2020年经济学人 《幸存的独裁统治》书评--橙色警告(2)

According to the book, ordinary Americans, too, are ill-equipped to grapple with the president’s brazenness¹. Ever since Watergate, they have been primed to sniff² out political conspiracy³. But Mr Trump⁴ lacks the attention span and managerial skills to run a conspiracy. Faced with pressure to reveal who received $500bn in taxpayerfunded emergency loans, his administration did not manufacture a false paper trail. His treasury⁵ secretary simply refused to say. It wasn’t muckraking journalists who informed the public that Mr Trump had sacked James Comey, a former director of the FBI, because of its probes into his campaign’s links with Russia.As Gessen relates, the president said so on television.

根据这本书中描述的，普通的美国人也没有足够的能力来对付总统的厚颜无耻。自从水门事件发生以来，他们就做好去找出政治阴谋的准备。但是特朗普缺少策划阴谋所需要的足够的注意力以及管理能力。面对着披露谁获得了纳税人资助的5000亿美元紧急贷款的压力，特朗普政府并没有伪造文件。他的财务部长只是拒绝透漏。并不是那些揭露丑闻的记者告知民众，特朗普解雇了前联邦调查局局长詹姆斯·科米，因为联邦调查局就特朗普竞选团队与俄罗斯之间的关系展开了调查。正如格森讲述的这样，总统在电视上是这样说的。

Borrowing a phrase from Balint Magyar, a Hungarian writer and politician, Gessen now characterises Mr Trump’s overall project as “an autocratic attempt”, rather than the thing itself; he is said to be testing America’s defences and laying the groundwork for further power grabs.The country can still fend⁶ off this bid—notably by voting him out of office. But more will be required, Gessen urges, to repair the damage and see off the danger. Ideals have receded⁷ from politics in favour of an uninspiring technocracy; America will have to reinvent, or at least rediscover, its “moral aspiration”, in particular “the belief that this can be a country of all its people”.

借用匈牙利作家和政治家巴林特·马亚尔的一句话，格森现在将特朗普的整个计划描述为“一种独裁企图”，而不针对这件事本身；据说，他正在测试美国的防御能力，并为进一步的权力争夺打下基础。美国仍然可以通过投票让特朗普下台来抵御这种企图。但是，格森敦促说，还需要更多的努力来修复伤害和消除危险。理想已经从政治中退去，美国现在转而支持一个过时的技术官僚政治；美国将不得不重新创造，或者至少重新发现它的“道德抱负”，特别是“相信美国可以成为一个全民共享的国家”。

Bracing⁸ as it is, though, this book underplays the robustness⁹ of some of the institutions it frets¹⁰ over. The Supreme¹¹ Court, for instance, has recently issued a string of rulings that enraged¹² the president; though Republican senators preserved him in office, occasionally even some of them have disappointed him. And it misses the extent to which the fightback Gessen craves¹³ is already happening. Mr Trump has led Republicans towards nativism, but also to three years of electoral defeats—including the loss of the House of Representatives. Should Democrats¹⁴ win the presidency¹⁵ and both chambers¹⁶ of Congress in November, he may inspire a raft of ethics¹⁷ legislation.

尽管这本书令人振奋，但它低估了它所担心的一些机构的稳健性。例如，最高法院最近发布了一系列裁决，这激怒了总统；尽管共和党参议员保住了他的职位，但有时甚至有些人会让他失望。这本书也忽略了格森渴望的反击已经发生的程度。特朗普带领共和党人走向本土主义，但也导致了三年的选举失败，包括失去众议院的控制权。如果民主党在11月赢得总统选举和国会两院选举，他可能会产生一系列伦理立法。

Mr Trump may be a sign of decadence¹⁸ in American democracy, as Gessen implies. He could also prove its renewer.

正如格森暗示的那样，特朗普可能是美国民主颓废的标志。他还可以证明自己会使民主重获新生。

1 brazenness   

厚颜无耻

参考例句：

• I was shocked at the audacity and brazenness of the gangsters. 这伙歹徒如此胆大妄为、厚颜无耻，让我很是震惊。 来自柯林斯例句

2 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。

3 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

4 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。

5 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

6 fend   

v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开

参考例句：

• I've had to fend for myself since I was 14.我从十四岁时起就不得不照料自己。
• He raised his arm up to fend branches from his eyes.他举手将树枝从他眼前挡开。

7 receded   

v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题

参考例句：

• The floodwaters have now receded. 洪水现已消退。
• The sound of the truck receded into the distance. 卡车的声音渐渐在远处消失了。

8 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

9 robustness   

坚固性，健壮性；鲁棒性

参考例句：

• There were other reasons for concern about the robustness of an economic recovery. 人们还有其他一些原因对经济恢复的健全程度表示关心。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Robustness analysis attracts more and more attention in these years. 鲁棒性分析是近几年学术界较为关注的问题。 来自互联网

10 frets   

基质间片； 品丝（吉他等指板上定音的）( fret的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The river frets away the rocks along its banks. 河水侵蚀了两岸的岩石。
• She frets at even the slightest delays. 稍有延误她就不满。

11 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。

12 enraged   

使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤

参考例句：

• I was enraged to find they had disobeyed my orders. 发现他们违抗了我的命令，我极为恼火。
• The judge was enraged and stroke the table for several times. 大法官被气得连连拍案。

13 craves   

渴望，热望( crave的第三人称单数 )； 恳求，请求

参考例句：

• The tree craves calm but the wind will not drop. 树欲静而风不止。
• Victory would give him a passport to the riches he craves. 胜利将使他有机会获得自己梦寐以求的财富。

14 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》

15 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。

16 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

17 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

18 decadence   

n.衰落，颓废

参考例句：

• The decadence of morals is bad for a nation.道德的堕落对国家是不利的。
• His article has the power to turn decadence into legend.他的文章具有化破朽为神奇的力量。