2020年经济学人 莱克星顿专栏--美国大选之战的缩影(2)

Northampton County, of which it is the capital, was one of three in Pennsylvania that flipped¹ to the Republicans in 2016, giving Mr Trump² the state by a whisker. True to form, the quadrant of four streets around which Lexington accompanied Karen Frey, an amiable³ Republican foot-soldier wearing a red “Deplorables Club” sweatshirt (and not wearing the Trump 2020 face-mask that dangled⁴, alongside a stun-gun, “rape alarm” and mace⁵ spray, from her wrist), displayed Trump and Biden signs in similar measure.

北安普顿县是是宾夕法尼亚州的一个中心郡县，也是在2016年向共和党倒戈的宾州的三个郡县之一，这使特朗普获得了该州的优势。和往常一样，笔者陪同凯伦·弗雷游走于四个街道。凯伦·弗雷是一位亲切友好的共和党步兵，她穿着一件带有“蠢货俱乐部”的运动衫（她没有佩戴带有“特朗普2020”标识的口罩，而是挂在手腕上，还并排一起挂着一把电击枪、防强奸警报器和防狼喷雾剂）。每个街头都以类似的手段来展示特朗普和拜登的标志。

They otherwise offered no clue to the occupants’ affiliation⁶. Outside the 40-odd houses Mrs Frey called on, a Virgin⁷ Mary statue or “We support our police” flag was no likelier to denote a Republican than a Democratic household. At a corner of Hickory Lane, the occupant displayed signs supporting the police, teachers and Mr Biden. “We’re not Trump here, keep walking,” he yelled at Mrs Frey through his car window. The suburb is a throwback to pre-sort America, but bristling⁸ with post-sort partisanship⁹. The result is a rare microcosmic view of what partisanship is doing to America.

另外，很多住户并没有提供关于自己观点的线索。除了弗雷女士拜访的40多间房子以外，拥有圣母玛利亚雕像或“我们支持我们的警察”的旗帜的住户不太可能支持共和党，更像是支持民主党。在胡桃巷的一个角落里，居住者展示了支持警察、教师和拜登的标志。他透过车窗对弗雷女士喊道，“我们这里不支持特朗普，你走吧。”郊区是对美国前分类的回归，但是却充斥着后分类的党派偏见。结果形成了党派偏见对美国影响的缩影。

Very few who answered the door claimed to be undecided—and most were probably, as Mrs Frey conceded, being kind. Only one voter expressed weak feelings about her choice. “I vote for the party, not the candidate,” said Lisa, a lifelong Republican staunchly against abortion¹¹. Everyone else appeared fiercely decided¹⁰.

开门的人中很少有人会声称自己还没有做决定，弗雷女士承认，大多数人开门只是出于好心。只有一位选民对自己的选择表示了微弱的看法。丽莎是一位终生坚决反对堕胎的共和党人，她表示，“我投票支持的是共和党，与候选人无关。”其他人似乎都很坚决。

Given that just over half were planning to vote Democratic (“This year more than ever,” several said), this gave rise to awkward scenes. “I’m sorry, I’m sure you’re a nice person, but I’m 92 years old, I’ve voted for Republicans and Democrats¹², and I cannot understand how you can like him,” a man on Hickory Lane told Mrs Frey.

鉴于有超过半数的人计划投票支持民主党（“今年比以往任何时候都要多，”一些人说），这就导致了尴尬局面。“对不起，我相信你是个好人，但我已经92岁了，我投票支持过共和党，也支持过民主党，但我不明白你怎么会喜欢他，”胡桃巷的一名男子告诉弗雷女士。

He then launched a fact-filled evisceration¹³ of Mr Trump’s record, before ending, fighting back tears, on a personal note. “My father came from Italy. Trump hates migrants. My five dead brothers fought for this country. The son-of-a-bitch calls them suckers.” When Mrs Frey, visibly shaken, said this was untrue, the man quoted the president’s slander¹⁴ of John McCain. Mrs Frey countered with a fake-news story—that the late Republican senator killed scores of sailors in a fire. “God bless you,” said the old man.

随后，他根据事实依据对特朗普的政绩进行了全面剖析，最后他强忍泪水，结束了这一行为。“我父亲来自意大利。特朗普讨厌移民。我死去的五个兄弟曾经为美国而战。但那个混蛋却称他们是笨蛋。”当时弗雷夫人明显受到惊吓，她表示，这没有事实根据，那名男子引用了麦凯恩对总统的诽谤。弗雷女士用一则假新闻反驳道，麦凯恩这位已故的共和党参议员用一场大火杀死了几十名水手。“上帝保佑你，”老人说。

1 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

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 amiable   

adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的

参考例句：

• She was a very kind and amiable old woman.她是个善良和气的老太太。
• We have a very amiable companionship.我们之间存在一种友好的关系。

4 dangled   

悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• Gold charms dangled from her bracelet. 她的手镯上挂着许多金饰物。
• It's the biggest financial incentive ever dangled before British footballers. 这是历来对英国足球运动员的最大经济诱惑。

5 mace   

n.狼牙棒，豆蔻干皮

参考例句：

• The sword and mace were favourite weapons for hand-to-hand fighting.剑和狼牙棒是肉搏战的最佳武器。
• She put some mace into the meat.她往肉里加了一些肉豆蔻干皮。

6 affiliation   

n.联系，联合

参考例句：

• There is no affiliation between our organization and theirs,even though our names are similar.尽管两个组织的名称相似，但我们之间并没有关系。
• The kidnappers had no affiliation with any militant group.这些绑架者与任何军事组织都没有紧密联系。

7 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

8 bristling   

a.竖立的

参考例句：

• "Don't you question Miz Wilkes' word,'said Archie, his beard bristling. "威尔克斯太太的话，你就不必怀疑了。 "阿尔奇说。他的胡子也翘了起来。
• You were bristling just now. 你刚才在发毛。

9 Partisanship   

n. 党派性, 党派偏见

参考例句：

• Her violent partisanship was fighting Soames's battle. 她的激烈偏袒等于替索米斯卖气力。
• There was a link of understanding between them, more important than affection or partisanship. ' 比起人间的感情，比起相同的政见，这一点都来得格外重要。 来自英汉文学

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

12 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 evisceration   

n.除脏（术）

参考例句：

• Under the impression of absolute glaucoma, evisceration was performed. 其后六年眼痛之症状获得舒缓未再出现。 来自互联网
• The adoption of their amendments would have amounted to an evisceration of the act. 采纳他们的修正案将会减弱那项法案的意义。 来自互联网

14 slander   

n./v.诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• The article is a slander on ordinary working people.那篇文章是对普通劳动大众的诋毁。
• He threatened to go public with the slander.他威胁要把丑闻宣扬出去。