外刊精读 | 《时代周刊》: The Power of Masks
上周一，特朗普在推特上发文表示“戴口罩是爱国行为”，来了个180°大转弯(仿佛忘记了之前一直强烈拒绝戴口罩的人是谁)。
今天的外刊精读我们就来看看《时代周刊》对人们拒绝戴口罩的报道。
1. Yet in the U.S., where the death rate from COVID-19 is now 394 per million people, face masks have been weaponized for partisan purposes. Taking their cues from President Trump, who has refused to appear on camera wearing a face mask and has said Americans who wear masks are doing so to show their disapproval of him，many of his supporters now see wearing a face mask as an affront to personal liberty.
这段话只有两个句子，但传达了很多信息，结构稍微复杂。小马会联系之前讲过的长难句翻译， 和大家一起分析学习一下。首先，看第一句：
“the death rate from COVID-19 is now 394 per million people”里，注意介词使用的是“from”不是“of”，这句话不是在讲新冠肺炎的死亡率，而是整个美国在疫情期间的死亡率，即每一百万人里就有394位死于新冠肺炎。
partisan: one who takes part with another, zealous supporter, especially one whose judgment is clouded by prejudiced adherence to a party. 盲目支持，由指对某个政党的盲目支持。联系后文，这里的“partisan purpose”可以理解为党派斗争。
【知识点拓展】
现代美国的两大党派分别是民主党（Democratic Party）和共和党（Republican Party）。其他党派均称为第三党（third party），比较大的第三党有自由党（Libertarian Party）、宪法党（Constitution Party）、绿党（Green Party）;还有一些小党如历史上曾辉煌一时的禁酒党（Prohibition Party）、社会主义和解放党（Party of Socialism and Liberation）、美国社会主义党（Socialist Party USA）、波士顿茶党（Boston Tea Party）。
第一句话点明了美国的现状和面临的问题：死于新冠肺炎的人数这么多，口罩问题却还只是党派斗争的武器。
那么政客到底怎么在口罩上做文章的？我们接着看第二句：“Taking their cues from President Trump,who has refused to appear on camera wearing a face mask and has said Americans who wear masks are doing so to show their disapproval of him, many of his supporters now see wearing a face mask as an affront to personal liberty.”
句子结构较复杂，“many of his supporters...”是主句部分，“taking their cues from President Trump”分词做原因状语，中间的定语从句修饰“President Trump”,解释他特朗普都做了哪些拒绝戴口罩的事。
cue：an action or event that is a signal for sb to do sth. 最常见的中文意思是：暗示、提示、信号，但理解为“受到总统特朗普的暗示”显然不妥（他这哪是暗示啊），理解为“受特朗普影响”更恰当。
affront: obvious insult. 侮辱，冒犯
syn（近义词）：insult, abuse
collocation（搭配）: an affront to
e.g.: It's an affront to human dignity to treat people so poorly.
翻译建议：联系上一期长难句翻译的内容，这样的长定语不可能直接放在被修饰词的前面，为了让主句的主谓宾间隔缩小，我们将句子重组：Trump has refused to appear on camera wearing a face mask and has said Americans who wear masks are doing so to show their disapproval of him. Many of his supporters take the cues from him (are influenced by him) and now see wearing a face mask as an affront to personal liberty. 先翻特朗普怎么做的，再翻他的支持者又怎么做的。更多英语长难句翻译技巧，戳上一期 ：
2. As a result of this alarming polarization, only 23 states and the District of Columbia are mandating face masks in public. Only four—Massachusetts, Maryland, Texas and West Virginia—have GOP governors. Some Republican-led states are trying to subvert local measures that require masks.
有人拒绝戴口罩，有人支持戴口罩，反映出来就是少部分地区强制人们戴口罩，这种分化很大程度上归咎于各个州的政治倾向。
文中有一些十分具体准确的用词：
polarization指代人们对戴口罩的不同态度，这个词不仅总结联系了上文，而且表现了问题的严重程度，人们已经不仅是“hold different views”了，而是走向两极分化。
动词是polarize：If something polarizes people or if something polarizes, two separate groups are formed with opposite opinions or positions.分化，极化。
e.g.: As the car rental industry polarizes, business will go to the bigger companies.
mandate: to order sb to behave, do sth or vote in a particular way.强制执行。这里表示政府强制或规定，也可以用“force”。Mandate还有“give sb, especially a government or a committee, the authority to do sth（授权）”的意思，这时候常用被动式“be mandated to”，注意区分，不要理解为被强迫做某事。
e.g.: The assembly was mandated to draft a constitution.
GOP：共和党的缩写，美国共和党(Republican Party United States)是美国轮流执政的两大资产阶级政党之一，又称为“大老党”（Grand Old Party，简写GOP）。共和党的党色是红色，标志是大象。美国民主党（Democratic Party United States）的颜色是蓝色，党符号是驴。两个党派间的斗争也称作驴象之争。
subvert: to try to destroy the authority of a political, religious, etc. system by attacking it secretly or indirectly. 颠覆，暗中破坏。这个词是很正式的用法，同义词有undermine, overturn, upset，这里表示人们对强制戴口罩的措施不满。
e.g.: This government will not allow anyone to subvert the law.
【参考译文】：这种两极分化的态度导致全美只有23个州和哥伦比亚特区要求人们在公共场合戴口罩。其中，只有马萨诸塞州、马里兰州、得克萨斯州和西弗吉尼亚州属于共和党州，其他共和党州的人们正极力反对任何要求戴口罩的措施。
不戴口罩的后果是什么？我们接着看下一段：
3. Rejecting face masks inevitably means embracing more COVID-19 cases and deaths. One U.S. study found that states with mask mandates had more rapid declines in daily growth rates of COVID-19, and estimated that mask use had prevented up to 450,000 cases by May 22. While researchers at the University of Washington now predict that the U.S. could reach 180,000 COVID-19 deaths by October, they say we could prevent 33,000 of these deaths if at least 95% of people wore masks.
这一段总体好理解，我们重点关注“embrace”这个单词：
embrace的基本含义：to put your arms around sb as a sign of love or friendship, 对应到中文就是“拥抱”。与hug不同，embrace的“拥抱”不仅指具体的动作，其抽象含义运用十分广泛：If you embrace a change, political system, or idea, you accept it and start supporting it or believing in it. 正式用词，指把某事物纳入整个之中。指包含因整体的性质决定的成分或结果。所包括的往往是无形的，不可触知的东西，多用作引申。
e.g.: We embraces the new information age.
【参考译文】：不戴口罩必然导致新冠肺炎感染人数和死亡人数的增多。美国一项研究显示，在实行口罩强制令的州，新冠肺炎感染者的日增长率下降更快；据估计，截止5月22日，戴口罩预防了多达45万例病例。据华盛顿大学的研究人员估计，截止十月，美国的新冠肺炎死亡人数将攀升至18万人，但同时他们也表示，如果口罩佩戴率超过95%，这一数字可能会减少3.3万。
下一段十分具有讽刺意义，我们一起来品品：
4. That’s right. We can avert the deaths of 33,000 of our parents, grandparents, siblings, co-workers, teachers, bus drivers, nurses, and store workers by just sticking a $1 piece of cloth over our noses and mouths.
avert: prevent bad or dangerous things from happening.防止，避免（坏事）
e.g.: A disaster was narrowly averted.
戴口罩作者不用“wear”而用“stick”（粘住），一是强调好好戴口罩，不要轻易取下来，就像粘在脸上一样；二则暗含作者反对戴口罩者的愤怒，直接把口罩粘在脸上，取都取不下来。
内容来源：《时代周刊》编辑：成都小马君
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