【四兩撥千金的巧勁管理】之5：川普演講

文/王妍筑、John Stephenson
企劃/英語島教學實驗室

近來西方政壇揚起了對民眾直接演講的風潮。歐美的政治家為了在多元的選舉中得利，通常會避免模稜兩可的字句，以掩蓋其個人意見。不管你對川普的看法為何，他的直接的字句中卻有有趣的地方，絲毫沒有模糊的空間。以下出自他的競選演講：

“But to fix our immigration system, we must change our leadership in Washington and we must change it quickly. Sadly, sadly there is no other way. The truth is our immigration system is worse than anybody ever realized. But the facts aren’t known because the media won’t report on them. The politicians won’t talk about them and the special interests spend a lot of money trying to cover them up because they are making an absolute fortune. That’s the way it is.

Today, on a very complicated and very difficult subject, you will get the truth. The fundamental problem with the immigration system in our country is that it serves the needs of wealthy donors, political activists and powerful, powerful politicians. It’s all you can do. Thank you. Thank you.”

reference:NYT

川普並沒有使用任何不明確的字眼，而是使用了非常直接、簡單的語言讓我們試著為同一段說詞加入婉轉的字句。

“But perhaps the only way to fix our immigration system would be to change our leadership in Washington and to change it quickly. Sadly, sadly there doesn’t appear to be another way. The truth certainly seems to be that our immigration system is worse than anybody ever realized. But the facts aren’t known because apparently the media won’t report on them. Almost all of the politicians won’t talk about them and the special interests could well be spending a lot of money trying to cover them up because they could possibly make an absolute fortune. In general, that’s the way it is.
要改變我們的移民制度，看起來唯一的選擇，或許是盡速改變華府的領導方針。不幸的是，移民制度的真相很可能糟糕到無法想像。顯然是因為媒體不願意報導，以致事實依舊被掩蓋。幾乎所有的政治人物都不談移民制度，再者，因為利益團體很可能從中獲取巨額財富，他們或許願花筆錢掩蓋真相。整個來看，問題就是如此。

"Today, on a very complicated and very difficult subject, you will get my opinion. The fundamental problem with the immigration system in our country may be that it serves the needs of wealthy donors, political activists and powerful, powerful politicians. It’s all you can do. Thank you. Thank you.”
今天，針對這個錯綜複雜又困難的議題上，提出我的看法。移民制度在這個國家最根本的問題，或許就是制度本身是富有捐助者、政治活躍分子，有權有勢的政客們的溫床。你們都可以盡一份力量，做對的選擇，謝謝各位。

《恐懼之邦》一書的作者說：
「你知道我們如何稱呼沒有證據的意見嗎？我們叫它『偏見』。 」

“Do you know what we call opinion in the absence of evidence? We call it prejudice.”
― Michael Crichton, State of Fear (Author and Screenwriter)

收錄於英語島 2017年3月號
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