英逾六成民衆盼威廉王子直接繼位
Prince William and his fiancée Kate Middleton should be Britain's next king and queen, not the heir to the throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, two polls showed on Saturday.
An ICM poll, published in Britain's News of the World newspaper, showed that 64 percent of people wanted William and his future bride as next in line to the throne, while a YouGov poll in the Sunday Times found the majority of Britons thought William would make a better king than his father Charles.
Charles, 62, is currently next in line to the throne, now occupied by his mother Queen Elizabeth, 84. The British public has no say in who should be their next king or queen, a largely symbolic role in a country run as a parliamentary democracy.
The ICM survey also found that fewer than one in five people wanted the crown to pass to Charles and Camilla. The YouGov poll showed that 44 percent of people thought Charles should make way for his son to become the next king, against 37 percent who thought he should not.
William and Middleton, both aged 28, announced their engagement this week, the photogenic couple drawing extensive media coverage.
Charles is seen by some as too old to inject vitality in the monarchy should he eventually succeed his mother. Charles's wife Camilla is nowhere near as popular as his first wife, Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997 after they had divorced.
The surveys come a day after Charles, in a television interview, said Camilla could be queen if he is crowned king. Charles married Camilla, his long-time lover, five years ago and at the time of the marriage, it was officially decided that she would have the title Princess Consort if Charles becomes king.
A CNN/ComRes poll this week found that more than three-quarters of those surveyed believed William and Middleton's wedding would be good for the monarchy.
While many Britons welcome William's wedding, set for spring or summer next year, some have expressed concern that a lavish event would be inappropriate for a country reeling from harsh austerity measures to tackle a record budget deficit.
週六發佈的兩項民意調查顯示，民衆認爲英國下一任國王和皇后應該是威廉王子和他的未婚妻凱特•米德爾頓，而不是王位的法定繼承人查爾斯王子和他的妻子康沃爾公爵夫人卡米拉。
在英國《世界新聞報》上發表的一項由民調機構ICM進行的調查顯示，64%的英國人想讓威廉和他的未婚妻成爲王位第一繼承人。而《星期日泰晤士報》上YouGov調查機構的調查發現，大多數英國人認爲威廉能成爲比他父親查爾斯更好的國王。
62歲的查爾斯目前是王位第一繼承人，現在的王位屬於由他的母親——84歲的伊麗莎白女王。英國公衆對於誰將成爲下一任國王或皇后並沒有發言權。在英國這一議會民主制國家，國王和皇后基本上是象徵性的角色。
ICM的調查還發現，不到五分之一的英國人想讓查爾斯和卡米拉繼承王位。YouGov的民意調查顯示，44%的人認爲查爾斯應該讓位給他的兒子，讓威廉成爲下一任國王，而37%的人認爲他不應該這麼做。
現年均爲28歲的威廉和米德爾頓在本週公佈了他們訂婚的消息。這對上鏡的情侶很快就吸引了衆多媒體的報道。
一些英國人認爲，如果查爾斯最終從母親那裏繼承了王位，他的年紀會太大，無法爲君主政體注入活力。查爾斯的妻子卡米拉則遠遠不及他的第一任妻子戴安娜王妃受歡迎。在查爾斯和戴安娜離婚後，1997年戴安娜在一場車禍中去世。
調查發佈前一日，查爾斯在一個電視訪談中說，如果他加冕成爲國王，卡米拉可能會成爲皇后。查爾斯在五年以前和他相愛多年的戀人卡米拉結婚。當時，官方已決定如果查爾斯成爲國王，卡米拉將獲得王妃稱號。
美國有線電視新聞網和民調機構ComRes在本週聯手進行的一項調查發現，超過四分之三的被調查者認爲威廉和米德爾頓的婚禮將對這個君主制國家有好處。
儘管許多英國人都對威廉明年春天或夏天舉行的婚禮表示歡迎，也有些人擔心這樣耗資巨大的盛事對於一個即將採取嚴厲措施應對鉅額財政赤字的國家來說不合適。
Vocabulary:
photogenic: looking attractive in photographs（上鏡的；上相的）
lavish: large in amount, or impressive, and usually costing a lot of money（大量的；給人印象深刻的；耗資巨大的）
reel: 受到震撼
