时代周刊:漫长的清算之路(1)

Long road to a reckoning

漫长的清算之路

The election revealed a stark¹ divide in the fight for racial equality

这次选举暴露了争取种族平等的斗争中存在的明显分歧

In the weeks before the Nov. 3 election, as polling suggested that former Vice² President Joe Biden might stand on the precipice³ of a landslide⁴ victory, many who had spent the past four years fighting President Donald Trump⁵ took solace⁶ in a silver lining⁷: Trump, with his egregious⁸ behavior and his penchant⁹ for saying the quiet part out loud, had removed a bandage that in recent decades has hidden America's deepest defects on race. In doing so, many of his opponents believed, he had presented us with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix them.

11月3日大选的前几周，民调显示前副总统拜登可能会获得压倒性胜利，这令过去四年里一直在和唐纳德·特朗普抗争的人在一线希望中得到了安慰：特朗普以其过分的行为和直白张扬的嗜好揭开了近几十年来掩盖着美国最深层次的种族缺陷的绷带。他的许多反对者认为他的这些行为给了我们一个千载难逢的机会来解决这些问题。

But election night brought a shock, if not a surprise, for those eager for the country to turn over a new leaf. While Biden remains¹⁰ favored to collect enough electoral votes to win and become the next President, the striking reality of the small gap between the two contenders left many despondent¹¹ and fearful. This was not the total repudiation¹² of Trump and Trumpism that so many had hoped for. Instead, in some quarters, it amounted to an embrace, with Trump actually increasing the total number of votes he'd received in 2016. Trump removed the gauze, but rather than healing the wound, we may now be watching it fester.

但对于那些渴望国家能够翻开新的一页的人来说，选举之夜带来的是惊讶甚至震惊。拜登虽然仍有望获得足够多的选举人票以赢得大选并成为下一任总统，但两位候选人之间的差距太小，这一惊人现实让许多人感到沮丧和恐惧。这并不是很多人曾希望的对特朗普和特朗普主义的全盘否定。相反，特朗普实际上获得的选票比2016年增加了，从某些方面来说这等于接受了特朗普。特朗普摘下纱布，但我们现在看到的可能不是伤口的愈合，而是伤口的溃烂。

It's no surprise that many Americans are only now catching¹³ on to this country's long history of systemic racism¹⁴. In history class, most Americans learn of the past horrors of slavery and Jim Crow, but the line isn't always drawn¹⁵ to the present. When it is, it's often presented as a long arc of progress, one that "bends toward justice," as famously described by Martin Luther King Jr. and often repeated in political rhetoric¹⁶, most famously by President Barack Obama. But the reality is that race—and racism—continues to profoundly shape American life.

许多美国人直到现在才意识到这个国家长期存在的系统性种族主义，这并不奇怪。大多数美国人在历史课上学习了过去奴隶制和种族歧视的恐怖，但这条线并不总会画到现在。即使画到了现在，它也经常被描绘成一个漫长的进程，一个“向正义低头”的过程，这是马丁·路德·金的名言，多次出现在政治言论中，其中最著名的就是美国总统巴拉克·奥巴马的言论。但现实是，种族以及种族主义将继续深刻塑造着美国人的生活。

1 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 precipice   

n.悬崖，危急的处境

参考例句：

• The hut hung half over the edge of the precipice.那间小屋有一半悬在峭壁边上。
• A slight carelessness on this precipice could cost a man his life.在这悬崖上稍一疏忽就会使人丧生。

4 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

5 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。

6 solace   

n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和

参考例句：

• They sought solace in religion from the harshness of their everyday lives.他们日常生活很艰难，就在宗教中寻求安慰。
• His acting career took a nosedive and he turned to drink for solace.演艺事业突然一落千丈，他便借酒浇愁。

7 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

8 egregious   

adj.非常的，过分的

参考例句：

• When it comes to blatant lies,there are none more egregious than budget figures.谈到公众谎言，没有比预算数字更令人震惊的。
• What an egregious example was here!现摆着一个多么触目惊心的例子啊。

9 penchant   

n.爱好，嗜好；（强烈的）倾向

参考例句：

• She has a penchant for Indian food.她爱吃印度食物。
• He had a penchant for playing jokes on people.他喜欢拿人开玩笑。

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

11 despondent   

adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的

参考例句：

• He was up for a time and then，without warning,despondent again.他一度兴高采烈，但忽然又情绪低落下来。
• I feel despondent when my work is rejected.作品被拒后我感到很沮丧。

12 repudiation   

n.拒绝；否认；断绝关系；抛弃

参考例句：

• Datas non-repudiation is very important in the secure communication. 在安全数据的通讯中，数据发送和接收的非否认十分重要。 来自互联网
• There are some goals of Certified E-mail Protocol: confidentiality non-repudiation and fairness. 挂号电子邮件协议需要具备保密性、不可否认性及公平性。 来自互联网

13 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

14 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

15 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

16 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。