华盛顿邮报 美举行最高法大法官就职确认听证会(1)

This week, the Supreme¹ Court confirmation² hearings began for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

本周，最高法院为法官凯坦吉·布朗·杰克逊举行的就职确认听证会开始了。

As you might remember, in recent years, these hearings for other Supreme Court nominees⁴ have been pretty contentious⁵.

你可能还记得，近年来，为最高法院其他提名人举行的听证会一直争议不断。

There was the hearing for Neil Gorsuch, whose seat many Democrats⁶ felt rightfully belonged to Merrick Garland.

有尼尔·戈萨奇举行的听证会，许多民主党人认为他的席位理应属于梅里克·加兰德。

Unfortunately, due to unprecedented⁷ treatment, Judge Garland was denied a hearing, and this vacancy⁸ has been in place for well over a year.

不幸的是，由于前所未有的处理方式，加兰德法官的听证会被否定了，这个空缺已经有一年多了。

There was the hearing for Brett Kavanaugh and questions around assault allegations against him.

有为布雷特·卡瓦诺举行的听证会，以及围绕针对他的骚扰指控的问题。

This onslaught of last-minute allegations does not ring true.

这种在最后一刻提出的指控听起来并不真实。

I'm not questioning that Dr. Ford⁹ may have been sexually assaulted by some person in some place at some time, but I have never done this to her or to anyone.

我不是在质疑福特博士是否曾在某个地方或某个时间被人性侵犯过，但我从未对她或任何人做过这种事。

Even the nomination¹⁰ for Amy Coney Barrett came in the last weeks before the 2020 presidential election, and that was pretty intense.

就连艾米·科尼·巴雷特的提名都是在2020年总统选举前的最后几周获得的，当时气氛相当紧张。

Judges can't just wake up one day and say, "I have an agenda. I like guns. I hate guns. I like abortion¹¹. I hate abortion," and walk in like a royal queen and impose their will on the world.

法官不能某天醒来说，“我有个议程。 我喜欢枪。 我讨厌枪。 我喜欢堕胎。 我讨厌堕胎，”然后像女王一样走进去把他们的意志强加给这个世界。

So I asked Aaron Blake, senior political reporter for The Post, with what we've seen so far in Judge Jackson's confirmation hearing, where would he put this on the scale of contentiousness¹²?

我问《华盛顿邮报》资深政治记者亚伦·布莱克，就我们在杰克逊法官的就职确认听证会上所看到的情况来看，他会把这件事放到争议的程度上吗？

I think, from what we have seen so far, this hearing is not going to be on the level of a Clarence Thomas, a Brett Kavanaugh, a Robert Bork, or any of those kinds of hearings that come to mind when you talk about really brutal¹³ fights over Supreme Court nominations¹⁴.

我认为，从目前为止我们所看到的情况来看，这次听证会不会像克拉伦斯·托马斯、布雷特·卡瓦诺、罗伯特·博克的那样，也不会像你在谈论关于最高法院提名的残酷斗争时想到的任何一种听证会那样。

I think that's for a couple reasons.

我认为有几个原因。

Pretty high on that list would be that this nomination isn't going to change the balance of power in the Supreme Court.

最重要的一点是，这项提名不会改变最高法院的权力平衡。

We have a Democratic nominee³ who would be replacing a Democratic-nominated justice.

我们的民主党提名人，她将取代民主党提名的大法官。

Another is that this is just not a situation which Republicans probably can defeat this nominee.

另一个原因是，共和党人不可能在这种情况下击败这位提名人。

Yes, Democrats only have 50 votes in the Senate, but they can confirm this justice with those 50 votes under the rules that have been changed over the years.

是的，民主党人在参议院只有50票，但他们可以根据多年来已经改变的规则，用这50票来确认这位法官的就职。

And so Republicans are really confronting a situation in which they have to decide precisely¹⁵ how hard they want to fight this.

因此，共和党人面临的形势是，他们必须决定到底要用多大的努力来应对这一局面。

1 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。

2 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。

3 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

4 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

5 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

6 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》

7 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

8 vacancy   

n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺

参考例句：

• Her going on maternity leave will create a temporary vacancy.她休产假时将会有一个临时空缺。
• The vacancy of her expression made me doubt if she was listening.她茫然的神情让我怀疑她是否在听。

9 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

10 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

11 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

12 contentiousness   

参考例句：

13 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

14 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

15 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。