2020年经济学人 拜登--平平无奇的总统小天才(1)

（单词翻译）

Books & arts

文艺板块

Johnson

约翰逊专栏

Average Joe

普通人乔·拜登

The president-elect lacks a silver tongue and makes for poor TV. That may be an asset

这位当选总统没有流利的口才，电视表现也不佳。但这可能恰恰是他的可贵之处。

During the Obama years, the Onion, a satirical online newspaper, carried a series of articles about a man it referred to as “Diamond Joe” and “The President of Vice”. It featured headlines like “Shirtless Biden Washes Trans Am in White House Driveway” and “Biden Huddling¹ With Closest Advisers² on Whether to Spend 200 Bucks³ on Scorpions⁴ Tickets”.

在奥巴马执政期间，讽刺性的网络报纸《洋葱报》刊登了一系列关于乔·拜登的文章，并在文中称他为“钻石乔”和“邪恶的副总统”。它曾发表了多个相关头条新闻，比如“赤裸上身的拜登在白宫车道清洗Trans Am跑车”、“拜登和最亲密的顾问秘密讨论是否要花200美元去看蝎子乐队”。

The real Joe Biden, then vice-president, was a teetotaling and avuncular⁵ elder statesman, not a hair-metal-loving party animal. But the caricature of him as a regular guy drew on an element of truth. The now-president-elect, the son of a second-hand-car salesman, will be the first president since Ronald Reagan to lack an Ivy⁶ League degree, having finished near the bottom of his class at both the University of Delaware and Syracuse University’s law school.

而真正的乔·拜登，也就是当时的副总统，是一位滴酒不沾的慈祥政界元老，决不是一个喜欢微金属摇滚的派对达人。但讽刺漫画中将他描绘成一个普通人确实有理有据。当前的这位总统当选人是二手车销售员的儿子，他将是继罗纳德·里根以来第一位没有常春藤大学学位的总统，而且他在特拉华大学和雪城大学法学院的成绩都接近全班倒数。

And this is reflected in his use of language. In his speech, he is such an everyman as to defy parody⁷. “Saturday Night Live”, which has featured impersonators for every president since Chevy Chase’s Gerald Ford⁸, has yet to settle on a memorable⁹ Joe Biden. Forced to name Bidenisms, you might single out “malarkey”, his favoured disparagement¹⁰ for humbug¹¹, or “Here’s the deal”, to signal that he’s about to cut the malarkey. His favourite vocative is the folksy “Folks...”. In his first debate with Donald Trump¹², perhaps the most arresting thing he said was (to his constantly interrupting opponent) “Keep yappin’, man.”

他的平凡反映在他的语言运用上。他在演讲时完全就是一个平平无奇的普通人，根本无法进行模仿。自雪佛兰·蔡斯模仿杰拉尔德·福特之后，《周六夜现场》一直在节目中模仿美国历任总统，但他们至今还未成功地模仿大名鼎鼎的乔·拜登。如果一定要说出拜登的经典语录，你可能会挑出“一派胡言”，这是他在贬抑骗子时最喜欢说的词。或者你会挑出“你看这样行不行”，这句话标志着拜登打算打断骗子的胡言乱语了。他最喜欢用的称呼语是“伙计们……”，这个称呼听起来比较随和。在他与唐纳德·特朗普的第一次辩论中，也许他说的最引人注意的的话是（对不断打断自己的对手说）“继续叫，伙计。”

He is, it is true, known for gaffes¹³, though these are often overstated. Competing with Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination¹⁴ in 2007-08, Mr Biden praised his future boss as “the first mainstream¹⁵ African-American” to run for the presidency¹⁶, “who is articulate and bright and clean”. (A gap before “who” made clear that he did not mean previous African- American candidates lacked cleanliness, just that they had been less “mainstream”.) While vice-president, he stood just a bit too close to a microphone as he said “This is a big fucking deal” into Mr Obama’s ear at the signing ceremony for their health-care reform. He once asked a wheelchair-bound state senator to stand and be recognised.

尽管这些说法常常言过其实，但拜登的确以失态闻名。拜登在2007-08年与巴拉克·奥巴马争夺民主党提名时称赞他未来的老板是“首位竞选美国总统的主流非裔美国人”，“他口齿清晰、聪明伶俐、正派公平”。（“他”之前的停顿明确表示，自己并不是说以前的非洲裔美国候选人不够正派，只是说他们不太“主流”。）担任副总统时，他在医改方案的签字仪式上对奥巴马耳语，“这真是一件该死的大事”，但他站的地方离麦克风太近，以至于所有人都听到了。他还曾经要求一位坐在轮椅上的州参议员站起来发言。

These bloopers give the impression of a mouth running faster than a brain. Mr Obama was famous for long, thoughtful pauses; not so Mr Biden. His campaign speeches, like his questions as a longtime Senate committee chairman, tended to ramble¹⁷. He once mystifyingly called a young student who asked a tough question a “lying, dog-faced pony¹⁸ soldier”. Accused of corruption¹⁹ by a voter in Iowa, a bit of hotheaded “Diamond Joe” came out: he called the man a “damn liar” and challenged him to a press-up contest. And he mused²⁰ that, were they in high school, he would “beat the hell” out of Mr Trump.

这些洋相给人的印象就是拜登动脑之前先动嘴。奥巴马以讲话时长时间的深思熟虑的停顿而闻名，而拜登则不然。他的竞选演说，就像任参议院常任委员会主席时提出的问题一样，漫无目的。曾经有一位年轻的学生问了一个棘手的问题，拜登竟阴阳怪气地称呼她是“撒谎的狗脸小马士兵”。爱荷华州的一位选民指控其子贪污腐败时，性急的“钻石乔”出现了：他称这名男子是“死骗子”，并向他发起俯卧撑挑战。他还曾沉思自语，如果他们是在高中，他会把特朗普“打得屁滚尿流”。