did used to be a separate country, with its own king, James VI. Then in 1603

蘇格蘭的確曾是個獨立的國家，還有自己的國王，詹姆士六世。

Queen Elizabeth - not that one, this one - died without leaving an heir, and the nearest relative

後來在1603年時，依莉莎白皇后-不是那一個，這個才對-過世前沒有指定繼承王位的人選

they could find turned out to be her cousin James. He became James I of England, while

而他們能找到與她血緣關係最相近的人是她的遠親詹姆士。他後來成為了英王詹姆士一世，

still keeping his job as James VI of Scotland. If you think that’s confusing, you ain’t

同時也身兼蘇格蘭的國王詹姆士六世。如果你覺得這樣子已經讓你搞不懂的話

heard nothing yet.

那接下來的內容只會讓你覺得更困惑。

England and Scotland maintained a monarch-sharing arrangement for over a century before the

英格蘭跟蘇格蘭就這樣共享一位君主一百多年之久，

Acts of Union in 1707 made the two nations a single entity, with one parliament, located

直到1707年的統一讓兩個國家合而為一，並有一個位於倫敦的議會。

in London. Scotland went along with this largely because it was almost bankrupt, thanks to

蘇格蘭對此決定大表贊同，因為當時蘇格蘭已經瀕臨破產，

something called the Darien Disaster, which happened way over here and is, frankly, another

這都是因為一件被稱作達瑞恩災難的事件，這事件發生在離蘇格蘭很遠的這個地方(中美洲)

story for another time.

而這又是另一個故事了，我們下次再講。

Let’s have a stirring musical interludel before we skip ahead, Way ahead.

在我們跳過這個故事之前先穿插一段活潑的音樂吧。

Duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh (etc)

(音樂)

In the 1970s speculation about devolution, the notion of returning a measure of power

在1970年代關於政府權力下放的拉鋸之中，將一定權力

to the Scottish government gave rise to what used to be known as the West Lothian question.

歸還給蘇格蘭政府的這個想法引起了這個當時所謂的西洛錫安問題。

For most people in the UK today the real West Lothian question is:

對於現代的英國人來說，真正的西洛錫安問題就是:

‘What is the West Lothianquestion?’

西洛錫安問題是什麼東西啊?

The West Lothian question named after the Scottish constituency of the MP who first

西洛錫安問題是由第一個提出這個問題的蘇格蘭西洛錫安選區的一位議員所命名。

asked it. To paraphrase, he basically posited a world where Scotland had its own regional

要說的話，他基本上假設了一個蘇格蘭能夠擁有自己議會的世界，

parliament, but also continued to send representatives to the British parliament in London. How could

但他也常常派代表去倫敦議會。

it be, he asked, that Scottish MPs could vote on laws that affected only England, and yet

怎麼會這樣?他當時問，為什麼蘇格蘭的議員們在只影響英格蘭的法律上有投票權，

had no vote on matters that affected Scotland? That would be totally crazy! You weren’t

卻完全沒有權力干涉與蘇格蘭有關的事務? 那真是太沒道理了! 你不需要

really meant to answer the West Lothian question; it was just there to demonstrate that a Scottish

真的去回答這個這個西洛錫安問題;這個問題的重點在於問題本身顯示出

parliament couldn’t logically exist, and that if you tried to set one up the universe

按照邏輯，蘇格蘭的議會根本不能存在，如果你試著真的去設立蘇格蘭議會

would disappear, or something.

，那整個宇宙八成會消失無蹤什麼的。

But then in 1998, after a referendum on devolution, they did set up a Scottish Parliament, with

但後來到了1998年，在一次的權力下放投票之後，他們還真的設立了一個蘇格蘭議會，

its very own brand new building. I know, but it’s meant to be really nice on the inside.

還有自己全新的議會大樓。我知道外面看起來很糟，但裡面看起來很棒。

Devolution is not the same as being a separate country. The British parliament merely devolved

權力下放並不代表他們就成了個獨立的國家。英國議會只下放了

certain powers to Scotland, rather than transferring them, and it reserved to the right to overturn

一定的權力給蘇格蘭，而不是真正將權力轉讓給他們，而且英國議會還保有能夠將任何

any law made in the Scottish legislature.

