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Scotland s referendum endgame 苏格兰公投的收官之战 A war of attrition 消耗战 The peculiar smallness of Scotland s independencedebate 关于苏格兰独立的辩论似乎太渺小了 RESEMBLING nothing so much as a pair of irritablegolfers yelling at each other in the clubhouse bar, on August 25th the leaders of Scotland spro- and anti-independence camps collided in the second of two televised debates. If passionsare high as the referendum campaign enters its final legwith unionists ahead in polls butwary of a late nationalist surgethis reflects the stakes. A yes vote on September 18thwould terminate Britain s 307-year-old political union. 除了一对的脾气暴躁的高尔夫球手在俱乐部对骂之外，恐怕再没有任何场景能同八月二十五日的的电视辩论相媲美了。随着公投进入最后关头，民众热情高涨，与联合主义者提前进行投票的同时，又在警惕着后期民族主义的激增这种状况反应了公投中各利益方的关系。9月18日的苏格兰独立公投或许可能结束英国307年的的政治联盟 Filter out the noisy interruptions, though, and both Alex Salmond, Scotland s nationalistpremier, and Alistair Darling, the unionist former chancellor of the exchequer, make dry points.Neither lingered on the overall case for or against the union, though Mr Darling banged onabout currency whenever he could. For much of the debate they tussled over domestic policyareas like health care and housing benefits. A contest between two starkly different futures forBritain came to resemble one over today s public services. | 
