八成美国人对政府缺乏信任

　　Can you trust Washington? Nearly 80 percent of Americans say they can't and they have little faith that the massive federal bureaucracy can solve the nation's ills, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center that shows public confidence in the federal government at one of the lowest points in a half-century.

　　你相信联邦政府吗？Pew研究中心的一份民调显示，近八成美国人的回答是否定，他们不相信庞大的联邦政府机构能解决国家的问题，而且民众对联邦政府的信心降到了半世纪以来的最低点。

　　The poll released on Apr. 18 illustrates the ominous situation facing President Obama and the Democratic Party as they struggle to maintain their comfortable congressional majorities in this fall's elections. Midterm prospects are typically tough for the party in power. Add a toxic environment like this and lots of incumbent Democrats could be out of work. The survey found that just 22 percent of those questioned say they can trust Washington almost always or most of the time and just 19 percent say they are basically content with it. Nearly half say the government negatively effects their daily lives, a sentiment that's grown over the past dozen years. This anti-government feeling has driven the tea party movement, reflected in fierce protests this past week.

　　奥巴马总统和民主党正尽心竭力，以期今年秋季选举时保持民主党在议会的席位优势，但4月18日公布的这份民调却表明形势堪忧。执政党的中期选举前景通常不妙。在这样恶劣的环境下，许多现任民主党议员可能都得下岗。民调显示，只有22%的受访者称“几乎总”或者“大多时候”相信联邦政府，只有19%的受访者表示基本满意。近一半的人表示，政府对自己的日常生活有负面影响，过去12年来这种情绪越来越普遍。这种反政府情绪催生了茶党运动，过去的一周内就发生了多起严重抗议。

　　Majorities in the survey call Washington too big and too powerful, and say it's interfering too much in state and local matters. The public is split over whether the government should be responsible for dealing with critical problems or scaled back to reduce its power, presumably in favor of personal responsibility. About half say they want a smaller government with fewer services, compared with roughly 40 percent who want a bigger government providing more. The public was evenly divided on those questions long before Obama was elected. Still, a majority supported the Obama administration exerting greater control over the economy during the recession.

　　大多数受访者认为联邦政府过于庞大，过于强势，对各州和地方事务干预过多。对于重大问题上应由政府负责处理，还是削减政府权利，给个人更多权利，受访者没有一致看法。约一半的人表示，希望缩小政府规模，减少机关数量。约40%的人希望政府扩大，增加机关数量。在奥巴马当选前很久，持这两种观点的民众已各占一半。不过大多数人都支持奥巴马政府在经济危机时加大对经济的控制。