看美国大选辩论学英语系列(一)
美国总统大选第二场电视辩论10月9日结束,据cnn联合另一家机构的民调显示,在观看本场辩论的美国民众中,有57%的被调查者认为希拉里胜出,而认为特朗普胜出的仅为34%。另外,由于两人在辩论中互黑无下限,本场辩论也被美国媒体称为dirty fight。
两场辩论下来,双方实力如何也略见分晓,毕竟,有一部分选民就是凭借候选人在辩论中的表现才决定给谁投票的。
美国人民看辩论是为了决定给谁投票,我们这些爱学英语的人看辩论纯粹就是为了看热闹,不对,为了学英语。我们今天就从已经结束的两场辩论中总结一些英文中的地道表达,跟大家共同进步。
今天先说第一场。
1. trumped-up trickle-down
第一场辩论一开始,两人有关就业和税收等经济政策的辩论中,希拉里表示,特朗普提出的为富人减税政策是trumped-up trickle-down。这里先说这个trickle-down,是一种经济理论,也叫trickle-down economics,翻译为“垂滴经济学”,说的是“一个体制中给予上层人的利益会传递给较低阶层的人”。Trumped-up是个固定表达,表示“伪造的,捏造的,莫须有的”。希拉里在这里用trumped-up来修饰trickle-down可谓一语双关,既表明这种理论是虚假的,同时提到了特朗普的名字Trump,说明这样不靠谱的政策是特朗普提出来的。姜果然是老的辣。
原话摘录:
“We also, though, need to have a tax system that rewards work and not just financial transactions. And the kind of plan that Donald has put forth would be trickle-down economics all over again. In fact, it would be the most extreme version, the biggest tax cuts for the top percent of the people in this country than we've ever had.
我们同时需要一个能够让劳动有回报的税收系统,而不是仅仅反应金融交易。特朗普提出的税收政策将会是垂滴经济学的另一个翻版。实际上,会是垂滴经济学最极端的一个版本,是我国有史以来对顶层富人最大规模的减税政策。
I call it trumped-up trickle-down, because that's exactly what it would be. That is not how we grow the economy.
我把他的政策称为虚无的垂滴政策(或者“特朗普鼓吹的垂滴政策”),因为事实就是这样。那可不是我们的经济应该发展的模式。”
2. Cut regulations
还是在第一场辩论两人聊经济政策的时候,特朗普表示在减税的同时,他还要精简各类规章制度。这个跟咱们国家这几年提出的“简政”(streamline administration)好像有点类似?不过,由于特朗普一向用词简单明了,所以cut自然是首选啦。希拉里在后面的回应中果然用到了streamline这个更加高级的词。
原话摘录:
“You have regulations on top of regulations, and new companies cannot form and old companies are going out of business. And you want to increase the regulations and make them even worse.
你们现在制度上面有制度,新公司成立不起来,老公司又都在破产。你还想要增加制度,让这些情况变得更糟糕。
I'm going to cut regulations. I'm going to cut taxes big league, and you're going to raise taxes big league, end of story.
我打算精简规章制度。我要大规模减税,而你要大规模增税。就是这么回事儿。”
3. All talk, no action.
在谈到如何达到共同繁荣的话题时,希拉里表示要鼓励中产阶级的发展,为大学生提供低息贷款,实现包容性经济增长。特朗普直接来一句:典型的政客。只说不做。其实,中文里表达这个意思的说法也不少,比如,李克强总理曾经说过的“喊破嗓子不如甩开膀子”(Talking the talk is not as good as walking the walk),“说起来容易做起来难”(it’s easier said than done),“光说不练”(all talk and no action),等等。
原话摘录:
“Typical politician. All talk, no action. Sounds good, doesn't work. Never going to happen. Our country is suffering because people like Secretary Clinton have made such bad decisions in terms of our jobs and in terms of what's going on.
典型的政客。光说不练。听起来很好,完全没用。永远不会实现。就是因为像希拉里这样的人在就业和发展方面做了这些糟糕的决策,我们国家才会经受这些困境。”
4. Braggadocios
这个词可能是特朗普用的词里面比较高级别的,读音是[bræɡəˈdəuʃiəuz],是braggadocio的复数形式,表示“自我吹嘘,吹牛大王”等意,英语中意思相近的词还有,brag,boast,blow one's trumpet等。
原话摘录:
“I have a great company. I have a tremendous income. And the reason I say that is not in a braggadocios way. It's because it's about time that this country had somebody running it that has an idea about money.
