又中又英｜Consequential election

Just weeks remain before the US presidential election. It will be the most consequential election in recent history. The word “consequential” has many meanings but used this way it means something very significant or important that will have a strong influence on events. A consequential election is an election that will politically affect or change a country in a big way. Former President Donald Trump, who was convicted of covering up a sex scandal, is running against Vice President Kamala Harris, a woman with an Indian mother and Black father. This has never happened before.

Past presidents were all White men except for Barack Obama, who had a Black father and a White mother. America’s Labor Day (Labour in British English) is on the first Monday of September every year, creating a three-day weekend. It celebrates American workers and marks the unofficial end of summer. Presidential election campaigning goes into full swing after Labor Day, which was on September 2 this year. To be in full swing means to be at a stage when activity is highest. Trump and Harris have raised millions of dollars from donations for attack ads.

An attack ad is a TV advertisement attacking a political opponent. Such ads cost millions of dollars. Both sides are digging up dirt on each other to use for attack ads. To dig up dirt means to search for negative information about opponents to damage their reputation. I am now staying at a relative’s house in Indianapolis in the state of Indiana. Whenever I turn on the TV, I see attack ads by Harris and Trump. Many places, including Hong Kong, don’t allow election attack ads.

美國總統大選僅還有好些星期便要舉行。這將會是近代歷史上最consequential 的選舉——consequential一字有許多意思，但在這裏是指一件事甚為重要、舉足輕重，將會對日後事件產生巨大影響力的。A consequential election就是會在政治上大大影響或改變一個國家的選舉。因為掩蓋一宗性醜聞而被判有罪的前總統唐納德‧特朗普，正在與副總統賀錦麗爭逐總統之位，她是個有着印裔母親與黑人父親的女人。這是前所未有的。

除了父親是黑人而母親是白人的巴拉克‧奧巴馬，過往所有總統都是白人男人。美國的勞動節是在每年9月的第一個星期一，造成了3日的周末長假期。它頌揚美國勞工以及標誌着夏季非正式的完結。今年的勞動節是在9月2日，而在那日之後，總統選舉的競選活動便會全速前進（full swing）。To be in full swing是解作活動最活躍的一個階段。特朗普與賀錦麗都募捐了數以百萬計的金錢，投放在attack ads之上。

An attack ad是攻擊政治對手的一種電視廣告。這樣的廣告耗資數以百萬計的美元。兩邊都會挖出對方的黑材料（digging up dirt），用在這些攻擊對手的攻擊廣告（attack ads）之中。To dig up dirt 是指去挖出競爭對手的負面消息，以貶損對方的名聲。我現在寄居於印地安納州的印地安納波利斯一個親戚的家中，每次開電視的時候，都會見到賀錦麗與特朗普攻擊對手的競選廣告（attack ads）。許多地方，包括香港，都不會容許這種攻擊對手的競選廣告（attack ads）出現。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