本期導讀
本文節選自《經濟學人》20201121期。坦然接受不盡如人意的大選結果是健康民主不可或缺的一部分。
American politics
The art of losing
Accepting a disappointing election result is a vital part of a healthy democracy
Almost two weeks after the votes that made him a one-term president were counted, Donald Trump is still claiming that he won. In reality there is no room for doubt. Joe Biden beat him by almost 6m votes, amassing 306 electoral-college votes to Mr Trump’s 232. Yet reality is a stranger to Mr Trump, who was crying fraud before the first vote had been cast. He has since fired an official who contradicted his view that the election was stolen and encouraged his supporters to protest against the result.
term 意思是「任期」，比如 during the president's first term of/in office，就表示「在總統的首屆任期內」；term 其他的比較常見的意思是「學期；術語」amass 意思是「（尤指大量）積累，積聚」electoral college 指「總統選舉團（在美國由各州選民投票推選組成，集中在一起選舉總統和副總統）」，常寫作「the Electoral College」fraud 意思是名詞「欺騙，詐騙」，也有「騙子」的意思；其形容詞是 fraudulentcast 本意指「投」，cast a/one's vote/ballot (for sb/sth) 就表示「投票」contradict 意思是「反駁，批駁」，它還有「相矛盾，相牴觸」的意思；其名詞形式是contradiction，形容詞是 contradictory
Most Republican leaders go along with the president. They include his attorney-general, Bill Barr, who told prosecutors to investigate 「substantial allegations」 of election fraud; Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, who has championed the president’s right to go to court; and Lindsey Graham, one of Mr Trump’s staunchest Senate defenders, who Georgia’s secretary of state says pressed him to exclude legitimate ballots.
attorney-general 指「（美國的）司法部長」，常寫作「the Attorney General」prosecutor 指「檢察官，公訴人」，其動詞是 prosecute（控告，起訴）staunch 意思是形容詞「忠實的，堅定的」
As so often in the Trump presidency, it is hard to know how seriously to take all this. No coup is under way in America. Mr Trump does indeed have the right to mount legal challenges. The counting and certifying of election results has withstood pressure from above. Most of the Trump campaign’s lawsuits have already been dropped or tossed out by the courts. Mr Barr’s prosecutors explained that they could find no evidence of the kind of systematic fraud that the president insists took place. Despite violent threats, Georgia’s secretary of state refused to buckle.
coup 意思是「政變」，比如 to stage/mount a coup 就表示「發動政變」mount 這裡的意思是「發起；組織開展」，它還有「登上，爬上」的意思。withstand 意思是「經受住，頂住」lawsuit 指「訴訟」，相當於 suitbuckle 本意是「（被）壓彎，壓垮」，這裡可以理解為「示弱，服軟」，類似於字典例句：A weaker man would have buckled under the pressure.意志薄弱的人在這種壓力下可能就垮了。
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