奥巴马如何应对继任者特朗普

 　　There are two obvious literary models for late-period Barack Obama to choose from.

　　对于处于总统任期最后阶段的巴拉克.奥巴马(Barack Obama)，有两个明显的文学人物榜样可供选择。

　　One is Samson Agonistes, the other is Achilles in his tent.

　　一个是力士参孙(Samson Agonistes)，另一个是退居帐篷里的阿喀琉斯(Achilles)。

　　The first, from Milton, is the hero brought low who, in defeat, offers a final act of defiance¹: he brings the whole temple down, wiping out the Philistines² even as he perishes himself.

　　第一个人物是约翰.弥尔顿(John Milton)笔下意志消沉的英雄，他在失败后表现出最后的英勇行为：推倒整座庙宇，与腓力斯人同归于尽。

　　The other, from Homer, is the great sulker who — pride bruised³ — retreats to his tent and sits out the game.

　　另一个人物出自荷马(Homer)笔下，他在自尊心受损后赌气退居帐篷、远离纷争。

　　The latter is, at least at first, the route taken by Hillary Clinton, who did not concede publicly until hours after the election was called.

　　后者，至少在开始时，是希拉里.克林顿(Hillary Clinton)采取的路线，直到大选结果出来数小时后，她才公开承认败选。

　　President Obama has taken neither.

　　奥巴马总统两条路都没选。

　　Rather, he has made a gracious — if laborious⁴ — show of offering support to the man he had said, not long before, was not fit to hold office.

　　相反，他大度地（即便也是艰难地）对那个他曾在不久前说过不合适担任总统的人表示支持。

　　As he resignedly apostrophised Donald Trump⁵ at their post-election meeting: Mr President-elect [?.?.?.?] we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed — because if you succeed, then the country succeeds.

　　大选后二人会面时，奥巴马无奈而顺从地对唐纳德.特朗普(Donald Trump)表态道：当选总统先生，现在我们希望不遗余力地帮助你成功——因为如果你成功了，这个国家就成功了。

　　That sounds noble.

　　这听起来很高尚。

　　And, with Mr Trump responding with generous noises and offering a stay of execution to Obamacare, it also seems to have worked on its immediate⁶ audience.

　　同时，鉴于特朗普也说出大度的话语作为回应，并提出不会马上废止奥巴马医改(Obamacare)，这似乎也能打动直接受众。

　　But there is also something in it for Mr Obama.

　　但这么做对奥巴马也有好处。

　　Presidents as they leave tend to think about their legacies⁷.

　　美国总统在离任时往往会考虑自己的政治遗产。

　　In making nice with Mr Trump, Mr Obama looks generous.

　　向特朗普表达善意使奥巴马看起来宽宏大量，

　　He looks statesmanlike.

　　有政治家风范。

　　And he gains the chance, perhaps, to influence his impressionable successor to be more so.

　　同时，他或许有机会让那位易受影响的继任者也表现得更像政治家。

　　Still, that legacy⁸.

　　但话说回来，那是一份怎样的政治遗产啊。

　　It is not the prospective⁹ wreck¹⁰ of his legislative¹¹ programme that is the thing, exactly; or not the whole of it.

　　问题不只是他的立法议程可能被推翻。

　　In the election of Mr Trump, Mr Obama has seen the overthrow¹² of something bigger.

　　特朗普当选总统使奥巴马看到一些更重要的事情被推翻。

　　The wind has changed.

　　风向变了，

　　The media have changed.

　　媒体也变了。

　　His whole rhetorical approach has been repudiated¹³.

　　他的整个叙述手法被否定。

　　Here was a man whose appeal to the electorate¹⁴ was to say we’re all one, to reach across the aisle¹⁵: We have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

　　过去，他对选民的吸引力在于高喊我们是一体的，应该跨越两党分歧：我们从来都不仅仅是个体的集合或是红州与蓝州的集合。

　　We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

　　我们现在是、也将永远是美利坚合众国。

　　He gives way to a man whose line of attack is about mobilising an in-group against an out-group.

　　在担任总统期间，他演变成了一个动员局内人群体对抗局外人群体、以此作为主攻方向的人。

　　Mr Obama’s ethos appeal was about calmness, optimism and apparent expertise¹⁶; his opponent was about naked emotion, anger and outsider can-do.

　　奥巴马气质上的吸引力在于冷静、乐观和明显的专业素养；他的对手的吸引力则在于毫不掩饰的情绪、愤怒和局外人敢闯敢拼的精神。

　　Mr Obama had done his homework so you didn’t have to.

　　奥巴马做足了功课，所以你不用做了。

　　Mr Trump had fed his homework to the dog.

　　而特朗普把他的作业喂狗了。

　　The outgoing president put it pretty starkly¹⁷ to the New Yorker’s editor David Remnick: Trump understands the new ecosystem¹⁸, in which facts and truth don’t matter.

　　即将离任的总统相当直白地向《纽约客》(New Yorker)主编大卫.雷姆尼克(David Remnick)表示：特朗普懂得新的生态系统，在这个系统中，事实和真相不重要。

　　You attract attention, rouse emotions and then move on.

　　你吸引关注，煽动情绪，然后翻开新的一页。

　　You can surf those emotions.

