2018年经济学人 美国民主的固有偏向(2)

 

This imbalance is partly by design.

而这种不平衡通常都蓄意为之。

The greatest and the smallest states each have two senators,

最大的州和最小的州都会选出两名参议员，

in order that Congress should represent territory as well as people.

以保证国会不仅代表人口利益，也代表各领土的利益。

Yet the over-representation of rural America was not supposed to affect the House and the presidency¹.

但是，美国农村过大的代表权不应影响众议院和总统选举。

For most of the past 200 years, when rural, urban and suburban² interests were scattered³ between the parties, it did not.

在过去200年的大多数时间里，农村、城市还有城郊利益分各一方时，事情并非如此。

Today, however, the 13 states where people live closest together have 121 Democratic House members and 73 Republican ones,

而现如今，人口最密集的13个洲有121名民主党议员和73名共和党议员，

whereas the rest have 163 Republicans and just 72 Democrats⁴.

而其余的洲则有163名共和党议员和区区72名民主党议员。

America has one party built on territory and another built on people.

美国有一个政党是建立在领土基础上的，而另一个是建立在人民基础上的。

The bias⁵ is deepening.

偏向性越来越深。

Every president who took office in the 20th century did so having won the popular vote.

20世纪继任的总统都是这样赢得普选的。

In two of the five elections for 21st century presidents, the minority won the electoral college.

21世纪的5次总统选举中，2次都是少数派赢得了选举团。

By having elected politicians appoint federal judges,

由于联邦法官亦由被选举上的政客任命，

the American system embeds⁶ this rural bias in the courts as well.

美国制度也把农村倾向嵌入了法庭。

If Brett Kavanaugh, whom President Donald Trump⁷ nominated this week, joins the Supreme⁸ Court,

若唐纳德·特朗普总统本周提名的布雷特·卡瓦诺加入最高法院，

a conservative court established by a president and Senate who were elected with less than half the two-party vote may end up litigating the fairness of the voting system.

那么将出现这样一个保守派法院，建立它的总统和参议院在两党投票中均未过半数，最终可能会引起针对投票系统公正性的诉讼。

This bias is a dangerous new twist in the tribalism and political dysfunction that is poisoning politics in Washington.

部落主义和政治失调正在危害美国政治，而这种偏向性则是一种危险的意想不到的新进展。

Americans often say such partisanship⁹ is bad for their country

美国人经常说这种党派偏向性对美国百害无利

(and that the other lot should mend their ways).

（并且声称另一派应该自我改正）。

The Founding Fathers would have agreed.

开国元勋也会同意。

George Washington warned that "the alternate domination of one faction¹⁰ over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge…is itself a frightful¹¹ despotism".

乔治·华盛顿警告说“党派间的交替统治，经由复仇精神加剧……这本身就是一种可怕的独裁”。

As a component¹² of partisanship, the built-in bias is obviously bad for Democrats.

内在偏向性作为党派的一部分，对民主党不利。

But in the long run it is bad for America as a whole, including Republicans.

而从长远来看，内在偏向性不利于共和党在内的美国整体。

When lawmaking is paralysed, important work, such as immigration and entitlement reform, is too hard.

立法陷入瘫痪时，移民和福利改革等重要工作就难上加难。

The few big laws that are approved, like Barack Obama's health-care reform or Mr Trump's corporate¹³ tax cuts, pass on party-line votes.

少数通过的重大法律，例如奥巴马的医保改革、或特朗普的减税法案，是由于沿续党派立场，在投票中获得通过的。

That emboldens¹⁴ the opposition¹⁵ to reverse or neuter them when they take power.

这让反对党有胆量在掌权后推翻或废止这些法律。

Meanwhile, the task of resolving the most divisive political issues often falls to the courts.

与此同时，解决争议最大的政治问题的任务就交给了法庭。

The battle over Mr Kavanaugh's confirmation¹⁶ will be a proxy¹⁷ war over issues, like abortion¹⁸ and health insurance, better suited to the legislature.

卡瓦诺当选的斗争，将是一场基于堕胎和医保等问题的傀儡战争，这些问题更适合立法机关去解决。

1 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

2 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

3 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

4 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》

5 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

6 embeds   

把…嵌入，埋入( embed的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The compiler embeds only the type information that your application uses. 编译器只嵌入您的应用程序所使用的类型信息。
• Embeds an image or a video clip in the document. 在文档中嵌入图像或视频片断。

7 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。

8 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

9 Partisanship   

n. 党派性, 党派偏见

参考例句：

• Her violent partisanship was fighting Soames's battle. 她的激烈偏袒等于替索米斯卖气力。
• There was a link of understanding between them, more important than affection or partisanship. ' 比起人间的感情，比起相同的政见，这一点都来得格外重要。 来自英汉文学

10 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

11 frightful   

adj.可怕的；讨厌的

参考例句：

• How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
• We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。

12 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

13 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

14 emboldens   

v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• This condition emboldens employers and brokers to exploit more the migrant workers. 这样的情形使得雇主及仲介业者得以大胆地剥削移民劳工。 来自互联网
• In turn, Kobe's growing confidence emboldens his teammates to play even better. 反过来，科比增加了对他们的信任也促使队友们打得更好。 来自互联网

15 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

16 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

17 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

18 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。