时代周刊:揭秘拯救2020年大选的"影子运动秘史"(1)

HOW CLOSE WE CAME THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE SHADOW CAMPAIGN THAT SAVED THE ELECTION

我们距离拯救大选的影子运动秘史有多近

A WEIRD¹ THING HAPPENED RIGHT AFTER THE NOV. 3 ELECTION: nothing.

在11月3日的大选之后，一件奇怪的事情发生了：什么都没有发生。

The nation was braced² for chaos³. Liberal groups had vowed⁴ to take to the streets, planning hundreds of protests across the country.

这个国家已经做好了迎接混乱的准备。自由派团体誓言要走上街头，计划在全国各地举行数百次抗议活动。

Right-wing militias⁵ were girding for battle. In a poll before Election Day, 75% of Americans voiced concern about violence.

右翼民兵正在为战斗做准备。在选举日之前的一项民意调查中，75%的美国人表达了对暴力的担忧。

Instead, an eerie⁶ quiet descended⁷. As President Trump⁸ refused to concede, the response was not mass action but crickets.

相反，一阵可怕的寂静降临了。由于特朗普总统拒绝让步，人们的反应不是大规模行动，而是搞搞小动作。

When media organizations called the race for Joe Biden on Nov. 7, jubilation⁹ broke out instead, as people thronged¹⁰ cities across the U.S. to celebrate the democratic process that resulted in Trump's ouster.

当媒体机构在11月7日宣布乔·拜登(Joe Biden)参选时，却爆发了欢呼，人们涌向美国各地的城市，庆祝导致特朗普下台的民主进程。

A second odd thing happened amid Trump's attempts to reverse the result: corporate¹¹ America turned on him.

在特朗普试图扭转这一结果的过程中，第二件奇怪的事情发生了：美国企业界转而攻击他。

Hundreds of major business leaders, many of whom had backed Trump's candidacy and supported his policies, called on him to concede.

数百名主要商界领袖呼吁特朗普承认败选，其中许多人曾支持特朗普的候选人资格和他的政策。

To the President, something felt amiss. "It was all very, very strange," Trump said on Dec. 2.

对总统来说，感觉有些不对劲。“这一切都非常、非常奇怪，”特朗普在12月2日说。

"Within days after the election, we witnessed an orchestrated effort to anoint the winner, even while many key states were still being counted."

“在选举结束后的几天里，我们目睹了一场精心策划的选定获胜者的努力，尽管许多关键州仍在统计中。”

In a way, Trump was right.

在某种程度上，特朗普是对的。

There was a conspiracy¹² unfolding behind the scenes, one that both curtailed¹³ the protests and coordinated¹⁴ the resistance from CEOs.

幕后有一个阴谋正在展开，它既减少了抗议，又协调了CEO们的抵制。

Both surprises were the result of an informal alliance between left-wing activists¹⁵ and business titans.

这两个意外都是左翼激进分子和商业巨头之间非正式联盟的结果。

The pact¹⁶ was formalized in a terse¹⁷, little-noticed joint¹⁸ statement of the U.S. Chamber¹⁹ of Commerce and AFL-CIO published on Election Day.

美国商会(U.S. Chamber of Commerce)和劳联-产联(AFL-CIO)在选举日发表了一份简短而不引人注意的联合声明，正式敲定了这项协议。

Both sides would come to see it as a sort of implicit²⁰ bargain—inspired by the summer's massive,

双方都会将其视为一种隐含的交易——受到今夏大规模、

sometimes destructive racial-justice protests—in which the forces of labor²¹ came together with the forces of capital to keep the peace and oppose Trump's assault on democracy.

有时具有破坏性的种族正义抗议活动的启发——劳工力量与资本力量联合起来维持和平，反对特朗普对民主的攻击。

1 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

2 braced   

adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来

参考例句：

• They braced up the old house with balks of timber. 他们用梁木加固旧房子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The house has a wooden frame which is braced with brick. 这幢房子是木结构的砖瓦房。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

4 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

5 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

6 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

7 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

8 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。

9 jubilation   

n.欢庆，喜悦

参考例句：

• The goal was greeted by jubilation from the home fans.主场球迷为进球欢呼。
• The whole city was a scene of jubilation.全市一片欢腾。

10 thronged   

v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Mourners thronged to the funeral. 吊唁者蜂拥着前来参加葬礼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The department store was thronged with people. 百货商店挤满了人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

12 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

13 curtailed   

v.截断，缩短( curtail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Spending on books has been severely curtailed. 购书开支已被大大削减。
• Their public health programme had to be severely curtailed. 他们的公共卫生计划不得不大大收缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

15 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

17 terse   

adj.(说话，文笔)精炼的，简明的

参考例句：

• Her reply about the matter was terse.她对此事的答复简明扼要。
• The president issued a terse statement denying the charges.总统发表了一份简短的声明，否认那些指控。

18 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

19 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

20 implicit   

a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的

参考例句：

• A soldier must give implicit obedience to his officers. 士兵必须绝对服从他的长官。
• Her silence gave implicit consent. 她的沉默表示默许。

21 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。