[2008.10.16]The last word辩论到底

                                                                            Reuters

THE third and final debate, which took place at Hofstra University, New York on October 15th, was a firecracker of a show, as riveting as the two previous meetings were soporific. The candidates discussed substantive issues. They exchanged sharp blows. And, most of the time, they avoided reciting their talking points.
与前两次无聊至极的总统候选人辩论相比，10月15日在赫福斯特拉大学举行的第三次也是最后一次辩论十分精彩。候选人就实质性的问题交锋，互不相让，但大部分时间里，他们都避免具体论述各自的观点。

Some of the credit for this belongs to the moderator, Bob Schieffer, a CBS News anchor, who asked serious questions and even, occasionally, upbraided the candidates for not answering them. But most of it belongs to John McCain. Mr McCain knew that this was his last best chance to do something dramatic to shake up a race that is threatening to turn into a rout—and he came out swinging, pummeling away at Mr Obama for all he was worth.
之所以会有这种效果，要归功与CBS新闻主持人鲍勃•希弗。他提出了犀利的问题，而且如果候选人不作回答，他还会提出批评。但是主要的功劳在于麦凯恩。麦凯恩知道这是他最后一次力挽狂澜的机会了，所以他出场时没有负担，竭尽所能地抨击奥巴马。

Mr McCain drew sharp contrasts with his opponent. He insisted that Mr Obama believes that the government has the answers to America’s problems whereas Mr McCain puts his trust in ordinary people (in one amusing slip of the tongue he seemed to address Mr Obama as “Senator Government”). He dwelt at length on an offhand comment that Mr Obama made to a small-businessman called Joe the Plumber about “spreading the wealth around”, instantly turning Joe into the most famous plumber since the operatives who broke into the Watergate complex.
麦凯恩与奥巴马的观点截然不同。奥巴马觉得政府要解决目前的问题，而他本人则相信美国大众（有意思的是，他由于口误，差点把奥巴马说成是“议员政府”）。奥巴马曾随意的对一名叫乔的水管工人说，要他“分散财富”，而麦凯恩则抓住这点不放，两人关于乔的争论一时间使乔成为了自“水管工人”闯入水门大厦以来最有名的水管工人。

Mr McCain managed to land some good jabs on his rival. He pointed out that he had broken his promise to take public financing for his campaign (and thus limit campaign spending). He noted that Mr Obama’s solution to every problem is to spend more money. He attacked Mr Obama for (unfairly) pretending that there is no difference between him and the present incumbent. “I am not President Bush”, he said at one point. “If you wanted to run against President Bush you should have run four years ago.”
麦凯恩成功的猛击对手。他指出奥巴马食言，要把公共财政用来竞选（这样就限制了竞选开支）。他注意到奥巴马对所有问题的解决方案只会花费更多的钱。他攻击奥巴马（尽管有些不公平）假装在他与布什之间没有区别。他说：“我不是布什，如果你想要与布什总统竞选，那么4年前你就该行动了。”

All good stuff. But Mr McCain also made two big mistakes. Bringing up Mr Obama’s association with Bill Ayers, a former terrorist, made him look petty on a day on which the Dow Jones had lost 8% of its value and people have much bleaker issues on their minds. The second—and more serious—lay in his body language. Mr McCain let his contempt for the younger man shine through, harrumphing, grimacing, smirking and goggling his eyes whenever Mr Obama got a chance to speak. The whole performance was reminiscent of Al Gore’s sighing in his debate with George Bush in 2000, which many people think contributed to his defeat.
这些都是强有利的论据，但是麦凯恩犯了两个大错误。他将奥巴马与前恐怖分子Bill Ayers联系起来，当道琼斯指数已跌8％，而人们对许多问题都担心不已之时，麦凯恩的这种联系使他看起来十分微不足道。第二个，也就是更为严重的错误就是他的身体语言。麦凯恩对奥巴马这个年轻候选人的轻视表露无遗，当奥巴马有机会讲话时，麦凯恩就会一脸鄙视、作鬼脸、假笑或是瞪眼睛。这都让人们想起了戈尔在2000年与布什辩论时叹气的情景，许多人认为，正是戈尔的叹气使他败北。

Mr Obama’s performance during all this was remarkable. He remained calm and unflustered. He listened respectfully to his opponent. He took every opportunity to change the subject to economics and the woes of the average American. He even turned Mr McCain’s assertion that he associated with Mr Ayers to his advantage, claiming that the people he associates with, on economic issues, are Paul Volcker and Warren Buffett. If many of his arguments were weak—he gave no sense of how he would reconcile his spending plans with America’s giant deficits—his body language was impeccable.
在整场辩论中，奥巴马都表现的非常好。他一直保持冷静沉着，聆听对手的回应，而且抓住一切机会把话题转到经济和普通美国人的困境上来。他甚至利用麦凯恩把他与Bill Ayers联系在一起的说法，称他也与一些经济上的大腕有联系，如保罗• 沃克尔和巴菲特。虽然他的许多辩解也没有说服力，例如他没有清楚说明他如何在开支计划和美国巨额赤字之间作出平衡，但是他的身体语言却是无可挑剔的。

The instant polls all gave a big victory to Mr Obama. Mr McCain made the debate exciting, but Mr Obama got the better of the evening, surely increasing his already high chances of victory in November.
辩论过后的民意调查表明奥巴马获胜。麦凯恩增强了辩论的热度，但奥巴马使辩论更为精彩，当然这就使他于11月入主白宫的机会更大了些。

译者yyjoy8404: http://www.ecocn.org/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=14989&extra=page%3D1