　　你可以驾驭那些情绪。

　　I’ve said it before, but if I watched Fox I wouldn’t vote for me!

　　就像我之前说过的，如果我看了福克斯(Fox)频道，我也不会投票给我！

　　And yet, acknowledging the president-elect’s victory, he did not talk about a new ecosystem, but an old one.

　　不过，在承认当选总统的胜利时，奥巴马并未谈论新的生态系统，而是在谈论一种旧的生态系统。

　　This could be a version of what philosopher Herbert Marcuse called repressive tolerance¹⁹.

　　这可能是哲学家赫伯特.马尔库塞(Herbert Marcuse)所说的压抑性宽容的一种表现。

　　He was at pains to frame Mr Trump’s victory not as a reversal of his view of the US, but — oddly — as an endorsement²⁰ of it, as a defeat on the chessboard rather than a repudiation²¹ of the rules of chess.

　　他煞费苦心地把特朗普的胜利（有点怪异地）框定为对他对美国看法的认可，而不是对这种看法的否定；把特朗普的胜利定性为棋盘上的失败，而非下棋的规则被推翻。

　　Now, everybody is sad when their side loses an election, he said in his Rose Garden statement on November 9.

　　每个人都会为了自己的一方败选而伤心，11月9日奥巴马在玫瑰园发表声明时表示，

　　But the day after, we have to remember that we’re actually all on one team.

　　但在选举后的一天，我们要记住我们实际上是一个团队的。

　　This is an intramural scrimmage.

　　这是一场内部混战。

　　We’re not Democrats²² first.

　　我们的第一身份不是民主党，

　　We’re not Republicans first.

　　也不是共和党。

　　We are Americans first.

　　我们首先是美国人，

　　We’re patriots²³ first.

　　是爱国者。

　　That is a direct, and perhaps deliberate, echo of his red-state-blue-state line so many years before.

　　这是对他多年前红州与蓝州说法的直接呼应，可能是刻意这么说的。

　　And yet the tone of voice has unmistakably changed.

　　不过，语气已经明显改变。

　　In a press conference in Peru, his optimism went only so far as to say: I can’t guarantee that the president-elect won’t pursue some of the positions that he’s taken.

　　在秘鲁的一个记者会上，奥巴马的乐观有些勉强：我不能保证当选总统不会追求他已经表明的一些立场。

　　But what I can guarantee?.?.?.?is that reality will force him to adjust how he approaches many of these issues.

　　但是我可以保证的是……现实会迫使他调整他处理很多问题的方式。

　　That’s just the way this office works.

　　这是身为总统不得不采取的工作方式。

　　That — eight years on — is a long way from yes we can.

　　这与八年前的是的，我们可以相距甚远。

　　A third model suggests itself: Oedipus at Colonus.

　　第三个文学形象浮现出来：在科罗诺斯的俄狄浦斯(Oedipus)。

1 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

2 philistines   

n.市侩，庸人( philistine的名词复数 )；庸夫俗子

参考例句：

• He accused those who criticized his work of being philistines. 他指责那些批评他的作品的人是对艺术一窍不通。 来自辞典例句
• As an intellectual Goebbels looked down on the crude philistines of the leading group in Munich. 戈培尔是个知识分子，看不起慕尼黑领导层不学无术的市侩庸人。 来自辞典例句

3 bruised   

[医]青肿的，瘀紫的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。

4 laborious   

adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅

参考例句：

• They had the laborious task of cutting down the huge tree.他们接受了伐大树的艰苦工作。
• Ants and bees are laborious insects.蚂蚁与蜜蜂是勤劳的昆虫。

5 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

6 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

7 legacies   

n.遗产( legacy的名词复数 )；遗留之物；遗留问题；后遗症

参考例句：

• Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind. 书是伟大的天才留给人类的精神财富。 来自辞典例句
• General legacies are subject to the same principles as demonstrative legacies. 一般的遗赠要与指定数目的遗赠遵循同样的原则。 来自辞典例句

8 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

9 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

10 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

11 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

12 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

13 repudiated   

v.（正式地）否认( repudiate的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝接受；拒绝与…往来；拒不履行（法律义务）

参考例句：

• All slanders and libels should be repudiated. 一切诬蔑不实之词，应予推倒。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The Prime Minister has repudiated racist remarks made by a member of the Conservative Party. 首相已经驳斥了一个保守党成员的种族主义言论。 来自辞典例句

14 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

15 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

16 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

17 starkly   

adj. 变硬了的,完全的 adv. 完全,实在,简直

参考例句：

• The city of Befast remains starkly divided between Catholics and Protestants. 贝尔法斯特市完全被处在天主教徒和新教徒的纷争之中。
• The black rocks stood out starkly against the sky. 那些黑色的岩石在天空衬托下十分显眼。

18 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

19 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

20 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

21 repudiation   

n.拒绝；否认；断绝关系；抛弃

参考例句：

• Datas non-repudiation is very important in the secure communication. 在安全数据的通讯中，数据发送和接收的非否认十分重要。 来自互联网
• There are some goals of Certified E-mail Protocol: confidentiality non-repudiation and fairness. 挂号电子邮件协议需要具备保密性、不可否认性及公平性。 来自互联网

22 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。