查看原文
其他

年度美剧落幕,说说“选情胶着”的各式表达

2016-11-16 双语讯飞
在大家都讨论特朗普上台以后的全球局势时,我们还是继续带大家学点英语吧。在各州票数统计结果相继出炉,两人获得的选举人票数相当接近的情况下,很多媒体都用tight race来形容选情,也就是“两个人的票数咬得很紧”。除了这个很官方的表达之外,英美的各路媒体差不多把相近的表达都用上了,比如:razor close,neck and neck,too close to call,等等。我们一个一个来说。
1.Razor close英国《卫报》在直播选情时有个标题是这样写的:Trump and Clinton watch votes as Florida 'razor close'。Razor是啥?男士们应该都熟悉,是剃须刀。如果说两个人的票数差距只有一片剃须刀的厚度,那就是非常接近的意思。一般来说,英语里会用razor-close做形容词,比如:This is a razor-close race,《卫报》的标题中显然是把没有实际意义的is给省略了。
我们来看《卫报》的一段报道原文:According to Florida’s board of elections, Trump is leading by just over one percentage point. All eyes are on this state. If the results end up incredibly close, we could end up with a repeat scenario of the 2000 election recount when the presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore was so narrow that Florida Election Code 102.141 mandated a statewide machine recount.
佛罗里达州选举委员会表示,特朗普目前只领先一个多百分点。所有人都盯着这里的选情。如果最终两人的票数非常接近,我们可能要重现2000年小布什和戈尔竞选时票数重计的场景。当时,两人在佛州的票数差距特别小,于是,根据佛州选举法102.141进行了全州范围内的选票重计。
这里的narrow也是经常用来形容差距“微弱”,比如:a narrow victory;另外,我们也常用narrow escape来形容某件坏事差一点点就发生在自己身上,比如:Two police officers had a narrow escape when separatists attacked their vehicles.
 2.Too close to call英国《电讯报》也是在佛州、北卡等州的结果咬得很紧的时候出了这样一个标题:Donald Trump projected to win early states while Florida, Ohio and North Carolina remain too close to call。Too…to这个固定搭配大概是很多人最开始学英语时就接触过的吧?太…而不能…,句子里没有出现not,但人家就是表示否定的意思。提醒一句,这里的call可不是“打电话”的意思,而是“宣布(某人获胜)”。美国《华盛顿邮报》也用了类似的标题:Key battleground states too close to call。
我们来看《电讯报》的报道原文:Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are locked in a tense battle for the White House, as results in several crucial swing states went down to the wire.
希拉里和特朗普的白宫之战僵持不下,几个关键摇摆州的投票结果最后才出炉。
Down to the wire是个固定搭配,指“直到最后时刻”(until the last possible moment),比如:The election was so close, it went down to the wire and was decided by a court.
As of 2am GMT, the candidates were neck and neck in Florida, which Mr Trump needed to win to have any chance of winning the presidency.
截至格林尼治标准时间凌晨2点,两人在佛罗里达州的票数不相上下。特朗普要赢下该州才有希望赢得大选。
Neck and neck这个短语表达“不相上下”的意思最初是来自于赛马,有的时候两匹马齐头并进,很难分辨出哪匹马在前头,哪一匹在后头。有可能两匹马的脖子是平行的,但是,由于一匹马的嘴或者鼻子率先过了终点线,结果最终赢得比赛。
 3.Deadlock大选中,两位候选人主要的较量是在摇摆州,而摇摆州的选情一度胶着,所以,BBC在报道时这样描述:Clinton and Trump in swing states deadlock,两人在摇摆州陷入僵局。
Deadlock字面意思就是“死结,死扣”,在谈判或者竞争形势不明朗时多用deadlock形容当时的“僵持局面”“陷入僵局”就用reach a deadlock,“打破僵局”呢?当然就是把reach换成break啦!
我们来看BBC的报道原文:Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are locked in a knife-edge battle in swing states after polls closed across half the US in the White House election.
美国大选半数地区投票结束,希拉里和特朗普在摇摆州选情难料。
4.Knife-edge本意是“刀刃”,这里指的是“形势难料”,谁都有可能领先,大概跟我们开头说的razor的用意类似。
说到这个knife-edge,想起Daily Mail在报道中也说过这么一句:“The balance of political power in the United States is teetering on a knife's edge as a handful of swing states will determine the result of the 2016 presidential-election smackdown between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.”
Teeter原意指“摇晃,(走得)不稳”,teetering on a knife's edge不就是“在刀刃上摇晃行走”吗?这样的描述足以让读者感受到当时选情的形势了吧?大家有没有发现 ,上面的BBC报道也用到了knife-edge哦!
5.Nail-biter只要是关注美国大选选情的人大概都会觉得那情势着实有点让人揪心和紧张。人们在紧张的时候一般会有一些下意识的动作,比如,咬指甲。CNN在报道关键摇摆州选情的时候就用了这样一个标题:A nail-biter in Florida and 5 other key states。
我们的语言之所以丰富,就是因为大多来自于真实的生活,这里的nail-biter就是一个很好的例子。我们可以说the race is a nail-biter,也可以说the race is really nail-biting。只要你掌握了基本的英语词汇变化规律,想怎么用就怎么用。
我们来看CNN的报道原文:Donald Trump has an Electoral College lead at this point, but keep in mind that reliable blue strongholds on the West Coast still have to come in with their sizable vote totals.
特朗普目前的选举人票处于领先位置,不过,大家别忘了,西海岸的民主党票仓结果还没出呢,那里贡献的票数还是可观的。We're still waiting on all of our key battleground states, including razor thin Florida.
我们还在等待所有战场州(摇摆州)的结果,这其中包括票数差距很微弱的佛罗里达州。
本文来源:中国日报网

点击阅读原文 


您可能也对以下帖子感兴趣

文章有问题?点此查看未经处理的缓存