看美国大选辩论学英语系列（二）

1. Town hall debate

如果大家还有印象的话，第一场辩论，两人一直站在各自的讲台（podium）后面，回答主持人的提问，然后展开辩论，基本没有离开自己的位置。

到了第二场，辩论的形式灵活了一些，两人可以在场内自由走动，提问的主角是现场观众，这些观众都是在圣路易斯地区选出来明确表示对任何一位候选人都没有倾向性的普通选民（undecided voters）。观众提问，两位候选人回答，主持人会适时跟进一些问题（ask follow-up questions）。因为这种形式很像某个小镇开会议事，居民提问，镇长回答，所以被称为town hall debate，现场观众就被称为town hall participants。

原话摘录：

“Tonight's debate is a town hall format which gives voters the chance to directly ask the candidates questions. Martha and I will ask follow-up questions but the night really belongs to the people in this room and to people across the country who committed questions online. The people you see on this stage were chosen by the Gallup organization, are all from the St. Louis area and told Gallup they have not committed to a candidate. Each of them came here with questions they wanted to ask and we saw the questions for the first time this morning.

（主持人Anderson Cooper）今晚的辩论采用市政厅会议的形式，选民有机会直接向两位候选人提问。Martha和我会跟进一些问题，但提问权属于今天在场的观众以及在线提交问题的全国民众。今天在场的观众是有盖乐普公司在圣路易斯地区挑选出来的，他们都表明对任何一位候选人没有倾向性。每一位观众都带来了自己想问的问题，我们也是今天早晨才看到这些问题。”

2. Mimic and mock

从修辞手法的角度来看，字母m开头的两个词连用属于押头韵（alliteration），即若干相邻词的开头或重读音节中对相同字母、辅音或不同元音的重复。这种修辞方式在诗歌中很常见，使得句子读起来押韵合辙，悦耳动听，有时也能增加句子的气势。再举几个例子：I dreamt of a drip-dropping drain in my dream/Your friends will flip-flop fast when facing trouble/Grass grows greener in the graveyard。

Mimic指“戏仿某人”，也就是说，通过模仿别人来取笑别人；mock比mimic更甚，指“嘲弄别人”，有时也是通过模仿来表现对别人的嘲弄和嘲笑。

这段话是在辩论一开始，难免要提到特朗普玩弄女性的录音，特朗普说那都是过去的“更衣室谈话”（locker room talk），即言语粗俗的私人谈话，他说他很尊重女性。希拉里则表示，他不光不尊重女性，他曾经冒犯过很多人，但是他从来没有向任何人道过歉。

原话摘录：

“He never apologized to Mr. And Mrs. Khan, the gold star family whose son, Captain Khan died in the line of duty in Iraq and Donald insulted and attacked them for weeks over their religion. He never apologized to the distinguished federal judge who was born in Indiana, but Donald said he couldn't be trusted to be a judge because his parents were "Mexican." He never apologized to the reporter that he mimicked and mocked on national television and our children were watching. And he never apologized for the racist lie that President Obama was not born in the United States of America. He owes the president an apology and he owes our country an apology and he needs to take responsibility for his actions and his words.

他从来没有向卡恩夫妇道过歉，他们家是金星家庭（金星家庭指在战斗或者军事行动中牺牲的美军士兵的直系亲属），他们的儿子是在伊拉克战争中牺牲的卡恩上尉，而特朗普连续几周侮辱他们、攻击他们的宗教信仰。他从来没有向出生在印第安纳州的一位出色的联邦法官道歉，特朗普说这位法官不值得信任，因为他的父母是墨西哥人。他从来没有向那位被他公开在电视上嘲笑和模仿的记者道歉，我们国家的孩子们可都在看电视呢。他也从来没有向奥巴马总统就种族主义谎言道歉，他说奥巴马总统不是在美国出生的。他欠总统一个道歉，欠我们国家一个道歉，他要为他的言行负起责任。”

3. Tarnish

希拉里提到俄罗斯网络入侵美国，并称俄罗斯想通过这些行动对美国大选搅局，然后帮助特朗普当选。特朗普表示，他不认识普京，但是美国的确应该跟俄罗斯搞好关系，那样两国可以联合起来对付ISIS。特朗普有点委屈地说：“他们总是用俄罗斯的事儿来诋毁我。”

Tarnish算是个常用词，动词名词皆可，指“污点/瑕疵，金属失去光泽，玷污或败坏（某人的名声）”，常见的搭配是tarnish somebody/something with something。与其意思相近的另外一个同级别词是blemish，也是动名词皆可用，表示“污点，玷污”等意，比如：He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.

原话摘录：

“I don't know Putin. I think it would be great if we got along with Russia because we could fight ISIS together, as an example, but I don't know Putin. But I notice, any time anything wrong happens, they like to say the Russians, well she doesn't know if it's the Russians doing the hacking. Maybe there is no hacking, but there is - now Russia - and the reason they blame Russia is they think they’re trying to tarnish me with Russia. I know nothing about Russia - I know about Russia, but I know nothing about the inner workings of Russia. I don’t deal there, I have no businesses there, I have no loans from Russia.

