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The debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was a crucial moment in the US presidential election — with potentially historic consequences.
卡瑪拉•哈里斯(Kamala Harris)和唐納•川普(Donald Trump)之間的辯論是美國總統選舉中的一個關鍵時刻——可能產生具有歷史意義的後果。
The stakes were particularly high for Harris. Although she has been vice-president for almost four years, Harris is still a relatively unknown quantity for many American voters. She only became the Democratic nominee in July, after Joe Biden belatedly decided not to seek a second term. The memory of Biden’s catastrophic performance in his own debate with Trump little over 10 weeks ago — which in effect forced him out of the race — underlined the potential risks for Harris of a weak performance, this late in the campaign.
對哈里斯來說，風險尤爲高。雖然她已經擔任副總統將近四年，但對許多美國選民來說，哈里斯仍然是一個相對不爲人知的人物。她直到7月份喬•拜登(Joe Biden)姍姍來遲地決定不尋求連任後才成爲民主黨候選人。拜登在10多周前與川普的辯論中災難性的表現——實際上迫使他退出競選——突顯了哈里斯在競選後期表現不佳的潛在風險。
Harris had not won the nomination through the usual testing process of the primary elections. Nor has she given many interviews. Trump and the Republicans had claimed that her campaign team was shielding her from scrutiny because she is a lightweight, who would not be able to cope without a teleprompter. Some Democrats may have quietly feared that was true.
哈里斯並非透過常規的初選考驗流程贏得提名。她也沒有接受過很多采訪。川普和共和黨人聲稱，她的競選團隊正在保護她免受仔細關注，因爲她是個無足輕重的人物，沒有提詞器就無法應付。一些民主黨人可能已經悄悄地擔心這是真的。
In the event, Harris gave a confident and fluent performance in the debate — demonstrating that she is robust under pressure, a fluent communicator and quick on her feet. These are all qualities that make her a much more credible candidate for the presidency.
最終，哈里斯在辯論中表現得自信且嫺熟——展示了她在壓力下的堅韌、嫺熟的溝通能力和敏捷的反應能力。這些特質使她成爲總統候選人的可信度大大提高。
The vice-president’s performance was not flawless. She initially appeared nervous and her first answer on the economy was evasive and clearly scripted. But as the debate wore on, Harris grew in confidence — and she gave strong answers on important questions such as abortion and the future of American democracy.
副總統的表現並非完美無瑕。她最初顯得有些緊張，關於經濟問題的第一個回答避實就虛，顯然是提前準備好的。但隨著辯論的深入，哈里斯的自信心逐漸增強——她在墮胎和美國民主的未來等重要問題上給出了強有力的回答。
Above all, Harris was not flustered by the predictable aggression of her opponent. Instead, it was Trump who appeared increasingly rattled and unhinged.
最重要的是，哈里斯並沒有因對手可預見的攻擊而慌亂。相反，川普顯得越來越不安和失控。
The fact that the Republican candidate makes wild and false claims is not, unfortunately, new information. But even by his own debased standards, Trump had a bad night. He claimed that there are states in America where newborn children are “executed”, and that elsewhere, illegal migrants are eating pet cats and dogs.
不幸的是，共和黨候選人提出荒謬和虛假的指控並不是新鮮事。但即使按照他自己的低標準，川普當晚的表現也很糟糕。他聲稱新生兒在美國有些州被「處決」，而在其他地方，非法移民正在喫寵物貓和狗。
Trump also twice refused to say that he wanted Ukraine to win its war against Russia, stating only that he wanted the war to end. The foreign leader he singled out for praise was Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán — an autocrat who has undermined the free press and the independence of the courts in his own country.
川普還兩次拒絕表態他希望烏克蘭在抗擊俄羅斯的戰爭中獲勝，只是表示希望戰爭結束。他特別稱讚的外國領導人是匈牙利總理歐爾班•維克托(Viktor Orbán)——一個破壞了自己國家新聞自由和法院獨立性的獨裁者。
In its own way, Trump’s performance in Tuesday night’s debate was every bit as disastrous as the rambling effort that forced Biden to drop out of the race. But the army of Trump devotees have long held their hero to different standards from those of a normal politician. Few of them are likely to peel away from him now.
就其自身而言，川普在週二晚辯論中的表現與迫使拜登退出競選的東拉西扯一樣，都是災難性的。但是，長期以來，川普的忠實擁躉們一直用不同於普通政客的標準來衡量他們心目中的英雄。他們中幾乎沒有人可能現在就離開他。
Harris will be hoping that her robust performance in the debate will win over some of the small, but crucial number of undecided voters in swing states who will ultimately decide the result of this election. In the next few days, the opinion polls, unreliable as they are, will give some indication of whether Harris (or even Trump) gets a post debate bounce.
哈里斯將希望她在辯論中的強勢表現能贏得搖擺州少數但至關重要的未決定選誰的選民的支援，這些選民將最終決定此次選舉的結果。在接下來的幾天裏，雖然不太可靠，但民意調查將會在一定程度上顯示出哈里斯（或者甚至川普）是否在辯論後獲得支援率上升。
Whatever the polls say, it is clear that this is likely to be a very close election that will remain a tight contest until the last votes are cast on November 5. Harris should capitalise on the confidence she and her team will have gained from the debate to wage a more aggressive and open campaign. She has shown that she is a strong impromptu performer. She needs to make herself better known to voters. And her team should press hard for a second debate with Trump — if he is willing to risk it.
無論民調結果如何，很明顯這將是一場非常勢均力敵的選舉，在11月5日最後一票投出之前，競爭都將十分激烈。哈里斯應該利用她和她的團隊從此次辯論中獲得的信心，開展更積極、更開放的競選活動。她已經證明了自己強大的即興表演能力。她需要讓選民更好地瞭解自己。她的團隊應該努力爭取與川普進行第二輪辯論——如果他願意冒這個險的話。