蘇格蘭立法院所制定的法律推翻的權利。

In 2011 the Scottish National Party - a party that campaigned on a pledge to hold an independence

到了2011年，蘇格蘭國民黨 - 這個承諾要舉行獨立公投的政黨-

referendum - won a landslide in the Scottish parliament. The SNP leader - this man, Alex

在蘇格蘭議會取得了絕對多數的席位。蘇格蘭國民黨的黨魁 -這個男人，

Salmond (you don’t pronounce the L, like with the fish) - became Scotland’s First

Alex Salmond (L不發音，就像鮭魚Salmon的發音一樣) - 他成為了

Minister, and promised a referendum within the election cycle. In 2012 British Prime

蘇格蘭的首席部長，並且還承諾會在他的任期內舉辦公投。到了2012年，

Minister David Cameron finally agreed to a legally-binding referendum, saying: “This

英國首相 David Cameron 終於同意了一項具有法律約束力的投票案，並且說:

United Kingdom can never hold a country within it without its consent.” What he meant was:

「 大英帝國不可能在違反其(指蘇格蘭)意願的情況下還保有一個國中國 」他的意思其實就是:

“I’m allowing this because it’s certain to fail”. Polls consistently showed that

「 我現在放行這項投票案是因為這項投票是一定不會通過的」當時的民調顯示

only a minority of Scots would vote for actual independence.

只有很少數的蘇格蘭人會去投票支持獨立。

A Yes Campaign was set up, and also a No campaign, which isn’t called the No Campaign, because

贊成獨立的派別已經成形了，也出現了一個不贊成派，這個不贊成派並沒有被稱作不贊成派，因為

that would sound a bit negative. Instead it’s called Better Together, which is arguably

這樣聽起來會有點負面的感覺。所以不贊成派被稱為 在一起比較好派，可以說

worse.

是個更爛的名字。

Those is Yes camp include Alex Salmond and the SNP, and also the Scottish Green Party,

那些贊成的一派包含了 Alex Salmond 還有蘇格蘭國民黨，蘇格蘭綠黨與

the Scottish Socialist Party, possibly Rupert Murdoch, Sir Sean Connery and both of the

蘇格蘭社會主義黨，可能還有魯柏·梅鐸(媒體大亨)，史恩康納萊(英國演員)及

Proclaimers.

普羅克萊門兄弟(蘇格蘭雙人樂團名)的兩名成員。

The No camp includes all three main political parties, Harry Potter author JK Rowling, Susan

不贊成派則包含了英國的三個主要政黨，哈利波特的作者 J.K 羅琳，蘇珊·波伊爾(蘇珊大嬸)，

Boyle, one of the Dr Whos, not to mention a majority of the people in the rest of the UK, who don’t

其中一個飾演Dr Who的演員(Peter Capaldi)，更別提那些在英國其它地區的大部分民眾，

get a vote.

他們並沒有投票權。

Those conspicuously offering no opinion include Andy Murray, Billy Connelly and the Queen.

那些很明顯不想表態的名人包含 安迪·莫瑞(網球選手)，比利 康奈利(喜劇演員)還有英國女王。

Recently the no camp's comfortable lead has eroded and a lot of questions that nobody

到了最近，原本遙遙領先的不贊成派士氣低落，而且有許多他們不曾給出

had ever answered satisfactorily have suddenly become interesting to people.

滿意答案的問題突然引起了人們的興趣。

Questions like: if it were independent, what would Scotland use for money? What about Scottish

那些問題可能是: 要是蘇格蘭獨立了，那他們要使用什麼貨幣?蘇格蘭人要有自己的護照嗎?

passports? Would Scotland be able to join the EU? Or NATO? And what will they call the

蘇格蘭能不能加入歐盟或是北大西洋公約組織?還有要是蘇格蘭獨立了，那麼英國剩下的地區

rest of the UK if Scotland leaves? At the moment they’re are literally calling it

要怎麼稱呼?那個時候人們真的已經開始把那些地區稱做 「 英國剩下的區域 」

“the rest of the UK” or rUK for short, which gives you an idea how much thought has

或是簡稱為rUK了，這樣你就可以知道當時到底是有

gone into the whole business.

多少議題被牽扯進這個拉鋸之中。

The real question is: will Scotland be better off as an independent country,

真正的問題是: 蘇格蘭變成個獨立國家之後會變得更好嗎?

And the real answer is nobody knows... because it’s the future.

真正的答案是:沒有人知道...因為那些都將決定於未來。