经济学人37:重新划分选区之争

 　　Redistricting rows

　　重新划分选区之争

　　Not so easy

　　并不容易

　　Republican hopes of snagging extra seats following last year’s census¹ look doomed² to disappointment

　　共和党人想要通过去年的人口普查数据再获得一些新席位,不大可行

　　May 5th 2011 | AUSTIN, TEXAS | from the print edition

　　..REDISTRICTING, so the old saying goes, is when politicians get to choose their voters. Every ten years, following the national census, each state must redraw the constituency boundaries for both its members of Congress and its state legislators. In most states, the party in power controls both those processes, either directly through the state legislature or indirectly³ through the appointment of members to commissions charged with the job.

　　老话讲，重新划分选区就是政治家选择投票者。每隔十年，在全国人口普查之后，各个州要为国会代表以及州立法委员重划选区界限。在大部分州，执政的党派决定着选区界限的划定，或直接通过州立法机关、或间接地通过指派人员处理这项事务。

　　The whole business has been riven with conflicts of interest for at least two centuries. This time around, though, Republicans are in charge in far more states than Democrats⁵, so should be able to weight the political odds⁶ in their favour for the next decade. But that is proving trickier⁷ than normal, for a variety of reasons.

　　这项事务为利益冲突成为的焦点已经至少有两百年了。这一次，共和党执掌的州大大多于民主党，所以共和党应该会争取在接下来的十年时间里获得政治优势。不过，有许多原因导致情况非常复杂。

　　Take Texas. Republicans control the governorship and both chambers⁸ of the state legislature, so can draw new maps without interference from Democrats. That power is all the more coveted⁹ since Texas will receive four new seats in the House of Representatives at the next election, thanks to the rapid growth of its population over the past decade. Partisan¹⁰ Republicans would like all four districts drawn¹¹ with Republican majorities. But as Sherri Greenberg of the University of Texas at Austin points out, even in Texas, there are not enough Republicans to create four secure new Republican districts.

　　以德克萨斯州为例。共和党掌管政府，又控制了两大州立法内庭，所以共和党能够不受民主党干扰自行确定新的选区图。由于德州人口在这十年内增长迅速，下次选举将在众议院新增四个席位，所以共和党的这项权利可以说是无人不垂涎。但德州大学的雪莉·格林伯格（Sherri Greenberg）指出，就算在德克萨斯州，也没有足够的共和党成员以新建四个稳定的共和党选区。

　　That is partly because Republicans won almost every marginal seat in the state at the last election, leaving themselves already thinly spread. Democrats now hold just nine of Texas’s 32 House seats. “The elections accomplished¹² what we were afraid they were going to try to accomplish by gerrymandering,” says Mike Villarreal, the most senior Democrat⁴ on the redistricting committee in the state House of Representatives. That outcome, in turn, was underpinned¹³ by a previous Republican gerrymander. In 2003, shortly after taking control of the state legislature for the first time in over a century, Republicans redrew the congressional map in a way that cost the Democrats six seats at the subsequent election, and more since. That leaves Republicans with few plausible¹⁴ targets in the Democratic congressional delegation¹⁵.

　　这样的情形，在一定程度上是由于共和党在上次选举中几乎赢得了所有的边际席位，所以他们的分布已经很稀疏。在德克萨斯州总共32个席位中，民主党只有9个席位。州议院选区重划委员会最资深的民主党人员麦克·维拉里尔（Mike Villarreal）说，“选举印证了我们所担心的事，他们真的通过不公正地划分选区赢了我们。”那次选举的结果，正是之前共和党进行不公正选区划分的结果。2003年，共和党一百多年来第一次坐镇州立法机关，还没过多久，便通过选区重划分让民主党损失了六个席位，并且让它以后继续损失席位。最后，共和党针对民主党国会代表的可行目标就非常少了。

　　To make matters trickier for the Republicans, some 90% of the growth in the state’s population over the past decade has come from minorities, who tend to vote Democratic. Indeed, minorities are now in the majority in Texas, with Hispanics alone accounting¹⁶ for about 38% of the population—although their share of legal residents of voting age is smaller. The racial divide in Texas politics is quite stark¹⁷: there are only two state House seats with a white majority represented by Democrats, a legislator points out, and only three minority seats represented by Republicans.

　　更让共和党不顺的，是德州人口的增长中大概有90%是少数民族，他们更偏向民主党。事实上，如今在德州，少数民族才是大多数，光拉美裔人口就占总人口的38%（尽管拉美裔人口中达到合法选举年龄的人数比例较低）。德州政治的种族区别非常明显——有一位立法委员指出，州议院民主党拥有的白人席位只有两个，而共和党拥有的少数民族席位只有三个。

　　.A latter-day Governor Gerry might respond by distributing Hispanic voters across all seats to minimise their influence. But that is a risky¹⁸ tactic¹⁹ in two respects. First, the state’s demographics are changing fast enough that an overly ambitious partisan gerrymander is likely to come unstuck during its ten-year lifespan. The last map the Republicans drew secured them a comfortable majority of 88 of the 150 seats in the state House in 2002, but only 76 in 2008. Republicans involved in redistricting this time around say they cannot be too aggressive if their handiwork is to have any hope of surviving.

