经济学人:特朗普与讽刺 全方位包围

 　　United States

　　美国

　　Donald Trump¹ and Satire²: Super Soaking

　　特朗普与讽刺：全方位包围

　　Lessons in civics from comedians⁴.

　　从喜剧中获得的公民经验。

　　Barack obama was bad for satirists, even if few seemed to mind.

　　讽刺作家很难拿巴拉克.奥巴马开刀，即使很少有人在乎这点。

　　Moderate, upstanding and cool, the first black president gave close observers of human ridiculousness little to work with.

　　第一位黑人总统以温和、正直又潇洒的形象使得那些身边的滑稽糗事观察者少有可乘之机。

　　Most gave up and welcomed him admiringly onto their shows.

　　于是他们大部分都放弃了，并且在自己的节目中用钦佩的眼光欢迎奥巴马的到来。

　　“I can’t believe you’re leaving before me,” Mr Obama, appearing on “The Daily Show” for the seventh time, told its outgoing host, Jon Stewart.

　　“我不敢相信您会比我先离开这里。”奥巴马第七次出现在“每日秀”的舞台上时对即将卸任的主持人乔恩.斯图尔特说。

　　It was not the relationship to power the acerbic⁶ Mr Stewart would have liked.

　　尖刻的斯图尔特不会喜欢被强迫出现这种关系。

　　Thankfully, Donald Trump is making satire great again.

　　而值得庆幸的是，唐纳德.特朗普使得嘲讽再次复兴。

　　The most conspicuous⁷ beneficiary, “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), a hitherto jaded⁸ platform for comedy skits⁹ on NBC, is seeing its best ratings in over 20 years.

　　最明显的受益者，迄今为止已老生常谈的NBC搞笑平台的《周六夜现场》（SNL），20年来创最佳收视率。

　　This is partly thanks to Alec Baldwin’s parody¹⁰ of the president as an irascible halfwit.

　　这在一定程度上归因于亚力克.鲍德温的拙劣模仿，他将总统模仿成一个易怒的笨蛋。

　　But the chaos¹¹ in the month-old administration has provided additional targets.

　　然而一场爆发在刚刚成立一个月的川普政府中的争论提供了另外一种可能。

　　On February 4th SNL unveiled a hilarious¹² parody of Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, as a gum-chewing maniac¹³.

　　2月4日，“周六夜现场”节目曝光了白宫新闻秘书斯宾塞滑稽地模仿一位嚼口香糖的疯子的事件。

　　The belligerent¹⁴ Mr Spicer has since appeared cowed.

　　自此，干练好强的斯宾塞先生大为受挫。

　　There are a couple of lessons here for more sober political commentators¹⁵.

　　对于头脑尚清醒的政治评论员而言，可以从中学到很多。

　　One is to abandon the complacency about Mr Trump that, until Mr Baldwin took over in October, had rendered SNL’s portrayal¹⁶ of him toothless and pointless.

　　一个经验是可以让川普的自满显露无疑，鲍德温先生10月份接任前，一直将他在“周六夜现场”节目的形象塑造得无权无势并且无厘头。

　　Another is to let the weirdness¹⁷ of this presidency¹⁸ speak for itself.

　　另一个经验则是凸显总统言论的滑稽无逻辑。

　　“America first, Australia sucks. Your reef is failing. Prepare to go to war,” the SNL Trump blustered¹⁹ down the phone to Australia’s president, Malcolm Turnbull, on February 4th.

　　“美国至上，澳大利亚濒危。你们的矿产正在骤减，准备好迎接战争吧！”在2月4日的“周六夜现场”节目中，川普在电话里怒怼澳大利亚总统马尔科姆.特恩布尔。

　　That, minus the threat of war, is pretty much what Mr Trump said to Mr Turnbull in a recent phone call.

　　这段内容，除了战争威胁以外，基本就是近期川普先生和特恩布尔先生通话的主要内容。

　　Other satirists are finding Mr Trump’s tendency to defy parody harder to handle.

　　其他的讽刺作家发现川普先生的倾向难以滑稽模仿和掌握。

　　“It’s really tricky²⁰ now as satire has become reality,” Trey Parker, co-creator of “South Park”, a satirical cartoon which presented the Trump-Clinton contest as the “giant douche or the turd sandwich”, has said.

　　“现在讽刺已经变成现实的情况真的很棘手”, 南方公园”的联合创始人Trey Parker这么说到，他曾将特朗普 - 克林顿的竞选以一则“巨型灌肠或者三明治”的讽刺漫画展示出来。

　　The Onion has the same problem.

