(1). An army without generals
无将之军
(2). If Barack Obama is not really the leader of the Democratic Party, who is?
如果奥巴马不是民主党真正的领袖,那么谁是?
(3). 1:THOUGH leading the Republican Party can be a trying task, many politicians want to have a go.
2:Ambition swirls so thickly in the halls of the 114th Congress, which was sworn in on January 6th, that it can almost be touched.
3:Republican leaders, whips and committee chairmen, even the bosses of rebellious factions: all yearn to use their party’s newly won control of the Senate and House of Representatives to make Barack Obama’s life miserable and promote voter-pleasing conservative policies.
4:As for the 2016 presidential nomination, around a dozen Republican bigwigs are circling the starting-line of that contest, eyes agleam.
5:The party is fractious, but it is filled with energy, and those who would lead.
1:虽说领导共和党是个尝试性的任务,但许多政客都想要参与其中。
2:114届国会于1月6日宣誓就职,在这届的国会大厅内,野心的漩涡异常浓厚,仿佛伸手可触。
3:共和党领袖、政党纪律委员、委员会主席,甚至是反叛派的头,都渴望利用自己党派赢得新的竞选从而控制参众两院,好让奥巴马的日子难过并推进选民欢迎的保守性政策。
4:至于2016总统候选人提名,约十几位共和党内的大人物已经站在了起跑线上跃跃欲试,眼睛里闪烁着光芒。
5:共和党是急躁的,但它满是能量,也满是野心上位的人。
(4). 1:The contrast with the Democratic Party is striking.
2:The party remains a potent force in national politics, even after 2014’s mid-term elections cost it control of the Senate and left it with fewer House members than at any time since 1946.
3:But as Democrats head into the final two years of the Obama era, they resemble an army without a commander-in-chief, or even generals whom footsoldiers might follow into battle.
1:民主党则与其形成了鲜明对比。
2:即使在2014年中期选举后民主党失去了参议院控制权,且其众议院席位降至1946年以来最低,但民主党在国家政治中仍有强大力量。
3:但随着民主党的领导进入了奥巴马时代的最后两年,它就像一支没有司令的军队,甚至没有将军能带领补兵上战场。
(5). 1:In Congress the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House are both in their 70s, as are many of their lieutenants.
2:Both are crafty tacticians more than inspiring thinkers.
3:Neither represents the future.
4:Out in the country, Republicans can point to any number of governors who look like conservative champions, busy turning their states into laboratories for tax-cutting, government-shrinking experiments.
5:Only a handful of Democratic governors similarly dominate their states’ politics—the most prominent, Jerry Brown of California, is 76 years old.
1:国会中,参众两院的民主党领导人都已70多岁,身边助手成群。
2:他们都是狡猾的战术家而非启蒙思想家。
3:他们都无法代表未来。
4:在国内,共和党可以找出许多看起来像保守党领袖的州长,他们忙着把自己的州变成减税及政府缩减试验的试验区。
5:只有极少数民主党州长在州内做同样的事情—最突出的就是加利福尼亚州76岁的州长杰瑞·布朗。
(6). 1:President Obama’s relations with the Democratic Party are increasingly complicated.
2:After a wretched 2014, during which he seemed buffeted by events, Republicans successfully made the mid-term elections a referendum on his competence, prompting Democrats in some conservative states to try to disown him (in vain—most such Democrats lost anyway).
3:Since then, Mr Obama has defied predictions of his imminent irrelevance.
4:He has used his executive powers to shield millions of migrants from deportation, and started to dismantle the (remarkably ineffective) embargo against Cuba.
5:He has sketched out future policies that may define his legacy, from new rules to protect the environment to global trade pacts.
6:Republicans will try to thwart many of his plans.
7:Global events continue to menace him.
8:But as much as his office permits, Mr Obama is setting the agenda.
1:总统奥巴马与民主党的关系日益复杂。
2:在他被事件冲击的悲惨的2014过去后,共和党成功地把中期选举办成了对他能力的公民投票,推动一些保守州内民主党人对他的否定(这不过是徒劳,因为多数民主党人已经失去了席位)。
3:此后,奥巴马蔑视关于他即将下台的预言。
4:他利用自己的行政权力保护了数百万移民免受驱逐,并废除了对古巴明显无效的禁运政策。
5:他勾勒出未来的政策趋势,从新环境保护规定到全球贸易协定,这些政策有可能成为他史册留名的资本。
6:共和党人试图阻止他的多项计划。
7:全球大事件继续威胁着他。
8:但奥巴马正在自己的权限范围内,力定大局。
(7). 1:Yet if Mr Obama is not quite the lame-duck president that critics foresaw, he is still a lame-duck leader of the Democratic Party.
2:Partly, this is a question of differing incentives.
