又中又英｜Trump-proof

Republican Donald Trump’s victory to become the next American president has made the defeated Democrats bring back a word they invented when Trump first became president in 2016. The word is “Trump-proof”. The Democratic Party knows it will be on the ropes during the four years of Trump’s presidency. That’s why party leaders in states where the Democratic Party has strong support are Trump-proofing their states. To Trump-proof means to protect against Trump’s policies. To be on the ropes means to be in a very difficult situation or doing very badly and likely to fail.

The phrase originated from boxing. A losing boxer is sometimes forced to the ropes of the boxing ring where he is at great risk of losing the match. Leaders of liberal states such as New York, California, and Illinois have joined forces to protect their states against Trump’s right-wing policies. They want to protect liberal policies such as abortion rights, transgender rights, the environment, and immigration. The word “gender” refers to being either male or female. Transgenders are people whose gender identity differs from that of their birth sex. President Joe Biden is also trying to Trump-proof his policies before his presidency ends on January 20.

Biden’s top priority is to send billions of dollars of US weapons to Ukraine because Trump has said he may not support Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders. But White House officials know it is almost impossible to Trump-proof Biden’s policies because Trump could easily reverse them when he takes over as president. Biden’s aides know all they can do is throw sand in the gears, which means to cause problems or delay something from happening.

共和党的唐纳德‧特朗普胜出成为下一任美国总统，令败选的民主党重新使用一个字，是二零一六年特朗普第一次当选总统时他们创作的。那个字是“Trump-proof”。民主党知道，在这四年特朗普的任期内，自己将会面临困境（on the ropes）。因此在那些强力支持民主党的州分，党领袖都在Trump-proofing他们的州——to Trump-proof是指去抵挡特朗普的政策，免受其影响。To be on the ropes是指处于非常艰难的处境中，又或表现差劲，即将失败。

这个短语来自拳击比赛，一个处于下风的拳手有时会被逼至拳击台的围绳上，很大可能会输掉比赛。纽约、加州、伊利诺州这些开放自由的州分，领袖们都在合力保护他们的州对抗特朗普的右翼政策。他们想守护自由主义的政策，例如堕胎权、跨性别（transgender）权益、环境以及入境移民。Gender一字是解作男或女的性别； transgenders则是跨性别人士，他们的性别认同跟出生时的性别有所不同。总统祖‧拜登同样在一月二十日自己的任期结束前，努力保障政策免受特朗普的影响（Trump-proof）。

拜登的首要任务是向乌克兰提供美国数以十亿美元计的军事武器，因为特朗普说了他不会支持乌克兰对抗俄罗斯的入侵。但白宫官员都知道，要完全保护拜登的政策免受特朗普的影响（Trump-proof）几乎是不可能的，因为特朗普一接任总统，可以轻而易举地逆转那些政策。拜登的助手们都知道，他们可以做的都是 throw sand in the gears，向机械的齿轮丢沙，意即尽量阻碍或拖延某事的发生。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