TED演讲:不存在'不投票'这种事(1)

 Why bother? The game is rigged. My vote won't count.  为什么非要投票呢？选举被操纵了。我那一票不起作用。

The choices are terrible. Voting is for suckers. 选举的结果很糟糕。选举都是骗人的。

Perhaps you've thought some of these things. Perhaps you've even said them.  也许你曾经这么想过。也许你还说过这样的话。

And if so, you wouldn't be alone, and you wouldn't be entirely¹ wrong.  如果是这样，那你不是一个人在战斗，你说的也不是没有道理。

The game of public policy today is rigged in many ways.  今天的公共选举在很多方面都被操纵了。

How else would more than half of federal tax breaks flow up to the wealthiest five percent of Americans?  要不然如何解释过半的联邦所得税减免都流向了最富有的5%的人？

And our choices indeed are often terrible.  我们的选择也经常是可怕的。

For many people across the political spectrum², Exhibit A is the 2016 presidential election.  对许多具有政治背景的人来说，证据就是2016年的总统大选。

But in any year, you can look up and down the ballot³ and find plenty to be uninspired about. 但不管是哪一年，你去看一下投票结果，令人沮丧的结果比比皆是。

But in spite of all this, I still believe voting matters.  尽管如此，我仍然相信投票是一件重要的事。

And crazy as it may sound, I believe we can revive the joy of voting.  尽管听起来挺疯狂，但我相信我们可以重新获得选举的乐趣。

Today, I want to talk about how we can do that, and why. 今天，我要谈一谈我们要怎样，以及为什么要重新享受选举。

There used to be a time in American history when voting was fun, when it was much more than just a grim duty to show up at the polls.  在美国历史上选举曾经是充满乐趣的，那时选举可不仅仅是在投票站露面那么无聊。

That time is called "most of American history." 那个时代被称为“大部分美国历史”。

1 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

2 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

3 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。