翻译数据库中英对照：美国对华认知中的谬误和事实真相 [7]
Reality Check: Falsehoods in US Perceptions of China [7]
◆美式民主权力制衡变成“否决政治”。美国政治学家弗朗西斯·福山在其专著《政治秩序与政治衰退》中指出，美国存在根深蒂固的政治瘫痪现象，美国的政治体制中有太多的制衡，以致集体行动的成本大大增加，有时甚至寸步难行。美国民主程序分散、冗长，存在大量否决点，个别否决行为即可影响体系行动，所谓“相互制衡蕴涵纠偏能力”的预设在实际操作中日益走样。华盛顿的政客关注的是保住党派利益，国家发展的宏图伟略早已抛诸脑后。美国两党痴迷于“否决”，陷入难以自拔的恶性循环，其结果必然是政府效能被弱化、公正法治被践踏、发展进步被迟滞、社会分裂被放大。
◆ The checks and balances in the American-style democracy have resulted in a “vetocracy”. American political scientist Francis Fukuyama points out in his book Political Order and Political Decay that there is an entrenched political paralysis in the US. The US political system has far too many checks and balances, raising the cost of collective action and in some cases making it impossible altogether. The US democratic process is fragmented and lengthy, with a lot of veto points where individual veto players can block action by the whole body. The function of “checks and balances”, which was purportedly designed to prevent abuse of power, has been distorted in American political practice. Politicians in Washington, D.C. are preoccupied with securing their own partisan interests and no longer care about national development. The two parties are addicted to vetoing and caught in a vicious circle. The government efficacy is inevitably weakened, law and justice trampled upon, development and progress stalled, and social division widened.
2021年10月美国智库皮尤研究中心对美国、德国、韩国等17个发达经济体所做调查结果显示，美国被视为政治极化最严重国家，90%的美国受访者认为不同党派的支持者之间存在严重分歧，近六成美国受访者认为民众不仅在政策领域意见相左，在基本事实方面也难以达成共识。
According to a Pew Research Center report in October 2021 based on a survey of 17 advanced economies including the US, Germany and the ROK, the US is more politically divided than the other economies surveyed. Nine in ten US respondents believe there are strong conflicts between people who support different political parties, and nearly 60 percent of Americans surveyed think their fellow citizens no longer disagree simply over policies, but also over basic facts.
随着党争、政争日益极化，共和党和民主党更加“为了反对而反对”。受此影响，两党选民对枪支的态度也日益对立，共和党内76％的选民捍卫持枪权，民主党内81％的选民认为管控枪支更重要。在利益、党争、民意裹挟下，美控枪立法、执法进程步履维艰。10年来，民主党国会议员每年就枪支暴力、枪支管控等提出数十项议案，但囿于共和党顽固阻挠，能成功进入参院或众院全会审议辩论环节的屈指可数。
As political and partisan polarization continues to grow, more “opposition for opposition’s sake” is seen among Democrats and Republicans. Under its influence, voters of the two parties are increasingly antagonized over gun policy. Among Republican voters, 76 percent support the right to possess guns, while 81 percent of Democratic voters see gun control as more important. Hijacked by interest, partisan conflict and the public opinion, the legislation and law enforcement process of gun control is fraught with difficulties. For the past ten years, Democratic congressmen put forward dozens of bills on gun violence and gun control every year, but due to the continued obstruction from the Republican Party, only a handful of them successfully entered the plenary deliberation and debate stage at the Senate or the House of Representatives.
美国步枪协会（NRA）有500万会员，每年花上亿美元打广告、搞游说，其触角深入美国社会肌理。NRA是美共和党重要金主，1871年成立以来已成功吸引了9位总统入会。据2018年美国有线电视新闻网报道，在535名国会议员中，有307人都曾获得该协会及其下属机构的政治献金，或从其广告宣传中获益。在庞大的利益面前，种种控枪努力只能化为乌有。
The US National Rifle Association (NRA) has five million members and spends hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising and lobbying every year. Its tentacles penetrate deep into the fabric of the American society. The NRA is an important funder of the Republican Party. Since its establishment in 1871, the NRA has successfully attracted nine US presidents to join it. According to CNN statistics in 2018, 307 of the 535 US congressmen have received either direct campaign contributions from the NRA and its affiliates or benefited from independent NRA spending like advertising supporting their campaigns. In the face of huge profits, all kinds of gun control efforts have ended up in vain.
