又中又英｜Goes off the rails

After winning last November\'s presidential election, Donald Trump moved quickly to keep his campaign promise of reducing America\'s huge deficit by cutting the size of the government. He created the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to be headed by billionaire businessmen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Its job is to cut wasteful expenditure and increase efficiency by restructuring the federal government. DOGE is an advisory commission, not an official government department. Musk and Ramaswamy will not get a government salary. But DOGE could go off the rails because of growing fears that Musk and Ramaswamy will cut spending on many popular government services and benefits, including retirement payments and healthcare.

If something goes off the rails, it means it starts behaving in an unacceptable way. The federal government’s expenditure last year was US$6.8 trillion, partly financed by borrowing. Musk had said he could cut US$2 trillion from this budget. He and Ramaswamy have threatened to fire thousands of federal government workers to stop America\'s ballooning budget. A ballooning budget means a budget that rises rapidly because of increased spending. There are fears DOGE will reduce Social Security, a monthly payment for older Americans, and Medicare, which provides healthcare for retirees at a low monthly payment.

Most Americans agree the US budget and debt are too high and should be reduced. Musk and Ramaswamy will face headwinds in the US Congress if they try to reduce expenditure for popular benefits such as Social Security and Medicare. A headwind is a wind that blows in the opposite direction of your movement. But to face headwinds can also mean to face opposition against what you want to do.

在上年11月总统大选中胜出过后，唐纳德‧特朗普很快便转去履行他的竞选承诺，透过缩减政府规模来减省美国巨大的财赤。他创建了「政府效率部」（DOGE），由亿万富商伊隆‧马斯克以及维维克‧拉马斯瓦米所领导。它的工作是去削减浪费性的开支，以及重组联邦政府以增加效率。DOGE是个谘询委员会，而不是正式的政府部门，马斯克和拉马斯瓦米也不会获得政府薪酬。但DOGE也可能会超出常规（go off the rails），人们逐渐担心马斯克和拉马斯瓦米会削减许多受欢迎的政府服务和福利方面的开支，包括退休金以及医疗保健。

若某事物 goes off the rails，意即它开始做出脱轨、不能接受的行径。联邦政府上年的开支是6万8000亿美元，部分是从举债而得的。马斯克说他会从这个预算中削减2万亿美元。他和拉马斯瓦米威胁要炒掉数以万计的联邦政府人员，以阻止美国的 ballooning budget。A ballooning budget就是因为增加的开支而迅速膨胀的预算。人们担心DOGE会缩减每月补助年长美国人的社安保障金，以及联邦医疗保险，就是以很低的月费为退休人士提供医疗保健。

大部分的美国人都赞同，美国的预算与负债实在太高，应予以削减。若果马斯克及拉马斯瓦米尝试削减受欢迎的福利开支如社安保障金及联邦医疗保险，将会在美国国会中面对阻力（face headwinds）。A headwind就是逆风，跟你移动的方向相反的；但to face headwinds也可以解作你想要做的事将要遭到反对。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