Samantha Cameron, wife of the leader of the U.K.'s main opposition party, prepared a cup of tea in her kitchen here on a recent Friday morning. Standing by a wall decorated with photos of her children, she discussed the couple's planned visit that day to a youth club.
最近一个周五的早上，英国主要反对党领袖的夫人萨曼莎•卡梅隆(Samantha Cameron)在自家的厨房里准备了一杯茶。萨曼莎站在一面挂着孩子们照片的墙边，谈论着她和丈夫当天访问一家青年俱乐部的计划。

保守党党魁大卫•卡梅隆与夫人萨曼莎

The scene, captured in a video posted on the party's Web site, marked Mrs. Cameron's debut on the campaign trail. It is the first in a series of clips that document outings she is making to campaign for her husband, Conservative Party leader David Cameron.
这一场景出自该党网站上的一段视频，也标志着卡梅隆夫人萨曼莎踏上为丈夫大卫•卡梅隆(David Cameron)助选之路的首次亮相。大卫•卡梅隆是英国保守党（Conservative Party）党魁。

Mrs. Cameron, like most other British political spouses, previously held minor roles in their husband's public careers. But, now, as Britain is galvanized by a close race on May 6, the candidates' wives are playing a much higher-profile role than before.
和大多数其他英国政客的配偶一样，萨曼莎此前在丈夫的公众事业上只是扮演了无足轻重的角色。不过眼下，英国正在为一场将在5月6日展开的势均力敌的较量而振奋不已，因此候选人的夫人们正在承担着比以往更加引人瞩目的角色。

With less-discernible difference between policies in this campaign compared to many previous ones, candidates are looking to new ways to distinguish themselves and broaden their appeal.
和从前的多次大选相比，本次大选各党派候选人在大政方针上的不同点并不明显，因此他们在寻找新的途径来脱颍而出，并扩大自己的影响力。

Mrs. Cameron, the 39-year-old creative director at a luxury stationery company, has reduced her work schedule to at least two days a week from four, and is making frequent appearances at charities and other events.
39岁的萨曼莎是一家高级文具公司的创意总监。她已经将从前每周四天的工作时间减为了最少两天，并开始频繁出现在慈善活动和其他场合上。

Her photo runs often in newspapers and magazines, which chronicle everything from her pregnancy to her penchant for mixing designer clothes with less-expensive labels.
萨曼莎的照片经常出现在报纸和杂志上，媒体对她的关注从怀孕到她喜爱混搭设计师服装和平价品牌的穿衣风格，无所不包。

Mrs. Cameron isn't alone in taking a bigger role: Sarah Brown, wife of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is accompanying her husband full time on the campaign trail. She also posts frequent updates on social-networking site Twitter Inc., where she has about a million followers -- more than six times the number of Labour Party members.
萨曼莎并不是唯一承担更重要角色的人：首相戈登•布朗(Gordon Brown)的妻子莎拉•布朗(Sarah Brown)在竞选活动中无时无刻不陪伴在丈夫左右。她还经常在社交网站Twitter Inc.上更新自己的信息。莎拉在该网站上拥有大约100万的追随者，这相当于工党(Labour Party)党员的六倍还多。

Mrs. Brown, 46, also writes a weekly election diary for a U.K. paper and recently appeared on the cover of the Observer newspaper's monthly food magazine, writing about local and fair-trade produce and accompanied by photographs of the vegetable patch in the garden of No. 10 Downing St.

46岁的莎拉还为一家英国报纸撰写竞选周记。最近，她还出现在了《观察家报》(Observer)饮食月刊的封面上，并就当地出产和公平贸易的农产品撰写了文章，并配有唐宁街10号花园里菜地的照片。

The magazine's editor says the piece has been in the works for some time.
该月刊的编辑表示，这篇报导已经准备了一段时间了。

Miriam Gonzalez, wife of Liberal Democrat sensation Nick Clegg, also has suddenly emerged as a media figure, though she continues to work full time as a lawyer. In a recent television interview she said: 'I'm the wife of a politician. I don't have a role. I'm just married to him.' Mrs. Gonzalez didn't respond to a request to comment.
自由民主党(Liberal Democrat)领袖尼克•克莱格(Nick Clegg)的妻子米利亚姆•冈萨雷斯(Miriam Gonzalez)也突然间成为了公众人物，尽管她仍然继续做着律师的全职工作。在最近的一次电视采访中她说：“我是政客的妻子，我不承担什么角色。我只是嫁给了他。”米利亚姆没有回应我们的置评请求。

While the U.K. hasn't traditionally had a first lady culture, the fact that the wife of each leader of the three main political parties is accomplished and glamorous also has fed public and media interest.
尽管英国从传统上讲并没有第一夫人文化，但英国三大政党领袖的妻子都有所成就而且魅力不凡也迎合了公众和媒体的兴趣。