3:Mr Obama wants a legacy.
4:Democrats have future elections to win.
5:As Mr Obama conceded to National Public Radio recently, such policies as unpicking the Cuban embargo are “frankly…easier” for a president at the end of his term.
6:Mr Obama has a strong interest in achievements that can pass a Republican-held Congress.
7:Two planned trade pacts, one with Asia-Pacific countries, the other with Europe, are a case in point.
8:Republicans and some centrist Democrats want a deal.
9:Left-wing Democrats and unions are appalled.
1:然而,即使奥巴马没有像评论家预测的那样成为跛脚鸭,他在民主党内的情况也将如此。
2:部分来说,这是一个关于不同动机的问题。
3:奥巴马想实测留名。
4:民主党人想要赢得未来的选举。
5:正如奥巴马近来在国家公共广播电台上承认的那样:坦白的说,像“解除古巴禁运”这样的政策,对一个任职末期的总统来说要容易得多。
6:奥巴马很希望这项政策能在共和党控制的国会上通过。
7:与亚太国家和欧洲国家的两项计划中的贸易协定就是个很好的例子。
8:共和党与部分中间派民主党想要达成协议。
9:左翼民主党和工会对此大为震惊。
(8). 1:In part, the end of the Obama era is a moment of political clarity, exposing the oddly transactional nature of his ties to his own party.
2:Mr Obama did not become the Democrats’ champion by explaining what sort of party they needed to be.
3:He won office in 2008 by offering a new, post-racial, post-partisan form of politics, buttressed by the promise of his own life-story and brilliant electoral technology.
4:He kept office in 2012 by turning out an “Obama coalition” that united the young, the poor, non-whites, gays, urban hipsters, unmarried women and affluent liberals.
5:Other Democratic politicians went along for the ride, while grumbling that their president was disappointingly aloof and risk-averse.
1:在某种程度上,奥巴马时代的结束,是政治透明的标志时刻,也暴露出奥巴马与自己党派间古怪的交易本质。
2:奥巴马不是通过解释他们需要成为什么类型的政党这一问题,而变成民主党领袖。
3:2008年,他提出一个新的、超越种族的、超越党派的政治形式,以他个人人生经历和闪耀的选举技能为支撑,赢得了竞选。
4:2012年,他创建了“奥巴马联盟”,联合了青年、穷人、非白种人、同性恋者、城市嬉皮士、未婚女性以及富裕的自由主义者,他借此得以连任。
5:其他的民主党政客当时只是去凑凑热闹,抱怨奥巴马的冷漠和对风险的规避令人失望。
(9). Breaches of decorum
失礼
(10). 1:Relations between Mr Obama and congressional Democrats are sourer than ever.
2:In an unusual breach of decorum, the strains of the 2014 election prompted on-the-record grouching about the White House from a right-hand man to Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate.
3:A December budget crunch saw Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats’ boss in the House, fulminate against her own president’s willingness to cut deals with Republicans.
1:奥巴马与国会民主党人之间的关系比以往任何时候都糟糕。
2:2014选举的负担,催生出对白宫从得力助手到参议院民主党领袖哈利·瑞德的明面上的抱怨,这是极不寻常的失礼。
3:众议院民主党领袖南希·....(please sign in for more)
(11). 1:Greybeards counsel calm. Presidents inevitably see their clout ebb as successors’ elections near, says Tom Daschle, who led Senate Democrats from 1995 to 2005.
2:If Mrs Clinton runs for the nomination, she will become an alternative centre of power which will grow in importance.
3:If she does not run, “there is a list of people waiting in the wings”, Mr Daschle soothes, offering as examples two very different senators: Ms Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand (the junior senator from New York and a politician of Clinton-level pragmatism, without the Clintons’ experience).
1:资深人士建议对此保持平静。1995至2005年参议院民主党领袖汤姆·达施勒说,随着继任选举的临近,总统不可避免的会看到自己影响力的衰弱。
2:如果希拉里·克林顿参与提名,她将替代奥巴马成为愈发重....(please sign in for more)
(12). 1:Other Democrats are less sure, seeing a problem that goes beyond personnel issues.
2:“It is a little confusing who is leading the Democratic Party right now,” says a member of Congress who hears nothing “galvanising” from Mr Obama, and “no energy, no excitement”, from congressional bosses.
3:Put another way, Democrats feel leaderless because the party lacks big, compelling ideas.
4:Someone may yet fill that void. It needs to happen soon.
1:其他民主党人看到了超越人事范围的问题,并对此不太确定。
2:一名国会议员说:“现在究竟是谁在领导民主党,这个问题让人有些困惑。”该议员表示,从奥巴马那里听不到任何激励,从国会领袖那里也听不到任何....(please sign in for more)