这地狱般的一年
This Year From Hell
苏珊·赖斯
2020年10月15日
Finishing up the dinner dishes one evening last week, I was jolted by a song on my teenage daughter’s playlist. In the radio-edited version of “F2020,” Avenue Beat delivers a captivating chorus, followed by: “I am kinda done. Can we just get to 2021?”
上周一个晚上，吃着晚饭时，十几岁的女儿的播放列表里有一首歌让我吃了一惊。在这首歌电台编辑版《F2020》里，大道节拍(Avenue Beat)在迷人的副歌里唱道：“我受够了。能直接跳到2021年吗？”
Turning to my daughter, I joked, “Shouldn’t that be a sort of anthem for this year?”
我对女儿开玩笑说：“这不应该是今年的赞歌吗？”
“For many in my generation, it already is,” she replied.
“对我们这一代的许多人来说，已经是了，”她回答。
It’s only October, and 2020 feels like the longest, most brutal year in memory. There are now almost 215,000 lives lost in the United States, vulnerable children missing months of education and tens of millions of people facing economic devastation. President Trump’s willful failure to confront Covid-19 has brutalized our country.
现在才刚刚10月，而2020年感觉是记忆中最长、最残酷的一年。如今，美国有近21.5万人丧生，脆弱的孩童失去了数月的受教育机会，数千万人面临经济灾难。特朗普总统在应对新冠病毒问题上的任性失败，使我们的国家遭受了残酷的打击。
If that is not enough, Mr. Trump continuously stokes division, fear and hatred in this moment of historic racial reckoning, while running roughshod over the rule of law, and our democratic norms and institutions. Almost every day, it seems something crazier happens than on the day before, further straining our collective credulity.
如果这还不够，在这个历史性的种族清算时刻，特朗普还不断煽动分裂、恐惧和仇恨，同时粗暴践踏法治以及我们的民主规范和制度。几乎每一天，似乎都会发生比前一天更疯狂的事情，进一步损害着我们的群体信任。
Still, we are most likely facing even worse in the next few months. The pandemic could crescendo in winter. The Senate is poised to ram through a radical and illegitimate Supreme Court nominee. Political tensions are escalating, as Mr. Trump musters white supremacist groups and threatens to thwart the peaceful transfer of power should he lose re-election.
不过，在未来几个月里，我们很可能面临更糟糕的局面。疫情在冬季可能会加剧。参议院准备强行通过一个立场激进、不合规范的最高法院提名人。政治紧张局势正在升级，而特朗普鼓舞一些白人至上主义团体，并威胁说，如果他竞选连任失败，就会阻碍权力的和平交接。
The sense of exhaustion, frustration and foreboding so many of us feel is aptly captured in the Avenue Beat song. But so is what gives me hope — getting to 2021. The prospect of sweeping change, while by no means assured, appears to be in sight.
我们很多人的疲惫、沮丧和不祥预感在大道节拍这首歌里得到了充分体现。但它也给我带来了希望——我们会进入到2021年。彻底变革的前景虽然并无把握，但是似乎已在眼前。
To dull the pain and bolster my sanity, I allow myself occasionally to take a few deep breaths and just imagine.
为了减轻痛苦，增进理智，我允许自己偶尔做几次深呼吸，去想象一下。
I imagine a future with competent, compassionate presidential leadership, which trusts science and adopts policies designed to protect the American people. A future in which we truly bend the Covid-19 curve, a future with a safe and effective vaccine that is free as well as fairly and rationally distributed. I conjure a time when a constructive Congress swiftly enacts economic relief that will ease the suffering of ordinary Americans, support our public schools and other essential state and local government services, and rescue small businesses.
我想象未来会由一个有能力、有同情心的总统来领导，他相信科学，会采取旨在保护美国人民的政策。我想象未来我们能够真正扭转新冠病毒曲线，拥有免费且公平合理分配的、安全有效的疫苗。我想象这样一个时刻，富有建设性的国会将迅速颁布经济救济法案，减轻普通美国人的痛苦，支持我们的公立学校和其他必要的州及地方政府服务，并且拯救小型企业。
Daring to dream really big, I envision a president who insists on the dignity and worth of every human being, who fervently believes that what unites us as Americans is far more powerful than what divides us. A president committed to equal justice and healing; to ambitious reforms to combat systemic racism and reduce inequality; to humane immigration policies; and to transformational investments in education, housing, health care, the environment, jobs and economic mobility for those who need it most.