我有个很棒的公司。我有巨额收入。我这么说不是在吹牛,而是因为我们国家该由一个懂钱的人来管理了。”
5. Watch list
在第一场辩论的第二部分,两人就美国的方向展开辩论,主要是关于种族歧视问题。特朗普表示,被列在watch list和no fly list上的人应该被密切监视和关注。Watch list就是国际刑警组织列出的有恐怖分子嫌疑的人员名单,no fly list大家都知道,就是“禁飞名单”,也是因为有恐怖分子嫌疑而被禁止搭乘飞机的人员名单。我们的生活中充斥着各种各样的list,手机上可以设blacklist,把某些人的电话给屏蔽了,与之对应的自然就是whitelist,白名单上的人和事都是畅行无阻,获得准许的。近几年咱们国家搞自贸区,还出现了一个negative list(负面清单),也就是说,列在这个单子上的事情不能做,不在这个单子上的都可以做。
原话摘录:
“First of all, I agree, and a lot of people even within my own party want to give certain rights to people on watch lists and no fly lists. I agree with you, when a person is on a watch list or a no fly list -- and I have the endorsement of the NRA, which I'm very proud of, these are very very good people, and they are protecting the Second Amendment -- but I think we have to look very strongly at no fly lists and watch lists, and when people are on there, even if they shouldn't be on there, we'll help them, we'll help them legally, we'll help them get off. But I tend to agree with that, quite strongly.
首先,我同意,共和党内很多人都想让在监视名单和禁飞名单上的人有一些特定的权利。我同意你的意见。如果有人被列入监视名单或禁飞名单,插一句,我得到了美国步枪协会的支持,这让我很自豪,他们都是特别特别好的人,他们在捍卫第二修正案,但我认为我们应该对列在这些名单上的人严密监视,如果有人被列入这些名单,就算他们不应该被列入,我们帮助他们,用合法的方式帮助他们,帮助他们解除嫌疑。但我还是同意,严密监视。”
6. wreak havoc
在第一场辩论的最后一部分,两人就如何保障美国的安全展开辩论,话题围绕网络安全。希拉里谴责俄罗斯实施网络攻击(cyber attack),窃取政府、企业和个人信息,以及对民主党全国委员会的网络攻击。希拉里表示,俄罗斯更愿意采用网络攻击的方式对美国造成损害,同时收集信息。Wreak havoc是一个固定搭配,wreak是动词,表示“造成(混乱或破坏); 实施(报复)”,havoc则表示“大动乱,浩劫”等严重受损的局面,常用的搭配是wreak havoc on somebody/something,比如:Their policies would wreak havoc on the economy. 如果要表示“实施报复”可以用wreak vengeance on表示。
原话摘录:
“There's no doubt now that Russia has used cyberattacks against all kinds of organizations in our country, and I am deeply concerned about this. I know Donald is very praise -- praiseworthy of Vladimir Putin. But Putin is playing a very tough, long game here. And one of the things he's done is to let loose cyber attackers to hack into government files, to hack into personal files, hack into the Democratic National Committee. And we recently have learned that this is one of their preferred methods of trying to wreak havoc and collect information.
俄罗斯对我国的各类机构进行网络攻击这事儿已经毫无疑问了,我对此很担忧。我知道特朗普对普京赞赏有加。但是,普京在跟我们玩一个长期且有难度的游戏。他做过的事情包括,让网络攻击人员肆意入侵我们的政府文件、个人档案以及民主党全国委员会。我们最近才意识到,他们更愿意用这样的方式对我们造成巨大伤害,然后收集我们的信息。”
7. Taunt
说到伊朗问题时,希拉里表示自己在担任国务卿期间,对伊朗实施了制裁,还把俄罗斯、中国等联合国安理会国家召集到一起商讨伊朗无核化协议,最终在克里担任国务卿时期不费一枪一弹达成协议。而她指出,特朗普曾经表示,一艘伊朗船上的士兵在嘲笑旁边美国船上的士兵,如果他听到伊朗士兵嘲笑自己国家的士兵(there were some Iranian sailors on a ship in the waters off of Iran, and they were taunting American sailors who were on a nearby ship),他会把那艘船炸了,然后对他们宣战。Taunt是个多功能的词,可用作名词、形容词和动词,表示“嘲笑,奚落,讥讽,笑柄”等意。这里想介绍几个结尾字母与其相近的几个词:flaunt,炫耀/夸耀,我们原来说的“炫富”就可以用flaunt wealth表示;haunt,经常光顾/时常萦绕心头,比如:this café is the haunt of office workers in the building;vaunt,吹嘘/自夸,比如,empty vaunt/he is a real vaunter等。这个vaunt可以补充进前面第4条braggadocios的近义词当中。
原话摘录:
“I spent a year and a half putting together a coalition that included Russia and China, to impose the toughest sanctions on Iran, and we did drive them to the negotiating table. And my successor, John Kerry and President Obama got a deal that put a lid on Iran's nuclear program. Without firing a single shot. That's diplomacy. That's coalition building. That's working with other nations. The other day, I saw Donald saying that there were some Iranian sailors on a ship in the waters off of Iran, and they were taunting American sailors who were on a nearby ship. He said, you know, if they taunted our sailors, I'd blow them out of the water and start another war.
我花了一年半的时间把俄罗斯和中国等国家叫到一起,对伊朗实施了最严厉的制裁,后来我们的确把伊朗拖到了谈判桌前。我的继任者克里和奥巴马总统最终和伊朗达成了限制其核项目协议。没有费一枪一弹。那才是外交。那才是结盟。那才是与其他国家合作。有一天,我看到特朗普说,伊朗海域附近一艘船上的伊朗士兵在嘲笑临近一艘船上的美国士兵。他说,你知道,如果他们嘲笑我们的士兵,我会把他们的船炸了,然后再发动一次战争。”
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