华盛顿邮报 国会山暴动一周年 美国民主濒临奔溃

Where do you think we are when it comes to, say, partisan¹ politics as a result of January 6th?

说到1月6日的党派政治，你认为我们处于什么位置？

Cleve, I think we're in a somewhat perilous² place.

克里夫，我觉得我们现在处境有点危险。

We know we're a divided country. We have been for a long time.

我们知道我们是一个有分歧的国家。我们国家这样有很长一段时间了。

I think what we're now worried about is the degree to which those divisions and particularly what's happened to the Republican Party, have put sort of the institutions of democracy at risk.

我认为我们现在担心的是这些分歧的程度，特别是共和党发生的事情，已经把民主制度置于危险之中。

You know, a year ago, ahead of January 6th, we might have thought that we were moving toward calmer times with a new president and vaccines³ available to deal with COVID and kind of a general desire to lower temperatures.

你知道，一年前，也就是1月6日之前，我们可能认为我们正在走向平静的时代，有了新总统，有了应对新冠的疫苗，有了降低气温的普遍愿望。

And I think if we look back after the last year, we would say that was a complete misunderstanding of what was about to happen.

我认为，如果我们回顾去年，我们会说这完全是对即将发生的事情的误解。

And we've seen so many things this year that have given rise to concerns about the future of our elections and election integrity and the counting of elections

我们今年看到了如此之多的事情，以致于引起了人们对我们选举的未来、选举廉正和选举计票的担忧，

that I think that there are people now talking about the state of democracy in a way they probably never would have thought about a few years ago.

以致于我认为现在有些人正在以一种几年前他们可能永远不会想到的方式谈论民主状况。

I had a conversation recently with a political scientist who said, you know, political scientists are trained to be, in a sense, nonpartisan, as are journalists, but they are also trained to be pro-democracy.

我最近与一位政治学家进行了交谈，她说，你知道，政治学家和记者一样，在某种意义上被培养成无党派的，但他们也被培养成亲民主的。

And she said, when you have to make a choice between being nonpartisan and pro-democracy, you have to be pro-democracy and that's the situation we're in now.

她表示，当你必须在无党派和亲民主之间做出选择时，你必须是亲民主的，这就是我们现在所处的情况。

You read stories by people who are, by far, not alarmist by any means talking about the dangers that could exist in the future.

到目前为止，你读到的故事都不是危言耸听的人在谈论未来可能存在的危险。

And I think that's the real difference between today and, let's say, January 5, 2021.

我认为这就是今天和2021年1月5日之间的真正区别。

Amy, I wonder if you can talk about voting and where voting stands a year out from January 6th.

艾米，你是否能谈谈选举以及从1月6日开始一年的选举情况。

How have the laws changed over the last year?

在过去的一年里，法律发生了怎样的变化？

What do things look like in some of the swing states that we were watching most closely after the election?

选举后我们最密切关注的一些摇摆不定的州的情况如何？

Sure. I actually think it's still an unknown how the laws that were passed in 2021, in the aftermath of the presidential election last year, what effect they will actually have.

好的。我实际上认为，在去年总统选举之后，2021年通过的法律将会产生什么影响，这仍然是个未知数。

In fact, that's one of the great tests that 2022 midterm elections and the 2024 presidential election will provide for us to see.

事实上，这是2022年中期选举和2024年总统选举将为我们提供的巨大考验之一。

You know, there were some pretty expansive new laws passed in really critical swing states -- as you said, Georgia, Iowa, Florida, Arizona, and Wisconsin.

在关键的摇摆州——如你所说，乔治亚州、爱荷华州、佛罗里达州、亚利桑那州和威斯康星州——通过了一些相当广泛的新法律。

And we don't know exactly how they will affect access to the vote.

我们还不清楚他们将如何影响投票渠道。

We know that they were passed in the name of making elections more secure, even though there was no evidence presented that widespread fraud tainted⁴ the 2020 election.

我们知道，这些法案是以使选举更安全的名义通过的，尽管没有证据表明普遍存在的舞弊行为玷污了2020年的选举。

So, by some measures, these laws were solutions in search of a problem.

因此，从某种程度上说，这些法律是在寻找问题的解决方案。

But by the same token, some of the provisions, like eliminating drop boxes for absentee ballots⁵ or making signature requirements on mail ballots more strict,

但出于同样的原因，一些条款，比如取消缺席选票的投递箱或对邮寄选票的签名要求更加严格，

we don't know yet if those will actually make it harder for people to vote, and we certainly don't know if we're going to be able to measure that

我们还不知道这些条款是否真的会增加人们投票的难度，我们当然也不知道我们是否能够衡量这一点，

because it's very difficult to measure what specific cause prevents someone from voting or allows them, enables them to.

因为很难衡量是什么具体原因阻止或允许某人投票，使他们能够投票。

There's a lot of rhetoric⁶ on both sides of the partisan divide on this topic.

在这个话题上，党派分歧的双方都有很多说辞。

And so, unfortunately, the long answer, but the, you know, kind of nonpartisan answer is that we really don't know.

所以，不幸的是，答案很长，但是，你知道，无党派的答案是，我们真的不知道。

1 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。

2 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

3 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

4 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 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》

6 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。