◆美国不是民主的优等生，美民主实践乱象丛生。2021年1月6日，数千名美国民众聚集在华盛顿国会山并强行闯入国会大厦，以阻止美国国会联席会议确认美国新当选总统。事件导致美总统权力过渡进程中断并造成5人死亡，140多人受伤。此次事件是自1814年白宫遭英军纵火焚烧以来华盛顿最严重的暴力事件，震惊了国际社会。美国会参议院共和党领袖将这一事件称为“失败的叛乱”。
◆ The US is not a straight A student when it comes to democracy. Its practice of democracy has been messy and chaotic. On 6 January 2021, thousands of Americans gathered on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. and stormed the Capitol building in a bid to stop the joint session of the Congress from certifying the newly-elected president. The incident interrupted the transfer of US presidential power, leaving five dead and over 140 injured. It is the worst act of violence in Washington, D.C. since 1814 when the British troops set fire to the White House, and it sent shock waves throughout the international community. The US Senate Republican leader described it as a “failed insurrection”.
美国对外关系委员会学者称，美国不像许多美国人想的那样与众不同，冲闯国会事件应给“美国例外论”和“山巅之城”的说法画上句号。
A scholar from the US Council on Foreign Relations says that the US is not nearly as unique as many Americans believe, and that the Capitol riot should put an end to the notion of American exceptionalism, of an eternal shining city on a hill.
美国国际问题专家在《纽约时报》发表文章称，美国领导人虽然重新统一了西方，但他可能无法重新统一美国。特朗普及其支持者通过谎言否认美既定的宪法规则和规范，可能破坏美政府和平合法移交权力的能力，导致美任何机构都无法长期运转，陷入政治和金融混乱。
An American expert on international issues wrote in The New York Times that while the US leader has reunited the West, he may not be able to reunite America. Trump and his supporters would be willing to depart from established constitutional rules and norms with his Big Lie. This may undermine the ability of the US government to transfer power peacefully and legitimately. Consequently none of the institutions will work for long, and the people will be thrust into political and financial chaos.
◆美式民主制度失灵引发信任危机。美式民主台前喊人民、背后搞交易，党同伐异、金钱政治、否决政治根本不能带来民众所希望的高质量治理。美国民众对美国政治愈发反感，对美式民主愈发消极。
◆ The dysfunctional American-style democracy has triggered a trust crisis. Public commitments to the people come with behind-the-scene deals. Political infighting, money politics, and vetocracy make it virtually impossible for quality governance to be delivered as aspired by the general public. Americans are increasingly disillusioned with the US politics and pessimistic about the American-style democracy.
2020年10月，美国盖洛普民调公司调查显示，对总统选举非常有信心的美国受访者比例仅有19%，创下自2004年以来该调查的最低纪录。据《华尔街日报》2022年6月民调，60%的民众对“美国梦”前景悲观。
A Gallup survey in October 2020 shows that only 19 percent of the Americans surveyed are “very confident” about the presidential election, a record low since the survey was first conducted in 2004. According to a poll conducted by The Wall Street Journal in June 2022, six out of 10 Americans feel pessimistic about achieving the American dream.
2021年皮尤民调显示，65%的美国人认为美民主制度需要重大改革；16个发达国家民众对美国民主信心下降，57%的受访者认为美不再是民主典范。
A Pew Research in 2021 shows that 65 percent of Americans see a need for major reform to the American democracy. People’s confidence in the American democracy dropped in 16 developed countries, and 57 percent of respondents think that the American democracy is no longer a good example to follow.
注：为确保中英对照准确，“热词译”网站可能对中英文重新分段。