正文
此外，巴基斯坦一直有军方干政的传统。自建国后，军方发动过三次政变，军事政权存在的时间超过了建国历史的一半。军方虽然支持中巴友谊，但其同时亲美。因此，自汗上台以来的种种亲俄行为就显得与军方格格不入，而军方在2018年时曾是伊姆兰·汗上台的支持者。为什么伊姆兰·汗想要亲俄呢？主要还是因为某个东方大国：没错，正是印度。这点和巴基斯坦成为中国的“巴铁”原因很像。由于美国和印度关系越来越近，为了不使巴基斯坦过于依赖美国，汗认为有必要寻求莫斯科的支持以进行平衡。
说完了根本原因，再来聊一聊导火索（也是经济学人这篇文章只字未提的）。
据巴基斯坦《黎明报》报道，3月27日晚，伊姆兰·汗在一场讲话中拿出一封密信，称自己有可信证据表明，一场国际阴谋正在酝酿，某外国势力通过资助国内人士，试图推翻其执政。据报道，这封密信是巴驻某国大使发出的，其中包含了大使馆官员与该国官员的谈话记录。信中称，该外国高级官员暗示，如果伊姆兰·汗下台，两国的关系将会改善。
3月28日，反对党联盟正式向国民议会提出不信任动议。
3月31日，伊姆兰·汗向全国发表电视演讲，他在演讲中再次提到这封信，称这封信不仅仅针对自己，更针对“我们国家”。他还似乎无意“说漏了嘴”：“这是来自美国的信息......不，不是美国，我的意思是，来自某个其他国家。”
When Pakistan’s
top brass
helped install Imran Khan as prime minister in 2018, the former cricket champion seemed like the perfect front man. He was a sporting hero,
dashing
and
cosmopolitan
. Even so, he
had cultivated
a
folksy
,
pious
air, along with a streak of
indignant
nationalism that could fire up a rally. His party looked different from the tiresome old lot, which are run as
fief
s by political dynasties. His attack on the entire political class as irretrievably corrupt
dovetail
ed helpfully
with
the work of the aptly named NAB, or National Accountability Bureau, which was trying to put an end to one of those dynasties by prosecuting Nawaz Sharif, the outgoing prime minister.
当巴基斯坦高层在 2018 年帮助伊姆兰·汗当选总理时，这位前板球冠军似乎是完美的代言人。他是一位体育英雄，时尚且国际化。即便如此，他在竞选之前还是（为自己）营造了一种亲切、虔诚的氛围，（在这种氛围中）又恰到好处的增添了一抹能够点燃集会的民族主义色彩。他的政党看起来与那些令人厌倦的旧势力不同——先前的政党已沦为政治世家的自留地。他对整个政治圈极端腐败的抨击与国家监察局（恰如起名）的工作相得益彰，后者当时正试图通过起诉前任总理纳瓦兹·谢里夫来终结这一世家。
(1) top brass：高层，people in authority or of high military rank
(2)
dashing：时尚的，a man who is dashing wears nice clothes and is very attractive and confident
(3) cosmopolitan：见多识广的、国际化的，familiar with and at ease in many different countries and cultures; having an exciting and glamorous character associated with travel and a mixture of cultures
(4)
folksy：亲切的，friendly or informal in manner or style
(5) pious：虔诚的，devoutly religious
(6) indignant：愤怒的，feeling or showing anger or annoyance at what is perceived as unfair treatmen
(7) fief：封地，an estate of land；势力范围，a person's sphere of operation or control
(8) dovetail with：与...相配，fit or cause to fit together easily and conveniently
这一段第一句话和第二句话都使用了一般过去时，而第三句话使用了过去完成时。在阅读中要注意这种时态的变化，这体现了第三句事实上说的是伊姆兰·汗在竞选成功前为自己所做的准备。
此外，第三句话和第四句话中两组看起来不像是反义词的反义词运用的很有意思、很伊斯兰。
Most important, Mr Khan cheerfully did what the armed forces wanted, be it cosying up to China and rich Arab states or playing the West as the army quietly helped the Taliban return to power in Afghanistan. The “
miltablishment
”, as Pakistani
wag
s call it, seemed to have landed on exactly what it was looking for: a plausible yet
pliable
manager, who would give the army the final say on anything it cared about, but could still take the blame for whatever went wrong.