It comes on the heels of the attention on Michelle Obama and her French counterpart, Carla Bruni, and a generally more presidential style of politics in the U.K.
这一现象紧随着对米歇尔•奥巴马(Michelle Obama)和法国第一夫人卡拉•布吕尼(Carla Bruni)的关注而来，此外，英国的政治风格从总体来看也变得更为“总统化”。

保守党党魁大卫•卡梅隆与夫人萨曼莎

While party leaders' spouses have drawn interest before, 'it wasn't at the high-octane level that it is now,' says Sandra Howard, wife of Michael Howard, who led the Conservative party's unsuccessful attempt in the most recent election.
尽管党派领袖的配偶也曾吸引人们的注意力，“但并没有达到现在这么高的关注度，”桑德拉•霍华德(Sandra Howard)表示。她的丈夫是曾带领保守党参加上届英国大选但最终落败的保守党党魁迈克尔•霍华德(Michael Howard)。

The parties hope that a popular spouse reflects well on a candidate, influencing voters about factors beyond specific policies, such as trustworthiness. But many experts say they doubt that a spouse swings votes.
各党派都希望一个受民众喜爱的配偶能够为候选人加分，进而在具体政策以外的领域，比如可信度上影响选民。不过许多专家表示，他们对于伴侣改变选票一事持怀疑态度。

'The family context is important to voters' but most people won't vote for someone just because their wife wears 'a nice dress,' says Fiona Millar, who was an adviser to the wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
“家庭关系对选民来说是个重要因素，”不过大多数人不会因为候选人的妻子穿着“一条漂亮裙子”就投上一票，菲奥娜•米勒(Fiona Millar)表示。她曾担任英国前首相托尼•布莱尔(Tony Blair)妻子的顾问。

During Mr. Blair's leadership, the political spouse's profile shifted significantly. Cherie Blair broke from tradition by having her own career and speaking out frequently about her views.
在布莱尔执政时代，领袖配偶的地位发生了巨大的变化。切丽•布莱尔(Cherie Blair)通过拥有自己的事业并经常公开发表自己的意见而打破了传统。

Her successor, Mrs. Brown, is a public-relations executive who has long played an active role in her husband's career, including taking the unusual step of speaking at party conferences. A Labour Party spokeswoman said Mrs. Brown wasn't available to comment.
切丽的继任者，布朗的夫人莎拉是一位公关负责人，她长期以来都在丈夫的职业生涯中扮演着的积极角色，其中包括在党派会议上讲话的意外之举。工党的一位发言人表示，无法联系到莎拉对本文置评。

Mrs. Cameron, however, hadn't sought the spotlight in the past. She previously said she wanted to model herself on Margaret Thatcher's husband, whose motto was the prime minister's consort should be 'always present, never there.'
然而，卡梅隆的妻子萨曼莎从前却并未主动寻求过公众的注意。她曾经表示，希望以玛格丽特•撒切尔(Margaret Thatcher)的丈夫为榜样。撒切尔丈夫的座右铭就是首相的配偶应该“永远到位，却如隐形。”

But in mid-March, with opinion polls showing the Conservatives' lead over Labour narrowing, Mr. Cameron revealed that his newly pregnant wife was about to take on an active role.
不过，3月中旬的民意调查显示保守党较工党的领先优势正在缩小，于是卡梅隆透露说，他刚刚怀孕的妻子将承担起更积极的角色。

'You are going to see a lot more of her on the campaign trail,' he said in an interview on ITV PLC.
“你会在竞选活动中更多地看到她，”卡梅隆在接受ITV PLC的采访时表示。

Days later, Mrs. Cameron gave her first television interview as part of a program about her husband; the party released the transcript to journalists beforehand.
几天以后，萨曼莎在一个有关她丈夫的节目中第一次接受了电视台的访问；保守党事先向记者提供了访问稿。

Mrs. Cameron described her relationship with 'Dave,' his qualities as a father as well as some of his annoying habits, echoing comments Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Obama have made about their husbands.
萨曼莎讲述了她和“戴夫(Dave，大卫的昵称)”的关系，他作为一名父亲的品质以及卡梅隆一些让人讨厌的毛病，这效仿了莎拉•布朗和米歇尔•奥巴马对自己丈夫的评价。

'He's not very good at picking up his clothes. He's a terrible channel flicker. I have to be quite firm about him not fiddling with his phone and BlackBerry too much,' Mrs. Cameron said.
“他在挑选衣服方面不太在行。他看电视太爱频繁换台了。我不得不很坚决地要求他不要太过沉迷于摆弄他的手机和黑莓(BlackBerry)，”萨曼莎说。

Mrs. Cameron wasn't available to comment, a party spokeswoman said. Mr. Cameron has publicly said she wanted to help on the campaign.
保守党的一名发言人表示，未能联系萨曼莎置评。卡梅隆曾公开表示，萨曼莎希望自己能在大选中帮上忙。