美国国家公共电台 NPR Non-Politicians Talking Politics: Author Victor Davis Hanson On 2016 Election

Non-Politicians Talking Politics: Author Victor Davis Hanson On 2016 Election 

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0005:46repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

During these weeks before ballots² are counted on November 8, we're going to have a series of conversations with interesting people who are not politicians about the campaign of 2016, about ideas, the country and the world.

Victor Davis Hanson joins us now. He's a professor of classics and military history. His best-known book is probably "Carnage and Culture." He's currently a senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, a visiting professor at Hillsdale College in Michigan and has written frequently for National Review. He's also a California almond farmer.

Professor Hanson, thanks so much for being with us.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Thank you for having me.

SIMON: As you look out at this year's campaign, what do you see?

HANSON: Well, I see a continuation of the populist outrage³ that prompted the Brexit and sparked the Bernie Sanders campaign. It's very difficult, historically, to define what an elite⁴ is. But whatever it is, people are very angry at that idea, I think, not so much because of wealth or privilege as much as attitude that the populous⁵ masses, if I could use that overused term, feel that a particular government or cultural group is not subject to the ramifications⁶ of their own ideology⁷.

SIMON: Now, I speak from some experience in this regard because we've had irate⁸ emails from people in response. Nothing angers Donald Trump⁹ or Bernie Sanders supporters more than being compared with each other.

HANSON: Yes. But they are alike in a sense that the Bernie Sanders anger at Hillary Clinton was that she was a so-called progressive and yet had managed to make $125 million. In the case of Trump, he was able to tell people that elites¹⁰ live in gated communities, where they have walls around their home.

But they deprecate anybody who would be Neanderthal enough to want a wall. Or the columnist¹¹ like myself or people at Stanford University don't wake up in the morning and see their job outsourced. Yet we promote free markets. But we're not sensitive to what that does to other people who don't have our privilege.

SIMON: You spend a lot of time on college campuses.

HANSON: Yes, I do.

SIMON: You're at Hillsdale now - Stanford, ordinarily. What kind of conversations do you hear among students about politics these days?

HANSON: Well, you know, they're not that different. I think there's a group of students - whether it's the micro-aggression or the safe space or the trigger warning that garner¹² a lot of attention - but that the fundamental issues that they're more interested in are - and I'll be very frank here - how much money do I pay for a unit? And what is that unit going to do for me when I'm graduating?

And even though this is mostly in a progressive landscape, they're asking questions that have not been asked of the university. And the university can't supply answers to them.

SIMON: What do you believe America needs to work on most?

HANSON: I'm kind of old-fashioned because I was born and live in the same house for six generations. I feel - and that's been a bipartisan problem. But we're in a very Orwellian situation where when we - we've slashed¹³ defense¹⁴. And we've raised taxes. And we consider $600 billion annual deficit¹⁵ success because it's not $1 trillion.

SIMON: I'm going to throw a couple of other concerns at you - threat of terrorism.

HANSON: Well, this is something that Donald Trump has been very effective at exploiting because throughout our history, one of the things that was important to galvanize the country against a perceived threat has been philology¹⁶.

SIMON: I've got to tell you, professor, I'm thrown by that word.

HANSON: The use of language.

SIMON: I should know that one, shouldn't I?

HANSON: It doesn't really mean what it should mean, love of words. And by that, I mean that I think everybody realizes some things went wrong in the Middle East and that most of the terrorism is emanating¹⁷ from that area.

We can disagree why or where. But it's radical¹⁸ Islamic terrorism. And yet, when you see the last eight years, something's gone wrong to call it violent extremism or man-caused disasters. It would be as if we were looking at Hitler in the 1930s. And we were afraid to say that he was a Nazi¹⁹.

SIMON: What about persisting racial inequalities?

HANSON: Well, racial inequality has gotten worse in the last eight years because any time you have a moribund²⁰ economy, the people who historically have had more problems getting jobs have suffered. And that, I think, is triggering a lot of the animosity.

And I don't see a solution there either. If I talk to rural people where I live - mostly Hispanic but also poor white - they're not sympathetic to the Black Lives Matter movement.

