经济学人:美国中期选举(2)

 Mr Trump¹ is also wilfully² divisive. 特朗普还故意制造分裂。

All politicians attack their opponents, but presidents see it as their duty to unite the country after a tragedy. 政客们都攻击对手，但总统本应在悲剧之后将团结国家视为己任。

Only Mr Trump would think the Tree of Life synagogue shooting a chance to hit back at the media and the Democrats³ for criticising him. 只有特朗普这位总统会认为犹太教堂“生命之树”枪击案是反击批评他的媒体和民主党的机会。

Only he would suggest that, rather than tone down his explosive rhetoric⁴, he might just “tone it up”. 只有他会认为，相比缓和爆炸性言论，他可能只会“加强语气”。

Such divisiveness matters because, when your opponents are simply bad people, the compromise that is the foundation of all healthy politics becomes hard within parties and almost impossible between them. 这种分裂影响很大，因为当认为对手是坏人时，妥协——所有健康政治的基础，在政党内部很难达成，而不同政党间更是天方夜谭。

Mr Trump is not the only politician to wallow in division—just the most powerful and one of the most accomplished⁵. 特朗普并不是唯一沉溺于分裂的政客——只是最有权势最有成就的。

Before he was elected, more than half of Democrats told pollsters that they were afraid of Republicans and almost half of Republicans said the same about Democrats. 在他当选之前，超过半数民主党人对民调机构说他们害怕共和党，几乎半数共和党人也说他们害怕民主党。

After a Republican congressman⁶ was shot by an unstable⁷ gunman last summer, leading Democrats expressed “outrage” at the idea that their rhetoric had played any part. 去年夏天，一名共和党国会议员被一名激进的持枪分子开枪击中，随后，民主党领导人就对“是因为民主党的花言巧语起了作用”的这种说法表达了愤怒之情。

Yet they used the attempted bombings and the synagogue shooting to begin a debate about the precise degree of presidential responsibility for domestic terrorism. 但是民主党利用未遂炸弹案以及犹太教堂枪击案，引发了一场关于总统对国内恐怖主义应负多少责任的辩论。

America’s democracy is robust—it was designed to be. 美国的民主是强大的——创建之始意图如此。

However, one by one, its institutions are being infected with toxic⁸ polarisation. 然而，相关机构相继都被有毒的两极分化感染了。

Congress caught the bug⁹ in the 1990s, when Newt Gingrich was Speaker. 20世纪90年代，纽特·金瑞奇时任议长，国会发现了这一问题。

The media have also fallen victim to partisan¹⁰ scepticism—certainly among audiences, if not also among contributors. 媒体也成了党派间互相猜忌的受害者——要么是媒体人，要么是观众。

Just 11% of strong Trump supporters believe the mainstream¹¹ media, whereas 91% of them trust Mr Trump, a CBS News poll found in the summer. 哥伦比亚广播新闻今年夏天的一项民调发现，在特朗普的坚定支持者中，只有11%相信主流媒体，而91%相信特朗普。

Among Democrats those beliefs tend to be reversed. 在民主党中，则恰恰相反。

Now the Supreme¹² Court is perceived to be partisan, too. 现在，最高法院也被认为卷入了党派之争。

Democrats see the recent confirmation¹³ of Brett Kavanaugh to the court as the ramming¹⁴ through of a partisan who has lied, possibly about a sexual assault, and who will be incapable¹⁵ of putting the law above his party. 近期布雷特·卡瓦诺宣誓就职最高法院，民主党将其视为一个强行通过的共和党人士，认为卡瓦诺可能在性侵问题上撒谎、且将法律凌驾于其政党之上。

Republicans, by contrast, see it as a triumph over a monstrous¹⁶ Democratic conspiracy¹⁷ to keep a decent man down. 相反，共和党把它看作是意图压制正派人的大阴谋的粉碎。

A dishonest executive, conniving¹⁸ with a fawning¹⁹ legislature and empowered by a partisan judiciary: were it to come to that, America truly would be in grave trouble. 一位不诚实的总统，和一个奉承讨好的立法机构共谋，由一位共和党法官授权：如果到了那种地步，美国真的会陷入严重的麻烦。

 

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 wilfully   

adv.任性固执地；蓄意地

参考例句：

• Don't wilfully cling to your reckless course. 不要一意孤行。 来自辞典例句
• These missionaries even wilfully extended the extraterritoriality to Chinese converts and interfered in Chinese judicial authority. 这些传教士还肆意将"治外法权"延伸至中国信徒，干涉司法。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书

3 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》

4 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。

5 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

6 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

7 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

8 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

9 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

10 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

11 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。

12 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。

13 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。

14 ramming   

n.打结炉底v.夯实（土等）( ram的现在分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• They are ramming earth down. 他们在夯实泥土。 来自辞典例句
• Father keeps ramming it down my throat that I should become a doctor. 父亲一直逼我当医生。 来自辞典例句

15 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

16 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！

17 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。

18 conniving   

v.密谋 ( connive的现在分词 )；搞阴谋；默许；纵容

参考例句：

• She knew that if she said nothing she would be conniving in an injustice. 她知道她如果什么也不说就是在纵容不公正的行为。
• The general is accused of conniving in a plot to topple the government. 将军被指控纵容一个颠覆政府的阴谋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 fawning   

adj.乞怜的，奉承的v.（尤指狗等）跳过来往人身上蹭以示亲热( fawn的现在分词 )；巴结；讨好

参考例句：

• The servant worn a fawning smile. 仆人的脸上露出一种谄笑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Then, what submission, what cringing and fawning, what servility, what abject humiliation! 好一个低眉垂首、阿谀逢迎、胁肩谄笑、卑躬屈膝的场面！ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记