我不认识普京。我觉得要是能跟俄罗斯搞好关系应该挺好的，因为我们可以一起对付ISIS。但我真的不认识普京。不过，我发现，每次有问题出现，他们很喜欢拿俄罗斯说事儿，其实她也不知道那些网络入侵是不是俄罗斯人干的。或者，根本没有入侵，但是俄罗斯是存在的，他们谴责俄罗斯是因为他们想用俄罗斯来诋毁我。我完全不了解俄罗斯——我知道俄罗斯，但我不了解俄罗斯内部的运作情况。我不和他们做生意，在那里没有买卖，也没跟俄罗斯借钱。”

4. Xenophobic

希拉里曾经评价特朗普的支持者中有一半应该受到谴责，称他们是种族主义者、性别歧视主义者、恐同分子、惧外分子、恐伊斯兰分子。被现场观众问及此事时，希拉里回应称，她很抱歉说过这样的话，不过她针对的是特朗普，而不是他的支持者。

Xenophobic，读音ˈze-nə-ˌfōbik， unduly fearful of what is foreign and especially of people of foreign origin，无端畏惧外国人（或事物）的。这里的xeno-是个前缀，表示alien，strange；phobic是phobia（恐惧症）的形容词形式，如果想表达患有某种恐惧症的人则用后缀phobe。列出一些常见的恐惧症：amaxophobia（乘车恐惧症）、kathisophobia（静坐恐惧症）、claustrophobia（密闭空间恐惧症），以及近几年才出现的nomophobia（无手机恐惧症）。

原话摘录：

“Cooper: I want to follow on with something Donald Trump said to you. A comment you made last month. You said half of Donald Trump supporters are quote deplorables. Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, islamophobic. You later said you regretted saying half. You didn't express regret for using the term deplorables. To Mr. Carter’s question, how can you unite a country if you've written off tens of millions of Americans?

主持人Cooper：我想就特朗普对你的言论跟进一下。上月你评论称，特朗普的支持者中有一半人应该受到谴责，称他们是种族主义者、性别歧视主义者、恐同分子、惧外分子、恐伊斯兰分子。后来，你说后悔说了‘一半’那个词。但你并没有对使用deplorables这个词表示后悔。回到卡特先生的提问，如果你都把这上千万的美国人给排除在外了，你怎么团结整个国家呢？”

Clinton: Well within hours I said I was sorry about the way I talked about that because my argument is not with his supporters, it's with him and the divisive campaign he has run and the inciting of violence at his rallies and the very brutal kinds of comments about not just women, but all Americans.

克林顿：我说完那番话几个小时以后我就对此表示了歉意，我的言论并不是针对他的支持者，而是针对特朗普本人以及他这种分裂的竞选方式、他的竞选活动激起的暴力行为以及针对女性和全体美国人的残酷言论。”

5. Compliment

在辩论的最后，有位观众提了一个很好的问题：抛开场上的唇枪舌战，你们二位能不能互相说出对方身上值得看重的一点？希拉里表示，特朗普的孩子们都很棒，由此也反应了他的部分为人。特朗普接话称，希拉里夸我孩子，我很受用，希拉里一直在战斗，没有退出，她是个斗士，这是他看重的。

Compliment通常都用来表示“恭维、致意、赞美”，常用的搭配为pay/give someone a compliment，表示“赞美或恭维某人”。比如，有人看到你后说：“你走过来的时候，我还以为碰见范冰冰了呢！”这个时候你可以回答说“I’ll take that as a compliment. （我就当你是在夸我吧）”

英语里还有一个词跟这个词发音一样，拼写方式也很接近，很容易搞错，需要大家多留心，这个词就是complement，指“补充，补足，补充剂”，比如，we complement each other（我们互补），Rice makes an excellent complement to a curry dish（咖喱菜式配米饭最棒）。

原话摘录：

“Clinton: Well, I respect his children. His children are incredibly able and devoted and I think that says a lot about Donald. I don't agree with nearly anything else he says or does, but I do respect that and think that is something that as a mother and a grandmother is very important to me.

克林顿：我觉得他的孩子们挺好的。他们都很有能力而且专注，这也反应了特朗普的为人。他的言行我差不多都不赞同，但我的确欣赏他的孩子们，这对我一个当了母亲和祖母的人来说很重要。

Trump: Well, I consider her statement about my children to be a very nice compliment. I don't know if it was meant to be a compliment, but it is a great... I'm proud of my children. They have done a wonderful job and they have been wonderful, wonderful kids. So I consider that a compliment. I will say this about Hillary. She doesn't quit and she doesn't give up. I respect that. I tell it like it is. She is a fighter. I disagree with much of what she is fighting for, I do disagree with her judgment in many cases, but she does fights hard and doesn't quit and she doesn’t give up, and I consider that a very good trait.

特朗普：她对于我家孩子的这番表达对我来说是很好的恭维。我不知道她说这些是不是算称赞我，不过的确受用，我以我的孩子们为荣。他们表现都很棒，是很好的孩子。所以，我觉得这是一种赞美。对于希拉里，我想说的是，她没有退出，没有放弃。我很尊重这一点。的确如此。她是个斗士。她为之战斗的很多事情我都不赞同，她做的很多决策我都反对，但是，她的确一直在战斗，没有退出，没有放弃，我觉得这是一个很好的品质。”

这个问题问得真好，一场火药味十足的辩论好歹在友好的气氛中结束了。