又中又英｜Up in the air

Who will become the next US president? That’s up in the air because the election isn’t until November 5th. No one can predict so early what the outcome will be. Most public opinion polls show a neck and neck race, which means an equal chance of winning, between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Some polls show Trump will win. But I have always given little credence to polls because those who participate in political polls are often fickle people. If something is up in the air, it is uncertain or undecided. If you give credence to something, it means you believe it is true.

If you give little credence to something, it means you don’t believe it. Fickle people are those who change their minds suddenly. All polls showed Hillary Clinton would defeat Donald Trump in the 2016 election, but Trump won. It is up in the air who will win in November, but the election will be the most expensive in history. Both Biden and Trump are raising huge amounts of money from donors. Biden’s campaign raised more than US$90 million in March and had US$192 million in cash in the first quarter of this year.

Trump is not raising as much but received US$50 million from wealthy supporters during just one event last week. Biden and Trump will spend much of the donations on an advertising blitz in different states. An advertising blitz is an organized advertising campaign, usually on TV. Both Biden and Trump are expected to use personal attacks and insults in their TV ads. Whose ads will be the dirtiest?

谁会成为下一任美国总统？这还是悬而未决（up in the air），因为大选要到11月5日才举行。没有人能这么早就预测得到选举结果。大部分公众民调都显示出a neck and neck race，意即总统祖‧拜登与前总统唐纳德‧特朗普二人旗鼓相当、不相伯仲。一些民调显示特朗普会胜出。但我总是不大相信（given little credence）民调，因为那些参与政治民调的人往往都是三心二意的人（fickle people）。若某事是up in the air，意即它仍不确定、悬而未决。若你give credence to something，意即你认为它是可信的。

相反，若你give little credence to something，意即你并不相信它。Fickle people是那些变幻无常、突然改变主意的人。在2016年的大选中，全部的民调都显示出，希拉里‧克林顿会打败唐纳德‧特朗普，最终却是由特朗普胜出。11月谁会胜出，仍不确定（up in the air），但这次大选就肯定是史上最贵的。拜登和特朗普都从捐款人处筹集经费，拜登的竞选活动单在3月募集到超过9000万美元，而在今年第一季，就收到现金1亿9200万美元。

特朗普的筹款没有那么多，但仅仅在上星期的一次活动中，也从富有的支持者那里收到5000万美元。拜登和特朗普皆将把大部分的捐款用在不同州分的advertising blitz之中——an  advertising blitz是有策划的广告宣传大战，通常是投放于电视上。预计拜登和特朗普二人都会在其电视广告中极尽人身攻击和侮辱。不知谁的广告将会是最下流卑鄙的呢？

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