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.

美国总统大选仅还有好些星期便要举行。这将会是近代历史上最consequential 的选举——consequential一字有许多意思，但在这里是指一件事甚为重要、举足轻重，将会对日后事件产生巨大影响力的。A consequential election就是会在政治上大大影响或改变一个国家的选举。因为掩盖一宗性丑闻而被判有罪的前总统唐纳德‧特朗普，正在与副总统贺锦丽争逐总统之位，她是个有着印裔母亲与黑人父亲的女人。这是前所未有的。

除了父亲是黑人而母亲是白人的巴拉克‧奥巴马，过往所有总统都是白人男人。美国的劳动节是在每年9月的第一个星期一，造成了3日的周末长假期。它颂扬美国劳工以及标志着夏季非正式的完结。今年的劳动节是在9月2日，而在那日之后，总统选举的竞选活动便会全速前进（full swing）。To be in full swing是解作活动最活跃的一个阶段。特朗普与贺锦丽都募捐了数以百万计的金钱，投放在attack ads之上。

An attack ad是攻击政治对手的一种电视广告。这样的广告耗资数以百万计的美元。两边都会挖出对方的黑材料（digging up dirt），用在这些攻击对手的攻击广告（attack ads）之中。To dig up dirt 是指去挖出竞争对手的负面消息，以贬损对方的名声。我现在寄居于印地安纳州的印地安纳波利斯一个亲戚的家中，每次开电视的时候，都会见到贺锦丽与特朗普攻击对手的竞选广告（attack ads）。许多地方，包括香港，都不会容许这种攻击对手的竞选广告（attack ads）出现。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