时代周刊:美国的两极分化(1)（在线收听）

Polarization prevailed, again

极化再次盛行

Our tribal loyalties remain too intense for one election to change anything

我们对种族的忠诚仍然过于强烈，一次选举无法改变任何事情

On The morning of election Day, Americans faced two competing narratives. On the one hand, there was a veritable avalanche of polling data indicating the possibility—even probability—of a blue-wave election not seen since Barack Obama's 2008 rout of John McCain.

在选举日的早上，美国人面临着两种相互矛盾的说法。一方面，大量的民意调查数据表明，自2008年巴拉克·奥巴马击败约翰·麦凯恩以来，蓝波选举的可能性——仅仅是可能性——从未出现过。

On the other hand, we had decades of data and experience telling us that America was closely (and intensely) divided. Americans are by and large entrenched in their political and cultural tribes, and virtually nothing can budge them.

另一方面，几十年的数据和经验告诉我们，美国是紧密(以及严重)分裂的。总体来说，美国人在他们的政治和文化种族中根深蒂固，几乎没有什么能让他们动摇。

As the votes started to roll in, and the hopes of a blue-wave election dissipated, the electoral outcome grew momentarily cloudy just as the underlying national realities grew ever more clear. Once again, the polls were wrong. America remains deeply polarized, few voters are truly persuadable, and angry gridlock will likely dominate Washington.

随着选票滚滚而来，蓝波选举的希望逐渐消散，选举结果暂时变得阴云密布，而潜在的国家现实却越来越清晰。民意调查又一次错了。美国的两极分化仍然很深，很少有选民是真正可以说服的，愤怒的僵局很可能会主导华盛顿。

Rarely in American history has so much happened and still changed so little. In the past year alone, the House impeached the President; a pandemic killed more than 232,000 Americans and seriously sickened countless more; we endured a historic economic collapse; and a shocking act of police brutality in Minneapolis ripped the scabs off America's racial divisions, leading to protests and civil unrest in cities and towns from coast to coast.

在美国历史上，发生很多事情而变化却又很小的情况是很少见的。仅在过去一年，众议院弹劾了总统，一场新冠导致23.2万多美国人死亡以及更多人严重患病，我们还经历了历史性的经济崩溃，明尼阿波利斯市令人震惊的警察暴行撕裂了美国种族分裂的伤疤，引发了全国各地城镇的抗议和内乱。

Any one of those events would be historic and traumatic. All of them together have rendered 2020 uniquely painful for the American public. Yet politically, it's remarkable how these seismic events have led to very little political change.

这些事件每一件都是历史性的，每一件都具备杀伤力。所有这些事情加在一起，使得2020年成为了美国公众无比痛苦的一年。但在政治方面值得注意的是，这些大事几乎没有给政治带来什么变化。