2020年经济学人 列克星顿专栏--美国大选的双重否定(1)

United States

美国版块

Lexington

列克星顿专栏

A double negative

双重否定

Hope turned out black voters for Barack Obama. Will fear bring them out against his successor?

是希望让黑人选民们支持奥巴马。那么害怕会驱使他们反对继任者特朗普吗？

It was interesting to recall, while Lexington was observing some canvassing¹ of black North Carolinians last week, that only three months previously² America had been convulsed by the biggest racial-justice protests since the 1960s. On the doorsteps of poor black neighbourhoods in Greenville and the countryside east of the city, nobody raised them.

笔者观察到上周北卡罗来纳州黑人举办了一些拉选票活动，有意思的是，忆起就在三个月之前，20世纪60年代以来最大规模的种族主义抗议活动震动美国。在格林维尔市和城市以东的乡村的黑人社区，却并没有人发起拉选票活动。

Nor did the couple of dozen voters your columnist³ met—at the side of masked and PPE-clad Democratic activists—mention another milestone⁴, Joe Biden’s decision to put a black woman on the ticket. Asked for their view of Kamala Harris, most of the targeted voters, who were all black and mostly women, merely nodded politely. One praised her “professionalism”; another the fact that she seemed “strong enough to back up Joe”. Beyond such bland⁵ statements, few of the voters even mentioned Mr Biden. But all said they were especially determined⁶ to vote for the Democratic candidate this year, because of Donald Trump⁷.

笔者曾经遇到过几十位选民，这些选民支持佩戴口罩和个人防护设备的民主党活动人士，但他们也并未提及另一件里程碑事件，即乔·拜登决定让一位黑人女性参选。笔者向一些选民询问他们对卡马拉·哈里斯的看法，这些选民都是黑人，且大多是女性，但大部分选民只是礼貌地点头。一位选民称赞她的“专业精神”；另一位选民称赞她“坚定支持乔”。除了这些平淡的言论，几乎没有选民提到拜登。但所有人都表示，因为唐纳德·特朗普，所以他们今年尤为坚定地投票支持民主党候选人。

“Gotta get 45 out, that’s the only thing that matters,” said Mary Ellis, at her house in Greenville Heights, one of a row of single-storey dwellings⁸ thumping⁹ with music. “Everything I hear from him isn’t right,” said her neighbour, Magdalene Knight¹⁰. “It scares me to think we’ve got a generation of young people watching his immorality,” said Ruby¹¹ Perkins, a retired¹² teacher, with a large “Thank you Jesus” sign outside her door. “That man lied to the nation about a pandemic. You’ve got to be demented to think he’s the answer.”

“我得把45转的唱片找出来，这是唯一重要的事情，”玛丽·埃利斯在她位于格林维尔高地的家中说道，这里有一排单层住宅，她就住在其中一间，屋子中充斥着音乐。她的邻居莫德林·奈特表示：“我从特朗普那里听到的一切都是不对的，”一位退休教师鲁比·帕金斯说：“想到我们这一代年轻人都看着他的不道德行为，我感到很害怕，”她在门外挂着一个大大的“感谢耶稣”的牌子。“在疫情问题上，特朗普对美国撒谎了。他一定是疯了。”

This should be music to Democratic ears. A huge majority of African- Americas will vote for Mr Biden, and they will do so for the main reason Democratic strategists have been inviting¹³ them to. They want the election to be a referendum on an unpopular president, not a choice between two old white men, and most of them made that determination long ago. “You could put up a flowerpot against Trump and we’d vote for the flowerpot,” said Betsy Wallace in rural Williamston, 30 miles to the north-east. Yet notwithstanding black voters’ overriding¹⁴ support for Mr Biden, they have recently emerged as one of his campaign’s biggest worries.

这对民主党来说是好消息。绝大多数非裔美国人投票支持拜登，他们这样做的主要原因是民主党战略家一直邀请他们投票。他们希望这次大选是对一位不得民心的总统进行全民公投，而不是从两位年迈的白人之间进行选择，大多数非裔美国人早就下定决心了。“你可以让一个花瓶与特朗普在大选中对决，我们会投票支持花瓶的，”贝特西·华莱士在东北部30英里的威廉斯顿乡下说。然而尽管拜登获得黑人选民的压倒性支持，但这些黑人选民最近却成为拜登竞选活动中最令人担忧的问题之一。

1 canvassing   

v.（在政治方面）游说( canvass的现在分词 )；调查（如选举前选民的）意见；为讨论而提出（意见等）；详细检查

参考例句：

• He spent the whole month canvassing for votes. 他花了整整一个月四处游说拉选票。
• I'm canvassing for the Conservative Party. 我在为保守党拉选票。 来自辞典例句

2 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

3 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。

4 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

5 bland   

adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的

参考例句：

• He eats bland food because of his stomach trouble.他因胃病而吃清淡的食物。
• This soup is too bland for me.这汤我喝起来偏淡。

6 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

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 dwellings   

n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The development will consist of 66 dwellings and a number of offices. 新建楼区将由66栋住房和一些办公用房组成。
• The hovels which passed for dwellings are being pulled down. 过去用作住室的陋屋正在被拆除。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 thumping   

adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持

参考例句：

• Her heart was thumping with emotion. 她激动得心怦怦直跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He was thumping the keys of the piano. 他用力弹钢琴。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

11 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

12 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

13 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

14 overriding   

a.最主要的

参考例句：

• Development is of overriding importance. 发展是硬道理
• My overriding concern is to raise the standards of state education. 我最关心的是提高国民教育水平。