2020年经济学人 莱克星顿专栏--美国史上最混乱总统辩论落幕(1)

United States

美国版块

Lexington

莱克星顿专栏

The end of the debate

总统辩论的结束

The president turns a globally respected American institution into a national embarrassment¹

特朗普总统使本来备受推崇的竞选辩论这一美国制度沦为全国笑柄。

Among the institutions Donald Trump² has attacked in the past three and a half years, the televised presidential debate might not seem much. It does not guarantee the rule of law, protect the environment or defend the homeland. It has hardly ever been electorally significant. Maybe only the first televised duel³, which pitted a sweaty, shady looking Richard Nixon against a youthful, make-up wearing John Kennedy in 1960, materially affected⁴ a race. Yet at a time when some of the most basic assumptions about American democracy are being challenged by Mr Trump’s scorched-earth presidency⁵, as he illustrated⁶ with a debate performance of stunning⁷ brutishness in Cleveland on September 29th, the merits of the format⁸ are worth recalling.

在过去三年半中，唐纳德·特朗普抨击了许多制度，但是他却没怎么提到总统电视辩论。总统电视辩论既不能保障法治，也不能保护环境，更没法保卫国家。它对于大选的影响并不大。也许只有1960年进行的第一届总统电视辩论实质性地影响到了美国大选。当时，满头大汗、脸色阴暗的理查德·尼克松与年轻且化着妆的约翰·肯尼迪进行了对决。然而，美国民主的一些最基本的假定正在被特朗普的焦土政策毁坏，正如9月29日在克利夫兰举行的首场总统辩论上，特朗普的鲁莽表现令人咂舌。这时，总统电视辩论形式的优点令人回顾。

Before this week they were threefold. The president, setting aside the exalted⁹ status and electoral advantages of incumbency¹⁰, must submit to the same pre-agreed rules as his challenger. (No president since Nixon, following his humiliation¹¹ in 1960, has ducked the format.) Second— and notwithstanding a mountain of evidence that most people do not vote on the basis of such things— debates affirm the importance of plans and ideas. This projects a degree of seriousness that is otherwise largely absent from most political coverage¹².

这个星期之前举办过的总统电视辩论有三点值得怀念。总统要抛开崇高地位和在任优势，和竞争者一样遵从相同的预先商定的规则。（自1960年尼克松受辱以来，没有一位总统回避过这种形式。）其次，电视辩论肯定了总统的计划和想法的重要性，尽管有大量证据表明，大多数人不会基于这些东西进行投票。这表明了某种程度的严肃性，而这一点被大多数政治报道所忽视。

The candidates’ competing proposals also underline the degree to which elections are a choice. And because they are essentially¹³ making their pitches to a vast television audience, the debates also underline how that the choice falls to ordinary Americans. Boosted by a paucity¹⁴ of campaigning because of covid-19, the 90-minute, ad-free event in Cleveland was watched by an estimated 80m, over half the electorate¹⁵. Millions more watched around the world— which speaks to a third quality of the presidential debate.

候选人的竞选提案也凸显了选举的选择程度。总统电视辩论实际上是在向广大电视观众宣传，因此辩论也强调了这种选择权是如何落入普通美国人手中的。受到新冠肺炎疫情的影响，竞选活动寥寥无几，在克利夫兰举行的为时90分钟的无广告的活动吸引了8000万观众，超过半数选民观看。世界各地有数百万人观看了这场总统辩论。这表明了总统电视辩论值得怀念的第三个方面。

1 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

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 duel   

n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争

参考例句：

• The two teams are locked in a duel for first place.两个队为争夺第一名打得难解难分。
• Duroy was forced to challenge his disparager to duel.杜洛瓦不得不向诋毁他的人提出决斗。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 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。

6 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

7 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

8 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

9 exalted   

adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的

参考例句：

• Their loveliness and holiness in accordance with their exalted station.他们的美丽和圣洁也与他们的崇高地位相称。
• He received respect because he was a person of exalted rank.他因为是个地位崇高的人而受到尊敬。

10 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。

11 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

12 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

13 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

14 paucity   

n.小量，缺乏

参考例句：

• The paucity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果缺乏是由于干旱造成的。
• The results are often unsatisfactory because of the paucity of cells.因细胞稀少，结果常令人不满意。

15 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。