美国国家公共电台 NPR On Both The Left And Right, Trump Is Driving New Political Engagement

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

President Trump¹ often talks about the political movement he inspired. There's also, of course, a movement against him, and NPR's Laura Sydell has been meeting some first-time activists³.

LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE⁴: Campbell, Calif., a suburb just outside San Jose in the heart of Silicon⁵ Valley, is not known as a hotbed of activism. But on a Tuesday night, in an auditorium⁶ in the United Church of Christ, some 150 people have gathered to hear from a group of activists who are fighting the Dakota oil pipeline⁷ at Standing⁸ Rock. One of them was Native American filmmaker Benalex Dupris.

BENALEX DUPRIS: We believe in each other. We believe in our communities. And sitting here, you're taking your time out of your lives because you want that same thing for your self and for your children.

SYDELL: For an hour and a half, the Standing Rock activists explained their cause. Some in the audience have been politically active at varying points in their lives. But for many, activism is new. Event organizer Celeste Walker is a mother of two who owns a chocolate shop in Campbell. She and a friend watched the election results, and when Trump won, they...

CELESTE WALKER: Felt kind of the devastating⁹ crush that came after that and kind of struggled for a couple of months deciding what was the best way we could begin to not feel so helpless.

SYDELL: Her friend Michael Clark is also new to activism.

MICHAEL CLARK: I'm a director at a high-tech¹⁰ company. It's not really like the classic protester. When I see news articles about the paid protester, it just makes me laugh, you know? It's like, no, no, I'm on my lunch break (laughter).

SYDELL: Clark and Walker started the progressive activist² group that hosted the Standing Rock protesters. In just two months, it grew from 12 members to 800. They meet weekly to discuss issues and ways to protest. The election of Donald Trump ignited progressive activism at a rate never seen before in American politics, says Dana Fisher, a University of Maryland sociologist¹¹. Fisher surveyed participants in the Women's March on Washington the day after Trump's inauguration¹². A third had never protested before. She says progressives are driven by a lot of different issues - immigration, social justice, women's rights, the environment.

DANA FISHER: Everybody's pissed off, and they're pissed off for different reasons. Trump is helping¹³ everybody to find common ground.

SYDELL: Trump and his administration have dismissed protests and packed town halls as driven in part by professional, liberal activists. The president tweeted last week that if his voters had their own rally, it would be the biggest of them all. Trump supporters are planning rallies across the country on Saturday. They're being organized by Main Street Patriots¹⁴, a conservative group started by members of the tea party. Debbie Dooley, one of the organizers, says a lot of political newcomers are energized¹⁵ by Trump. She says he's like that star of old American Westerns - John Wayne.

DEBBIE DOOLEY: I know many of your listeners are too young to remember John Wayne's style, but he rode into a town, and the bad guys ran away because he was - had a take-no-prisoners attitude.

SYDELL: Ironically, Trump's blustery style and politically incorrect language is what is driving both anti-Trump activists and pro-Trump activists, says Sarah Sobieraj. She teaches at Tufts University and has studied activism for nearly two decades.

SARAH SOBIERAJ: Saying those things and acting¹⁶ that way brought people out because they felt validated¹⁷ by someone who sees the world the way they see it and, you know, the feeling at last as though someone is really telling the truth without apology. And on the left, that way of speaking and those ideas were absolutely objectionable and mobilizing because they were viewed as abhorrent¹⁸.

SYDELL: That was the case at the gathering¹⁹ in Campbell, Calif. Among the activists was 23-year-old Renata Vidovic. She is the daughter of parents who fled violence and ethnic²⁰ strife²¹ in Bosnia. One parent is Catholic and the other is Muslim. Her mother was worried about a backlash against Muslims when Trump won.

RENATA VIDOVIC: The day that the election happened, I've never seen my mom look that terrified. She is just like, we ran here hoping that something like this would never happen again.

SYDELL: But Vidovic says her family never got involved in politics because of their experience overseas. Now, she says, she can't imagine sitting on the sidelines.

VIDOVIC: I think it's now become a part of me. It's almost one of those things where something wakes up inside you.

SYDELL: And the speed with which Trump is pushing his agenda keeps reigniting activists like Vidovic to keep fighting. Laura Sydell, NPR News.

1 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。

2 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

3 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

6 auditorium   

n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂

参考例句：

• The teacher gathered all the pupils in the auditorium.老师把全体同学集合在礼堂内。
• The stage is thrust forward into the auditorium.舞台向前突出，伸入观众席。

7 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

10 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

11 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

12 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

14 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。

15 energized   

v.给予…精力，能量( energize的过去式和过去分词 )；使通电

参考例句：

• We are energized by love if we put our energy into loving. 如果我们付出能量去表现爱意，爱就会使我们充满活力。 来自辞典例句
• I am completely energized and feeling terrific. 我充满了活力，感觉非常好。 来自辞典例句

16 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

17 validated   

v.证实( validate的过去式和过去分词 )；确证；使生效；使有法律效力

参考例句：

• Time validated our suspicion. 时间证实了我们的怀疑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The decade of history since 1927 had richly validated their thesis. 1927年以来的十年的历史，充分证明了他们的论点。 来自辞典例句

18 abhorrent   

adj.可恶的，可恨的，讨厌的

参考例句：

• He is so abhorrent,saying such bullshit to confuse people.他这样乱说，妖言惑众，真是太可恶了。
• The idea of killing animals for food is abhorrent to many people.许多人想到杀生取食就感到憎恶。

19 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

20 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

21 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。