　　而洋葱网也有同样的问题。

　　One of the satirical online paper’s recent headlines, “Eric Trump Scolds Father That He Mustn’t Inquire About The Businesses, For He’s Sworn Not To Tell,” is a pretty faithful description of the firewall between the 45th president and his family firm.

　　在洋葱网的最近头条中，“Eric Trump 责骂其父亲，即他不可打听企业事务，因为他宣誓了不过问，”这是对第45位总统和他的家族企业之间所存在的防火墙的一个相当靠谱的描述。

　　Indeed, many of the headlines generated by Mr Trump’s administration are deeply Onion-esque.

　　事实上，特朗普政府颁布的许多标题都是“洋葱式”的。

　　Kellyanne Conway, a Trump spokeswoman, was briefly²¹ barred by CNN for using alternative facts—her references to a fictitious²² jihadist atrocity²³, which Ms Conway called the “Bowling Green Massacre”, were the last straw.

　　特朗普发言人凯莉安.康威被美国有线电视新闻网禁止过发布非真实性的报道--文章中提到了一个虚构的“圣战暴行”，康威称“博林格林大屠杀”是最后一根稻草。

　　Mr Trump’s wife, Melania, has sued a newspaper for reporting lurid²⁴ untruths about her on the basis that this cost her the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” of making millions as “one of the most photographed women in the world”.

　　特朗普的妻子梅拉尼亚（Melania）也起诉过一家报道了她一些不实信息的报纸，这篇报道使她成为了 “世界上最受关注的妇女之一”。

　　No satirist⁵ could do better.

　　没有讽刺家能做的更好的了。

　　SNL’s response, in sending up Mr Spicer, is to shift the focus onto one of the relatively²⁵ normal players in Trump world, to show how pervasively²⁶ strange it is.

　　美国综艺节目《周六夜现场》回应斯派塞先生时，是把焦点转移到特朗普团队中这个相对正常的工作人员之一，以突出如此奇怪的现象。

　　At first glance, none of this should bother Mr Trump.

　　乍一看，这些不应给川普先生带来任何困扰。

　　SNL’s weekly audience of 10m represents less than half his Twitter following and is dominated by left-leaning millennials who would sooner work in an abattoir²⁷ than vote Trump.

　　《周六夜现场》每周1000万名观众人数还不到其推特粉丝的一半，而且他们深受那些宁愿到角斗场工作都不愿投票给川普的左派人物的影响。

　　Yet Mr Trump, who unlike his core voters devours²⁸ the mainstream²⁹ media and loves to hobnob with the celebrities³⁰ who appear on shows like SNL, minds the lampooning³¹ a lot.

　　然而特朗普先生却不像他的核心支持者一样喜欢紧盯主流媒体，还喜欢看着像《周六夜现场》这样的节目喝上两杯。他对那些讽刺表演十分在意。

　　“Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!” he tweeted last month.

　　“一点都不好玩，演员十分糟糕，总在完全的讽刺。十分糟糕的电视节目！”他上个月发推特说道。

　　SNL’s response was to start planning ways to take Mr Baldwin’s impression, which the actor has described as a civic³ duty, to a wider audience.

　　《周六夜现场》回应称他们开始规划让鲍德温先生让更多观众熟知，而鲍德温称这是公民义务。

　　1.work with 与...共事

　　例句:You'd be mad to work with him again.

　　你要再和他一起工作那简直是疯了。

　　2.civic duty 公民义务

　　例句:The researchers say these changes raise questions about the civic duty of public education.

　　那些研究人员说这些变化提出了关于公共教育的公民责任问题。

　　3.hobnob with 与...亲密

　　例句:I used to hobnob with the rich and famous.

　　我过去常与富有而又著名的人交往。

　　4.the mainstream media 主流媒体

　　例句:We have been in some of the indicators³² is the mainstream media.

　　我们在一些指标上已经是主流媒体了。

1 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。

2 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。

3 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

4 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句

5 satirist   

n.讽刺诗作者，讽刺家，爱挖苦别人的人

参考例句：

• Voltaire was a famous French satirist.伏尔泰是法国一位著名的讽刺作家。
• Perhaps the first to chronicle this dream was the Greek satirist Lucian.也许第一个记述这一梦想的要算是希腊的讽刺作家露西安了。

6 acerbic   

adj.酸的，刻薄的

参考例句：

• His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
• He sent back an acerbic letter.他回复了一封尖刻的信。

7 conspicuous   

adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的

参考例句：

• It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显，抽烟对健康有害。
• Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。