If I talk to black students on campus, they're not sympathetic to the people who are not sympathetic with it. The fact that you want to argue rather than find some common ground, I think, has gotten a lot worse in the last eight years.

SIMON: I'm struck by the fact, professor Hanson, that you've written so lucidly²¹ about classical societies and the ingenuity²² of democracy. There are so many people that have found 2016 to be a kind of nightmare version of democracy. But you think it's not the first one.

HANSON: No. I think people are beating each other up in the halls of Congress, as they did in the late 1850s. I always ask the question, maybe it's agrarian²³ pragmatism - compared to what? I travel overseas a lot.

There's just no - nothing like this country, which is the only, really, multiracial country that's tried to share in a common culture in the history of civilization that's pulled it off. A lot of the times, we want perfection. If we're not perfect, we're not good.

But we have had raucous²⁴ moments in our history. And I think we're in one now. But it's not going to endanger the future of democracy.

SIMON: Victor Davis Hanson, professor, author and almond farmer, thanks so much for being with us.

HANSON: Thank you for having me.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

4 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

5 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

6 ramifications   

n.结果，后果( ramification的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These changes are bound to have widespread social ramifications. 这些变化注定会造成许多难以预料的社会后果。
• What are the ramifications of our decision to join the union? 我们决定加入工会会引起哪些后果呢？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

8 irate   

adj.发怒的，生气

参考例句：

• The irate animal made for us,coming at a full jump.那头发怒的动物以最快的速度向我们冲过来。
• We have received some irate phone calls from customers.我们接到顾客打来的一些愤怒的电话

9 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。

10 elites   

精华( elite的名词复数 )； 精锐； 上层集团； （统称）掌权人物

参考例句：

• The elites are by their nature a factor contributing to underdevelopment. 这些上层人物天生是助长欠发达的因素。
• Elites always detest gifted and nimble outsiders. 社会名流对天赋聪明、多才多艺的局外人一向嫌恶。

11 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

12 garner   

v.收藏；取得

参考例句：

• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals.他的提议得到了广泛的支持。
• Squirrels garner nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬储存松果。

13 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

15 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

16 philology   

n.语言学；语文学

参考例句：

• Philology would never be of much use to you.语文学对你不会有很大用途。
• In west,the philology is attached to the linguistics.在西方，文语文学则附属于语言学。

17 emanating   

v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的现在分词 )；产生，表现，显示

参考例句：

• Even so, there is a slight odour of potpourri emanating from Longfellow. 纵然如此，也还是可以闻到来自朗费罗的一种轻微的杂烩的味道。 来自辞典例句
• Many surface waters, particularly those emanating from swampy areas, are often colored to the extent. 许多地表水，特别是由沼泽地区流出的地表水常常染上一定程度的颜色。 来自辞典例句

18 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

19 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

20 moribund   

adj.即将结束的，垂死的

参考例句：

• The moribund Post Office Advisory Board was replaced.这个不起作用的邮局顾问委员会已被替换。
• Imperialism is monopolistic,parasitic and moribund capitalism.帝国主义是垄断的、寄生的、垂死的资本主义。

21 lucidly   

adv.清透地，透明地

参考例句：

• This is a lucidly written book. 这是本通俗易懂的书。
• Men of great learning are frequently unable to state lucidly what they know. 大学问家往往不能清楚地表达他们所掌握的知识。

22 ingenuity   

n.别出心裁；善于发明创造

参考例句：

• The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
• I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。

23 agrarian   

adj.土地的，农村的，农业的

参考例句：

• People are leaving an agrarian way of life to go to the city.人们正在放弃农业生活方式而转向城市。
• This was a feature of agrarian development in Britain.这是大不列颠土地所有制发展的一个特征。

24 raucous   

adj.(声音)沙哑的，粗糙的

参考例句：

• I heard sounds of raucous laughter upstairs.我听见楼上传来沙哑的笑声。
• They heard a bottle being smashed,then more raucous laughter.他们听见酒瓶摔碎的声音，然后是一阵更喧闹的笑声。