本期导读本文节选自《经济学人》20201121期。坦然接受不尽如人意的大选效果是康健民主不行或缺的一部门。American politicsThe art of losingAccepting a disappointing election result is a vital part of a healthy democracyAlmost two weeks after the votes that made him a one-term president were counted, Donald Trump is still claiming that he won. In reality there is no room for doubt. Joe Biden beat him by almost 6m votes, amassing 306 electoral-college votes to Mr Trump’s 232. Yet reality is a stranger to Mr Trump, who was crying fraud before the first vote had been cast. He has since fired an official who contradicted his view that the election was stolen and encouraged his supporters to protest against the result.term 意思是“任期”，好比 during the president's first term of/in office，就表现“在总统的首届任期内”；term 其他的比力常见的意思是“学期；术语”amass 意思是“（尤指大量）积累，积累”electoral college 指“总统选举团（在美国由各州选民投票推选组成，集中在一起选举总统和副总统）”，常写作“the Electoral College”fraud 意思是名词“欺骗，诈骗”，也有“骗子”的意思；其形容词是 fraudulentcast 本意指“投”，cast a/one's vote/ballot (for sb/sth) 就表现“投票”contradict 意思是“反驳，批判”，它另有“相矛盾，相抵触”的意思；其名词形式是contradiction，形容词是 contradictoryMost Republican leaders go along with the president. They include his attorney-general, Bill Barr, who told prosecutors to investigate “substantial allegations” of election fraud; Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, who has championed the president’s right to go to court; and Lindsey Graham, one of Mr Trump’s staunchest Senate defenders, who Georgia’s secretary of state says pressed him to exclude legitimate ballots.attorney-general 指“（美国的）司法部长”，常写作“the Attorney General”prosecutor 指“检察官，公诉人”，其动词是 prosecute（控诉，起诉）staunch 意思是形容词“忠实的，坚定的”As so often in the Trump presidency, it is hard to know how seriously to take all this. No coup is under way in America. Mr Trump does indeed have the right to mount legal challenges. The counting and certifying of election results has withstood pressure from above. Most of the Trump campaign’s lawsuits have already been dropped or tossed out by the courts. Mr Barr’s prosecutors explained that they could find no evidence of the kind of systematic fraud that the president insists took place. Despite violent threats, Georgia’s secretary of state refused to buckle.coup 意思是“政变”，好比 to stage/mount a coup 就表现“发动政变”mount 这里的意思是“提倡；组织开展”，它另有“登上，爬上”的意思。withstand 意思是“经受住，顶住”lawsuit 指“诉讼”，相当于 suitbuckle 本意是“（被）压弯，压垮”，这里可以明白为“示弱，服软”，类似于字典例句：A weaker man would have buckled under the pressure.意志单薄的人在这种压力下可能就垮了。

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