8 jaded   

adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的

参考例句：

• I felt terribly jaded after working all weekend. 整个周末工作之后我感到疲惫不堪。
• Here is a dish that will revive jaded palates. 这道菜简直可以恢复迟钝的味觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 skits   

n.讽刺文( skit的名词复数 )；小喜剧；若干；一群

参考例句：

• One of these skits, "The King of Beasts" resembles a traditional frontier prank. 一出滑稽短剧《兽王》酷似传统的边疆闹剧。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗
• Kids can develop ad campaigns, commercials and skits to illustrate character traits. 孩子们会发动宣传运动，制作广告宣传片和幽默短剧来说明性格品质。 来自互联网

10 parody   

n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文

参考例句：

• The parody was just a form of teasing.那个拙劣的模仿只是一种揶揄。
• North Korea looks like a grotesque parody of Mao's centrally controlled China,precisely the sort of system that Beijing has left behind.朝鲜看上去像是毛时代中央集权的中国的怪诞模仿，其体制恰恰是北京方面已经抛弃的。

11 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。

12 hilarious   

adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed

参考例句：

• The party got quite hilarious after they brought more wine.在他们又拿来更多的酒之后，派对变得更加热闹起来。
• We stop laughing because the show was so hilarious.我们笑个不停，因为那个节目太搞笑了。

13 maniac   

n.精神癫狂的人；疯子

参考例句：

• Be careful!That man is driving like a maniac!注意！那个人开车像个疯子一样！
• You were acting like a maniac,and you threatened her with a bomb!你像一个疯子，你用炸弹恐吓她！

14 belligerent   

adj.好战的，挑起战争的；n.交战国，交战者

参考例句：

• He had a belligerent aspect.他有种好斗的神色。
• Our government has forbidden exporting the petroleum to the belligerent countries.我们政府已经禁止向交战国输出石油。

15 commentators   

n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员

参考例句：

• Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语，真叫人腻烦。
• Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话，令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 portrayal   

n.饰演；描画

参考例句：

• His novel is a vivid portrayal of life in a mining community.他的小说生动地描绘了矿区的生活。
• The portrayal of the characters in the novel is lifelike.该书中的人物写得有血有肉。

17 weirdness   

n.古怪，离奇，不可思议

参考例句：

• The weirdness of the city by night held her attention. 夜间城市的古怪景象吸引了她的注意力。
• But that's not the end of the weirdness feasible in evolutionary systems. 然而这还不是进化系统居然可行的最怪异的地方呐。

18 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。

19 blustered   

v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹

参考例句：

• He blustered his way through the crowd. 他吆喝着挤出人群。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The wind blustered around the house. 狂风呼啸着吹过房屋周围。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

20 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

21 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

22 fictitious   

adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的

参考例句：

• She invented a fictitious boyfriend to put him off.她虚构出一个男朋友来拒绝他。
• The story my mother told me when I was young is fictitious.小时候妈妈对我讲的那个故事是虚构的。

23 atrocity   

n.残暴，暴行

参考例句：

• These people are guilty of acts of great atrocity.这些人犯有令人发指的暴行。
• I am shocked by the atrocity of this man's crimes.这个人行凶手段残忍狠毒使我震惊。

24 lurid   

adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的

参考例句：

• The paper gave all the lurid details of the murder.这份报纸对这起凶杀案耸人听闻的细节描写得淋漓尽致。
• The lurid sunset puts a red light on their faces.血红一般的夕阳映红了他们的脸。

25 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

26 pervasively   

adv.无处不在地，遍布地

参考例句：

• The idea of Healthy, Brief, Fashion, Comfort, Leisure "accepted pervasively." “健康、简约、时尚、舒适、休闲”家居理念得到人们认同。 来自互联网
• Knowledge is being used pervasively in the overall economic system. 知识与资讯正全面渗透到整个经济运作过程中去。 来自互联网

27 abattoir   

n.屠宰场，角斗场

参考例句：

• The sheep were driven to the local abattoir.羊被赶到当地的屠宰场。
• It was surreal meeting her at the abattoir.竟然会在屠宰场里遇见她，真离奇。

28 devours   

吞没( devour的第三人称单数 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. 若有人想要害他们，就有火从他们口中出来，烧灭仇敌。
• It eats away parts of his skin; death's firstborn devours his limbs. 他本身的肢体要被吞吃，死亡的长子要吞吃他的肢体。

29 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

30 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

31 lampooning   

v.冷嘲热讽，奚落( lampoon的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Larry Ellison is a prime choice for such lampooning because-married, thrice-divorced multimillionaire is larger than life. 拉里·埃里森写那么一篇讽刺性的文章的初衷是因为他生活无羁，且是一个三次结婚三次离婚的亿万富翁。 来自互联网

32 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。