精美英文欣赏:政治与信仰的碰撞

With Mitt¹ Romney's presidential nomination² confirmed in a barnstorming acceptance speech two days ago,

米特·罗姆尼两天前的提名巡回演讲进一步巩固了他总统候选人提名的身份。

the race to the White House is now well under way.

通往白宫的角逐正在顺利展开。

For most of us outside the United States, the battle for power is as inscrutable as a test match is to the average American.

对于我们这些局外人而言，权力的斗争就像美国民众眼中的国际橄榄球锦标赛一样难以预料。

In the coming months the party machines will meander³ across America's consciousness.

在以后的数月里，各政党组织将成为美国人时刻关注的对象。

For a whole litany of reasons, presidential politics is an Olympian spectacle like no other,

由于种种原因，和其他政治活动不同，总统竞选是威严庄重的，

not least because religious belief is an indispensable political accessory for presidents.

不仅仅因为宗教信仰是总统的一件不可缺少的政治附属品。

America definitely does do God.

美国确实信奉上帝。

But for the first time the nation finds itself in something of an understated dilemma⁴:

然而，这个国家头一次发现自已陷入一个进退两难的境地：

America has an African-American incumbent⁵ whose Christian⁶ credentials⁷ continue to be challenged,

非洲裔美国人很难拿到基督教证明，

and a Mormon whose faith has been marginalised by mainstream⁸ America.

摩门教徒被主流宗教信仰排挤。

In the next three months the entire world will be drawn⁹ into the events of this campaign, which will have consequences for the whole world.

在接下来的三个月内，这场大选将吸引全世界的目光，其结果会造成世界性的影响。

And rightly, we will hope that political substance will trump¹⁰ platitudes¹¹ and costly¹², negative adverts¹³.

而且，我们希望这次选举不再充斥着陈词滥调以及昂贵且毫无作用的广告。

But there will be many like myself, people of faith,

不过，有许多人和我一样是虔诚的教徒，

who are anxious to see what the relationship between the God talk and campaigning looks like in the months ahead.

急切地想一睹未来几个月里上帝箴言会如何对大选产生影响。

"Thou shalt keep things positive during presidential campaigns" would have been a very helpful bible verse.

“总统大选时，你应保持积极”如果圣经有这样一句话应该会很有帮助。

But in its absence Christians¹⁴ have a lot of other options to work with.

但正因没有这句话，基督教徒们则有了许多其他选择。

Whatever things are lovely think on these. Do not repay evil for evil. Do not bear false witness. Speak the truth in love. The list is endless.

“不管事物是否美好，你都应该面对。”“不可以恶报恶。”“不可作假证。”“用爱心说实话。”诸如此类，举不胜举。

I'll be the first to admit that in the heat of political battle such ideas can turn out to be simplistic

我承认，在政治斗争中，这样的思想太过单纯，

and a little hard to bolt onto our strategic plans when the stakes are high.

当赌注太高的时候，这些想法很难和政治决策脱离干系。

But these are religious ideas for religious people.

但这些是宗教信徒的宗教思想。

A so-called "fact-free environment" is a dangerous place to be.

所谓的“无事实环境”是十分危险的。

And if our politics is to deliver substance over rhetoric¹⁵ it will need powerful and enduring values as much as effective policies.

如果我们的政见不是夸夸其谈，而是传递实质内容，那么强有力的价值观和有效的政策措施同等重要。

All of us who believe that faith should inform public duty

所有认为必须把社会责任赋予信仰的人

must transcribe¹⁶ these lofty aspirations¹⁷ into the realities of a competitive world for the common good.

都必须把雄心壮志转化成现实，在竞争激烈的社会中为大众谋福祉。

That, after all, is the whole point of a living faith.

这才是活着的信仰的全部含义。

1 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

2 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

3 meander   

n.河流的曲折，漫步，迂回旅行；v.缓慢而弯曲地流动，漫谈

参考例句：

• Visitors and locals alike meander along the sidewalks of the Seine River.游客与当地人沿着塞纳河岸漫步聊天。
• They tumble down mountainsides and meander through flat farmlands.它们滚滚冲下山脊，蜿蜒穿过平坦的农田。

4 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

5 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

6 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

7 credentials   

n.证明，资格，证明书，证件

参考例句：

• He has long credentials of diplomatic service.他的外交工作资历很深。
• Both candidates for the job have excellent credentials.此项工作的两个求职者都非常符合资格。

8 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

9 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。

10 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。

11 platitudes   

n.平常的话，老生常谈，陈词滥调( platitude的名词复数 )；滥套子

参考例句：

• He was mouthing the usual platitudes about the need for more compassion. 他言不由衷地说了些需要更加同情之类的陈腔滥调。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He delivered a long prose full of platitudes. 他发表了一篇充满陈词滥调的文章。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

13 adverts   

advertisements 广告，做广告

参考例句：

• the adverts on television 电视广告
• The adverts are not very informative. 这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。

14 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

15 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

16 transcribe   

v.抄写，誉写；改编(乐曲)；复制，转录

参考例句：

• We need volunteers to transcribe this manuscript.我们需要自愿者来抄写这个文稿。
• I am able to take dictation in English and transcribe them rapidly into Chinese.我会英文记录，还能立即将其改写成中文。

17 aspirations   

强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音

参考例句：

• I didn't realize you had political aspirations. 我没有意识到你有政治上的抱负。
• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。