时代周刊:美国的未来属于黑人?(1)

Where the fault lies

问题出在哪里

It is unreasonable¹ to keep expecting black voters to save our democracy

指望黑人选民来拯救我们的民主是不合理的

Since the 2000 election, the first in which I was old enough to vote, the Republican Party and the courts have worked together to disenfranchise voters on the left, who are disproportionately people of color. It is because of two sets of practices— voter suppression and the Electoral College, both rooted in American racism—that the 2020 presidential election is a nail-biter. It should not be.

自2000年大选以来，也是我第一次能够投票之时，共和党和法院已经联手剥夺了左翼选民的选举权，这些选民是不成比例的有色人种。正是那两套植根于美国种族主义的做法——选民压制和选举团制度——使得2020年的总统选举变得紧张不安。这是不应该的。

The Trump² presidency³ has been a failure. He was impeached⁴ for inviting⁵ foreign interference into U.S. elections. He has separated breastfeeding babies from their mothers and locked kids in cages at our border. He has encouraged white supremacists, failed to pay his taxes and mismanaged a pandemic costing more than a quarter-million American lives. There is no set of standards—professional or moral—by which he could be deemed a success.

特朗普的总统任期是失败的，他因邀请外国干涉美国选举而被弹劾。在美国边境，他把正在哺乳的婴儿和他们的母亲分开，把孩子锁在笼子里。他鼓励白人至上主义者，他不缴税，他对导致25万美国人丧生的新冠处理不当。我们无法通过任何一套标准——专业的或者道德上的——来认定他是成功的。

But he may still be re-elected.

但他仍有可能再次当选。

Like many Americans who love "liberty and justice for all," I hope that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will prevail. But if they don't, it's certainly not Black people's fault. Let's be clear: Donald Trump is the fault of white people. His rise is a direct result of white people's collective rejection⁶ of the progress that the Obama era signaled. And it is time to point fingers. It is time for the Americans who elected him the first time, handing him the power of incumbency⁷ this time, to take responsibility. At some point, we must reckon as a country with the moral perversion⁸ of asking the people with the knee of the state on their necks to subdue⁹ their attackers. Yes, that is the African-American story—that we fled plantations¹⁰ and led slave revolts to demand our freedom. But that is not a reasonable expectation of citizens in a functioning democracy. The institution of slavery did not die until white Americans were willing to risk something to insist on a better way for the country.

像许多热爱“人人享有自由和正义”的美国人一样，我希望乔·拜登和卡玛拉·哈里斯能够获胜。但如果他们没有，这当然不是黑人的错。我们来明确一点：唐纳德·特朗普是白人的错。他的崛起是白人集体拒绝奥巴马时代所标志的进步的直接结果。现在是指责的时候了，是时候让第一次选他上台、这次又将总统权利交给他的美国人承担责任了。在某种程度上我们必须认为，作为一个国家，要求那些被国家所压迫的人民制服他们的攻击者是一种道德上的扭曲。是的，这就是非洲裔美国人的故事——我们逃离种植园，领导奴隶起义，要求获得自由。但在一个运转正常的民主国家，这不是公民的合理期望。直到美国白人愿意冒着风险坚持为国家寻找更好的出路，奴隶制制度才会消亡。

1 unreasonable   

adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的

参考例句：

• I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
• They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。

2 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。

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 impeached   

v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的过去式和过去分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议

参考例句：

• Elected officials can be impeached. 经过选举产生的官员可以被弹劾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The judge was impeached for taking a bribe. 这个法官被检举接受贿赂。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 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。

6 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

7 incumbency   

n.职责，义务

参考例句：

• Every incumbency employee has his year-end bonus.所有的在职员工都可以领到年终奖金。
• Administrator ethic includes administrative incumbency and administrative conscience.行政人员伦理包括行政义务和行政良知。

8 perversion   

n.曲解；堕落；反常

参考例句：

• In its most general sense,corruption means the perversion or abandonment.就其最一般的意义上说，舞弊就是堕落，就是背离准则。
• Her account was a perversion of the truth.她所讲的歪曲了事实。

9 subdue   

vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制

参考例句：

• She tried to subdue her anger.她尽力压制自己的怒火。
• He forced himself to subdue and overcome his fears.他强迫自己克制并战胜恐惧心理。

10 plantations   

n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句