　　如果是格雷州长，在这种情形下，可能会将尽量拉美裔人口分散开来，减少他们的影响。但这一策略有两大危险。首先，本州的人口分布情况变化很快，如果偏向某个党派的选区划分进行得太过，在未来的十年里可能不能收效。共和党上次划分的选区让他们在2002年轻松赢得州议院的多数席位——总共150个席位当中赢得88个，可是在2008年，就只获得76个席位。这次，参与重新划分选区的共和党成员说，他们不能做得太过，因为划分的结果只怕很快又受新变化影响。

　　Moreover, the Voting Rights Act, originally intended to prevent the disenfranchisement of black voters in the South, makes it difficult to marginalise minority voters.It enjoins²⁰ states to create districts dominated by minorities where feasible, and bars them from reducing minorities’ overall electoral clout²¹.Trey Martinez Fischer, who heads the Mexican American Legislative²² Caucus²³ in the Texas House, says his group will sue if the Republicans produce a congressional map with fewer than two new Hispanic districts.The fact that Republicans just pushed through a redistricting plan for the Texas House of Representatives that fell far short of the five new Hispanic seats he was demanding will also probably spark lawsuits²⁴. “Redistricting in Texas is a two-step,” he says, “first in the legislature, then in the courthouse.”

　　此外，最初为保护南方黑人选举权设立的《选举权法》，防止了对少数民族选民的边缘化。 该法案命令各州在可行的地区，为少数民族聚居地区专门设立选区，禁止各州通过任何手段削弱少数民族选民的总体力量。据德克萨斯州州议院美籍墨西哥裔立法团队的领袖特雷·马丁内斯·费舍尔（Trey Martinez Fischer）说，如果共和党划分的新选区地图没有新设两个以上的拉美裔选区，美籍墨西哥裔立法团队将提起诉讼。共和党人刚提出新的德州议会代表选区计划，该计划远远没有满足费舍尔五个新的拉美裔位置的要求，对此，他可能也会提起诉讼。费舍尔说，“对德州进行选区划分要分两步走，第一步是立法机构，第二步是法院。”

　　Democrats are especially enthusiastic about　 legal challenges 　to redistricting plans this year, since the federal government, which has considerable leeway to interpret and enforce the Voting Rights Act, is in Democratic hands. (Republican administrations, as it happens, have presided over all previous redistricting cycles since the act was passed in 1965, with a Republican in the White House in 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001.) Some Texan Republicans are already musing²⁵ about bypassing the Department of Justice, and obtaining the necessary approval of their electoral maps from a federal court instead. But most seem to think the best defence against a legal assault is to produce a relatively²⁶ timid redistricting plan in the first place.

　　民主党人对今年重新划分选区的法律障碍颇为热心，因为民主党掌权的联邦政府有相当大的空间解释以及执行《选举权法》。（自1965年该法案通过以来，1971年，1981年，1991年，到2001年，每次重新划分选区，联邦政府都是共和党执政。）一些德克萨斯州共和党成员已经开始考虑绕过司法部，争取联邦法院批准选区地图。但大多数共和党成员都认为要防止被起诉，最好还是起初就提出较公正的选区计划。

　　That suits most incumbents²⁷ just fine. While they would be happy in principle to see their party’s ranks swell²⁸, they are seldom willing to help by allowing their own seats to become less secure. Instead, Republican congressmen and state representatives in Texas seem eager to shore up their own districts by jettisoning²⁹ minority neighbourhoods, university towns and other left-leaning voters. That is understandable: given the scale of the Republican landslide³⁰ in Texas last year, simply retaining all the existing Republican seats in next year’s elections will be a struggle, however the maps are drawn.

　　这样的打算比较适合在位者，他们当然想要看到自己的党派壮大，可是基本上都不愿意拿自己的位置做赌注。德克萨斯州的共和党议员以及州代表，热衷于巩固自己的地区，放弃少数民族聚居的邻近地区、大学城等偏左的选民。这一点可以理解，去年共和党人在德克萨斯州获得了压倒性胜利，不管新选区图怎么划分，在明年的选举中，要保住现有的共和党席位都是个挑战。

　　All across the country, Republicans are afflicted³¹ by similar problems. There are some bright spots for them, such as North Carolina, where the newly Republican legislature is likely to be able to flip³² a few Democratic seats in Congress by rejigging the boundaries. But there are also trickier prospects³³, such as Illinois, where Democrats will probably succeed in undermining several freshmen³⁴ Republicans. In Florida, perhaps the most glaring Republican gerrymander of the previous cycle, a new law on redistricting is likely to crimp the state legislators’ most partisan impulses.

