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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.
卡玛拉•哈里斯(Kamala Harris)和唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)之间的辩论是美国总统选举中的一个关键时刻——可能产生具有历史意义的后果。
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.
对哈里斯来说，风险尤为高。虽然她已经担任副总统将近四年，但对许多美国选民来说，哈里斯仍然是一个相对不为人知的人物。她直到7月份乔•拜登(Joe Biden)姗姗来迟地决定不寻求连任后才成为民主党候选人。拜登在10多周前与特朗普的辩论中灾难性的表现——实际上迫使他退出竞选——突显了哈里斯在竞选后期表现不佳的潜在风险。
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.
哈里斯并非通过常规的初选考验流程赢得提名。她也没有接受过很多采访。特朗普和共和党人声称，她的竞选团队正在保护她免受仔细关注，因为她是个无足轻重的人物，没有提词器就无法应付。一些民主党人可能已经悄悄地担心这是真的。
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.
最终，哈里斯在辩论中表现得自信且娴熟——展示了她在压力下的坚韧、娴熟的沟通能力和敏捷的反应能力。这些特质使她成为总统候选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.
副总统的表现并非完美无瑕。她最初显得有些紧张，关于经济问题的第一个回答避实就虚，显然是提前准备好的。但随着辩论的深入，哈里斯的自信心逐渐增强——她在堕胎和美国民主的未来等重要问题上给出了强有力的回答。
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，哈里斯并没有因对手可预见的攻击而慌乱。相反，特朗普显得越来越不安和失控。
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，共和党候选人提出荒谬和虚假的指控并不是新鲜事。但即使按照他自己的低标准，特朗普当晚的表现也很糟糕。他声称新生儿在美国有些州被“处决”，而在其他地方，非法移民正在吃宠物猫和狗。
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.
特朗普还两次拒绝表态他希望乌克兰在抗击俄罗斯的战争中获胜，只是表示希望战争结束。他特别称赞的外国领导人是匈牙利总理欧尔班•维克托(Viktor Orbán)——一个破坏了自己国家新闻自由和法院独立性的独裁者。
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，特朗普在周二晚辩论中的表现与迫使拜登退出竞选的东拉西扯一样，都是灾难性的。但是，长期以来，特朗普的忠实拥趸们一直用不同于普通政客的标准来衡量他们心目中的英雄。他们中几乎没有人可能现在就离开他。
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.
哈里斯将希望她在辩论中的强势表现能赢得摇摆州少数但至关重要的未决定选谁的选民的支持，这些选民将最终决定此次选举的结果。在接下来的几天里，虽然不太可靠，但民意调查将会在一定程度上显示出哈里斯（或者甚至特朗普）是否在辩论后获得支持率上升。
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.
无论民调结果如何，很明显这将是一场非常势均力敌的选举，在11月5日最后一票投出之前，竞争都将十分激烈。哈里斯应该利用她和她的团队从此次辩论中获得的信心，开展更积极、更开放的竞选活动。她已经证明了自己强大的即兴表演能力。她需要让选民更好地了解自己。她的团队应该努力争取与特朗普进行第二轮辩论——如果他愿意冒这个险的话。