我有勇气拥有一个真正伟大的梦想，我想象会有这样一位总统：他坚信每个人都拥有尊严和价值，坚信身为美国人，团结我们的力量远远大于分裂我们的力量。他是一位致力于公平正义和治愈的总统；致力于雄心勃勃的改革，去打击系统性种族主义和减少不平等；他实行人性化的移民政策；对教育、住房、卫生保健、环境、就业和经济流动性方面的投资进行转型，帮助最需要这些投资的人。
Exhaling, I think about sleeping soundly again at night, knowing we have an experienced, empathetic, sober and steady president — one who refrains from tweeting personal attacks on his opponents. One who respects rules and norms, understanding that the law applies equally to him. I long for a leader who aims to serve all Americans, who doesn’t bilk taxpayers to line his own pockets or corrupt the federal government to preserve his own power.
我长出一口气，想到晚上又能睡个好觉，知道我们有一个经验丰富、有同理心、冷静沉着的总统——一个不会发推文对对手进行人身攻击的总统。这是一个尊重规则和规范，懂得自己也要守法的人。我渴望拥有一个为全体民众服务的领导人，一个不会为了中饱私囊而欺骗纳税人，为了维护自己的权力而破坏联邦政府的领导人。
Finally, straining not to let my imagination run too wild, I indulge my national security fantasies. I pine for a commander in chief who knows personally the stomach-turning fear of what could befall a loved one deployed in harm’s way, one who treats our veterans as heroes instead of denigrating them as “suckers” and “losers.”
最后，一边竭力不让自己的想像力变得太疯狂，我一边沉迷于对国家安全的幻想。我渴望一个对有亲人在前线时所面临的恐惧能感同身受的总司令，一个将我们的退伍军人视为英雄，而不是诋毁他们为“废物”和“蠢货”的总司令。
I imagine allies who allow themselves to trust and respect us again. Adversaries who know they cannot influence an American president with flattery, lucrative deals or election assistance. A White House that upholds our national interests and consistently promotes democracy and human rights — from Xinjiang to Saudi Arabia to Venezuela. The United States would return to the Paris Agreement on climate change and the World Health Organization, as we seek to reinvigorate international institutions, because we understand that many of the most pressing global challenges can be tackled only through effective collective action.
我想像盟友们会再次信任和尊重我们。对手知道无法通过阿谀奉承、暴利的交易或选举援助来影响美国总统。从新疆到沙特阿拉伯再到委内瑞拉，白宫维护着我们的国家利益，始终以促进民主与人权为己任。在我们努力重振国际机构之际，美国将重返巴黎气候变化协定以及世卫组织，因为我们明白，许多最紧迫的全球挑战惟有通过有效的集体行动才能解决。
Then, I check myself. Soothing as it may be to disappear briefly into my own dreams, I’m inevitably smacked by the inescapable realities of this year from hell. Still, I remember that what may seem like elusive hopes are no more than the reasonable expectations of a deserving public.
然后，我突然打住了。短暂地沉迷于梦想可能会令人舒坦，但面对今年来自地狱的无法逃避的现实，我还是无从躲闪。不过，我记得那些看似遥不可及的希望，不过是民众合理、应得的期待。
In his Oval Office, President Barack Obama had a large carpet with a border inscription: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Those words, said often by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., serve as an apt reminder that history is not linear. While progress may ultimately prevail, it comes in fits and starts with severe setbacks. Indeed, our dreams may never become our reality.
巴拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)总统曾在他的椭圆形办公室里铺着一块巨大的地毯，它的边沿上有“人类道德的轨迹绵长，但它趋向正义”这样一句话。这是牧师和博士马丁·路德·金博(Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)经常挂在嘴边的一句话，它提醒着人们，历史不是线性前进的。虽然最终可能取得进展，但其间重挫不断。的确，梦想可能永远不会成为现实。
Yet in my experience, work matters; no one will do the hard bending but you and me. Progress doesn’t happen automatically. Together, we must drive it.
但根据我的经验，行动起来很重要；不能指望别人，只有你我自己来努力。进步不会从天而降。我们必须共同努力。
Surely, we can make 2021 a whole lot better — if we all vote.
毫无疑问，我们可以让2021年变得更好——如果大家都去投票的话。