　　在全国其它各州，共和党人面临着类似的问题。有些地方他们有明显优势，比如北卡罗莱纳州，新的共和党立法机构可能通过改变选区界限，争取一些现属民主党的席位。可在有些地方，他们可能要遇到挑战，比如伊利诺伊斯州，民主党可以争取到一些共和党政坛新手的席位，另外在共和党上次重划选区做得最过的佛罗里达州，新颁布了一项法律禁止州立法委员偏私一党之利。

　　All told, both Democrats and Republicans agree, redistricting for Congress is unlikely to alter the balance much, with Republicans focusing for the most part on consolidating³⁵ the gains they made at the last election. Despite the Republicans’ notional domination of the process, there will be few direct Democratic casualties. That will only be scant³⁶ consolation³⁷ to the Democrats, however, who will still face the daunting³⁸ task of dislodging a mighty³⁹ Republican majority of 49 in the House of Representatives.

　　总之，民主党也好，共和党也好，都认为共和党会尽最大力巩固上次选举赢到的席位，所以选区重划不可能对现在的平衡带来太大的改变。共和党对这次的选区重划只有名义上的掌控，所以民主党基本上不会因为选区重划而失去席位，不过，这对民主党也不算什么安慰，它面前的任务还重着呢，要改变共和党在众议院中超过了49个席位的主导位置，民主党可以说是任重而道远。

1 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

2 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

3 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。

4 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

5 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》

6 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

7 trickier   

adj.狡猾的( tricky的比较级 )；（形势、工作等）复杂的；机警的；微妙的

参考例句：

• This is the general rule, but some cases are trickier than others. 以上是一般规则，但某些案例会比别的案例更为棘手。 来自互联网
• The lower the numbers go, the trickier the problems get. 武器的数量越低，问题就越复杂。 来自互联网

8 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

9 coveted   

adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图

参考例句：

• He had long coveted the chance to work with a famous musician. 他一直渴望有机会与著名音乐家一起工作。
• Ther other boys coveted his new bat. 其他的男孩都想得到他的新球棒。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

11 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

12 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

13 underpinned   

v.用砖石结构等从下面支撑（墙等）( underpin的过去式和过去分词 )；加固（墙等）的基础；为（论据、主张等）打下基础；加强

参考例句：

• The report is underpinned by extensive research. 这份报告以广泛的研究为基础。
• The statue of Diana was underpinned with charred piles. Diana雕像是建造在炭化了的木桩上的。 来自辞典例句

14 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

15 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

16 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

17 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

18 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

19 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

20 enjoins   

v.命令( enjoin的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Accordingly, Council enjoins concerned branch undertook nervous investigation, argumentation works further. 据此，国务院责成有关部门进一步进行了紧张的调查、论证工作。 来自互联网
• Humanity enjoins us to teach them agriculture and the domestic arts. 基于人道精神我们乃教导他们农业与持家之道。 来自互联网

21 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

22 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。

23 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

24 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

25 musing   

n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• "At Tellson's banking-house at nine," he said, with a musing face. “九点在台尔森银行大厦见面，”他想道。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• She put the jacket away, and stood by musing a minute. 她把那件上衣放到一边，站着沉思了一会儿。

26 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

27 incumbents   

教区牧师( incumbent的名词复数 )； 教会中的任职者

参考例句：

• In general, incumbents have a 94 percent chance of being reelected. 通常现任官员有94%的几率会再次当选。
• This arangement yields a wonderful gain to incumbents. 这种安排为在职人员提供了意外的得益。

28 swell   

vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强

参考例句：

• The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
• His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。

29 jettisoning   

v.抛弃，丢弃( jettison的现在分词 )；投下

参考例句：

30 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

31 afflicted   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
• A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。

32 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

33 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

34 freshmen   

n.（中学或大学的）一年级学生( freshman的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We are freshmen and they are sophomores. 我们是一年级学生，他们是二年级学生。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• University freshmen get lots of razzing, but they like the initiation. 大一新生受各种嘲弄，但是他们对这种入门经验甘之如饴。 来自辞典例句

35 consolidating   

v.（使）巩固， （使）加强( consolidate的现在分词 )；（使）合并

参考例句：

• These measures are meant for consolidating the system of basic medical care. 这些举措旨在夯实基层医疗体系，让老百姓看大病不必出远门。 来自互联网
• We are consolidating the Chinese and English versions of our homepage. 我们将为您提供中英文版本一起的主页。 来自互联网

36 scant   

adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略

参考例句：

• Don't scant the butter when you make a cake.做糕饼时不要吝惜奶油。
• Many mothers pay scant attention to their own needs when their children are small.孩子们小的时候，许多母亲都忽视自己的需求。

37 consolation   

n.安慰，慰问

参考例句：

• The children were a great consolation to me at that time.那时孩子们成了我的莫大安慰。
• This news was of little consolation to us.这个消息对我们来说没有什么安慰。

38 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

39 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。