纽约时报 旗帜陨落 两位总统与另一位截然不同的表现(1)（在线收听）

Hailing McCain, Two Presidents Diverge from a Third

致敬麦凯恩，两位总统与另一位截然不同的表现

By Peter Baker

文/彼得·贝克

He drove them crazy.

他让大家抓狂。

He berated them on the way to the White House and badgered them once they got there.

在去白宫的路上他就斥责了他们，到了白宫就开始纠缠着他们不放。

He stood by them when he thought they were right and tore at their heels when he was convinced they were wrong.

认为他们是对的那会儿，他支持他们；确信他们错了的时候，他就搅得他们鸡犬不宁。

And when it came time to depart this world, John McCain wanted them to tell his story.

而当他是时候告别这个世界时，约翰·麦凯恩希望他们公开自己的故事。

Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama,

前总统乔治·W·布什和巴拉克·奥巴马，

the two men who thwarted Mr. McCain’s ambitions to become commander in chief,

两个熄灭了麦凯恩先生成为总统的抱负的人，

stood one after the other before the nation’s elite at Washington National Cathedral on Saturday to honor the man they beat,

于周六先后站到了聚集在华盛顿国家大教堂的各界精英面前，纪念曾经被他们击败的这位对手，

extolling him as a one-of-a-kind figure the likes of which will not be seen again anytime soon.

称他是举世无双的奇人，而他这样的人近期已经不会再出现了。

That they were asked, and not the current president, spoke volumes about the man and the moment.

被邀请的是两位前总统，而非现任总统，这一点充分说明了麦凯恩先生的为人以及当下的问题。

And while neither explicitly mentioned President Trump,

尽管两人均未明确提到特朗普总统，

who, uninvited and unwelcome, went golfing instead,

这位未被邀请且不受欢迎的总统当时打高尔夫去了，

their tributes could hardly be heard without the unspoken contrast to the current occupant of the Oval Office,

但他们的致辞处处洋溢着与现任总统之间不言自明的对比，

a message amplified by a more overt rebuke from the senator’s daughter.

而麦凯恩参议员的女儿公开的斥责又放大了这一点。

"So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse, can seem small and mean and petty,

“我们的政治，公共生活，公共话语的很多地方都可能很微小、很低劣、很琐碎，

trafficking in bombast and insult, in phony controversies and manufactured outrage," Mr.Obama said.

“在吹嘘和侮辱中，在虚假的争议和人为制造的愤怒中被贩卖。”奥巴马先生说道。

"It’s a politics that pretends to be brave, but in fact is born of fear.

“我们的政治只是在假装勇敢，实际上不过是源于恐惧的政治。

John called us to be bigger than that. He called us to be better than that."

约翰呼吁我们做得更好，他呼吁我们突破这种政治。”

Mr. Bush praised Mr. McCain for his "courage and decency,"

布什先生赞扬麦肯先生“勇敢、体面，”

an exemplar of the storied American values of standing up to bullying and oppression.

称他是“不畏强权、反抗压迫”这一著名美国价值观的典范。

"If we are ever tempted to forget who we are, to grow weary of our cause,

如果有一天我们禁不住忘了我们的身份，或者厌倦了我们的国家大业，

John’s voice will always come as a whisper over our shoulder —

约翰的声音就会一直回荡在我们的耳边——

we are better than this, America is better than this," Mr. Bush said.

我们可以更好的，美国可以更好的，”布什先生说到。

If their better-than-this eulogies were widely seen as an implicit reproach of Mr. Trump,

如果两人悼词中的“可以更好”被大家广泛解读成了委婉谴责特朗普的意思的话，

Meghan McCain left no mystery who she had in mind with a powerful, emotional, sobbing remembrance of her father

那么，梅根·麦凯恩在情绪激动、十分悲伤地缅怀父亲时就彻底揭下了自己指涉的人的面纱，

that also sounded like a defiant cridecoeur against the tycoon-turned-president who once belittled the senator’s wartime service.

仿佛是对那位出身大亨，曾经贬低她父亲战时的服役的总统发出了公开的挑衅。

"We gather here," she said, "to mourn the passing of American greatness, the real thing,

“我们聚集在此，”她说，“是为了哀悼美国式伟大的逝去，这种伟大才是货真价实的东西，

not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly,

而不是某些人廉价的说辞，像父亲那样欣然做出的伟大牺牲，他们是永远难以望其项背的，

nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who lived lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served."

也不是某些人投机取巧的拨款，父亲受苦受难为国家为人民服务的时候，他们却在享受着荣华富贵。”

Mocking Mr. Trump’s favorite slogan, she later declared:

接着，她又嘲讽起了特朗普最爱喊的口号：

"The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great."

“约翰·麦凯恩时代的美国不需要复兴，因为美国一直都很强大。”

The audience then burst out in applause, something that rarely happens during the traditionally solemn funerals held at the cathedral.

此语引发了观众雷鸣般的掌声，在大教堂举行庄严的传统式葬礼时，此情此景，实属少见。

While Mr. Trump was absent, political figures from both parties made their way to the house of worship on a dreary, overcast and humid morning.

在那个沉闷、阴暗而潮湿的上午，尽管特朗普缺席了追悼会，还是有议会两党的代表前往礼拜堂参加悼念，

They came to bid farewell to John Sidney McCain III,

他们前去告别约翰·西德尼·麦凯恩三世，

son and grandson of admirals, naval aviator, tortured prisoner, congressman, six-term senator,

一名海军上将的儿子，海军上将的孙子，他担任过海军飞行员，也曾作为阶下囚遭受酷刑，他是国会议员，是六任参议员，

two-time presidential candidate, patriot, maverick, reformer, warrior, curmudgeon, father, husband and finally, in death, American icon.

也是两届总统候选人，他忠心爱国，特立独行，崇尚改革，他是一名勇士，也是一个守财奴，他为人父，为人夫，最后，他作为美国的旗帜，离开了这个世界。