所屬教程:英語漫讀

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2017年02月14日

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Donald Trump won the presidential election with the support of a majority of white Americans. Some of these Americans were on the far right, people whom we would characterise as white nationalists. Does it follow that Mr Trump’s election victory was based on extreme racist sentiments? No.

唐納德•特朗普(Donald Trump)在美國白人的多數(shù)支持下贏得了大選。其中一些美國人是極右翼，我們將他們稱為白人民族主義者。這是否意味著特朗普的勝選基于極端種族主義情緒?并非如此。

Many people who supported Mr Trump were drawn to the Republican party platform because of its emphasis on limited government, individual freedoms and the rule of law. It is not always clear where Democratic party leaders stand on these basic American ideals.

許多特朗普支持者是因為共和黨強調(diào)有限政府、個人自由和法治而被其政綱吸引的。民主黨領(lǐng)袖在這些基本的美國政治理念上的立場并不總是很清楚。

In his inaugural address, the president offered a new vision of putting American interests first when it comes to tax policy, trade deals, immigration and defence, areas where the Democrats have been weak and ineffectual. Mr Trump emphasised patriotism and the unifying force of an American national identity, transcendent of race and ethnicity.

特朗普總統(tǒng)在就職演說中提出了新的愿景，即在稅收政策、貿(mào)易協(xié)定、移民和國防等問題上把美國的利益擺在優(yōu)先位置，這是民主黨較為軟弱和無效的領(lǐng)域。特朗普強調(diào)愛國主義以及超越種族和族裔的美國國家身份認(rèn)同的凝聚力。

During the campaign, Mr Trump intuited the fatigue that many Americans feel due to overdoses of political correctness and identity politics. A more self-conscious white America is developing, especially among able-bodied white men who see themselves as disadvantaged in their competition with other racial and ethnic groups.

在競選期間，特朗普憑直覺知道許多美國人因為過多上演的政治正確和身份政治而疲倦。一個更具自我意識的美國白人群體正在形成，尤其是在那些認(rèn)為自己在與其他種族和族裔的競爭中處于不利地位的身體健全的白人男性之中。

White Americans have a reason to be concerned about their future. Studies by Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton document rising death rates for middle-aged white Americans from preventable causes such as drug abuse, liver disease and suicide. These have been called “deaths of despair”, mostly affecting people with a high school education or less.

美國白人有理由擔(dān)憂他們的未來。普林斯頓大學(xué)(Princeton University)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家安妮•凱斯(Anne Case)和安格斯•迪頓(Angus Deaton)的研究證明，因為藥物濫用、肝臟疾病和自殺等可預(yù)防的原因而導(dǎo)致的美國中年白人的死亡率正在上升。這些被稱為“絕望的死亡”，主要影響高中及以下教育程度的人。

Whites live in a world where racial identity politics is played by every other group. They need only copy what other groups have done and use the language of multiculturalism and civil rights to undergird support for a more self-conscious white population.

白人生活在一個其他每一個群體都在利用種族身份政治的世界里。白人只需效仿其他群體的手段，利用多元文化主義和公民權(quán)利的言論來強化對更具自我意識的白人群體的支持。

We have heard a good deal about “white nationalism” recently. I define nationalism as the belief that people with a common language, heritage and culture should be able to maintain their differences from other groups. It can be positive if it revolves around allegiance to one’s country, and negative if it is narrowly focused on race. Nationalism in the positive sense differs from old-style, violently racist white supremacism.

我們最近聽了很多有關(guān)“白人民族主義”的說法。我對民族主義的定義是一種信念，即認(rèn)為擁有共同語言、遺產(chǎn)和文化的人們應(yīng)該能夠保持他們與其他群體的差異。如果民族主義圍繞著忠于國家這個核心，這種民族主義可以是積極的，如果民族主義只注重種族，那么這種民族主義就是負(fù)面的。積極的民族主義不同于舊式的、暴力種族主義的白人優(yōu)越主義。

White Americans have been concerned for years about a number of issues that have been mostly ignored by mainstream politicians. These included liberal immigration policies that rapidly changed the demographic make-up of the nation, structural changes in the economy that led to fewer job opportunities, anger about race-based affirmative action and fears about violent crime.

美國白人群體多年來一直擔(dān)憂主流政治人士大多忽視的一些問題，包括迅速改變國家人口組成的自由移民政策、導(dǎo)致工作機會變少的經(jīng)濟(jì)結(jié)構(gòu)變化、基于種族的平權(quán)行動導(dǎo)致的憤怒，以及對暴力犯罪的恐懼。

Mr Trump has vowed to address these issues, and to move the country away from identity politics and towards a national identity that recognises the ideals of the nation’s founding fathers. The president hopes to use patriotism to unite as many Americans as he can. For him to succeed, African-Americans and Hispanics have to get on board.

特朗普誓言解決這些問題，把這個國家?guī)щx身份政治，轉(zhuǎn)向認(rèn)可美國開國者所提出理念的國家身份認(rèn)同。這位總統(tǒng)希望利用愛國主義盡他所能地團(tuán)結(jié)更多美國人。如果他想要成功，非裔美國人和西班牙裔美國人必須加入其中。

Complaints about Mr Trump’s support from white Americans are misguided. They ignore the fact that the Democratic party has failed voters who care about lawlessness, welfare reform, illegal immigration and the breakdown of the family.

對特朗普得到美國白人支持的抱怨是錯誤的。這些抱怨忽視了一個事實：民主黨讓那些關(guān)注無法狀態(tài)、福利改革、非法移民和家庭破裂的選民失望了。

With his actions and rhetoric, Mr Trump has signalled that all lives matter. This is a welcomed acknowledgment for whites who have grown tired of defending themselves against charges of racism.

特朗普用行動和言論表示，所有人都很重要。對于厭倦了在種族主義指控面前為自己辯護(hù)的白人而言，這樣的承認(rèn)受到他們的歡迎。

One hopes the world will give Mr Trump the same opportunity to succeed or fail that it extended to Barack Obama during his eight years in office.

本人希望，世界能夠像在巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)在任的8年中給他機會那樣，也給特朗普同樣的成功或失敗的機會。

The writer is professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University

本文作者是美國范德堡大學(xué)(Vanderbilt University)政治學(xué)和法學(xué)教授