又中又英｜Attack ads

In my previous column I wrote about attack ads, which I explained are TV advertisements using negative information to attack political opponents. Attack ads often bend the facts to damage the reputation of opponents. To bend the facts means to dishonestly alter facts to deceive others. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are stepping up attack ads against each other as the November 5 presidential election approaches. To step up used this way means to increase the level of something. Most attack ads are short, to the point, and intended to deceive viewers.

Trump’s attack ads use negative information to tell viewers Harris is unfit to be president. Harris’s attack ads say the same thing about Trump. Many American viewers are swayed by attack ads. If you are swayed by something, it means it makes you do one thing rather than another. If a voter is a Harris supporter but decides to vote for Trump after seeing a Trump attack ad, the voter has been swayed by the attack ad. Both sides spend millions of dollars on attack ads because they know voters can be swayed by such ads.

I have a jaded view of attack ads. If you have a jaded view of something, it means you no longer have any interest in something or are losing interest in something because you have experienced or seen it too many times. I have always relied on facts as a longtime journalist. Attack ads often bend the facts. That’s why I have a jaded view of attack ads.

在我上一篇文章中我寫到 attack ads，正如我所解釋的，就是用一些負面資訊去攻擊政治對手的電視廣告。攻擊對手的競選廣告（attack ads）往往bend the facts去損毁對手的聲譽。To bend the facts即是不誠實地歪曲事實以欺騙他人。十一月五日的總統大選正要逼近，副總統賀錦麗以及前總統唐納德‧特朗普都增加了（stepping up）對對手的攻擊廣告（attack ads）。To step up在這裏是指增加某事物的量。大部分的攻擊廣告（attack ads）都是精簡、正中要害，以及意圖誤導觀眾的。

特朗普的攻擊廣告（attack ads）用了負面的資訊去告訴觀眾，賀錦麗並不適合當總統。賀錦麗的攻擊廣告（attack ads）亦說了一樣的話去攻擊特朗普。許多美國觀眾會被攻擊廣告（attack ads）動搖（swayed by）。若你是 swayed by something，意即那事影響你不做某事而轉去做另一件事。若一個選民本身是賀錦麗的支持者，但看過特朗普的攻擊廣告（attack ad）後，決定投票給特朗普，那麼該選民就是swayed by the attack ad，即是受那個攻擊廣告影響而動搖。兩邊陣營都投放了數以百萬計的美元在攻擊廣告（attack ads）之上，因為他們知道，選民可以被這些廣告所動搖（swayed by）。

我對攻擊廣告（attack ads）抱持 a jaded view——若你 have a jaded view of something，意即你對某事物不再感興趣，或對其厭倦了，因為你已經歷或見過它太多遍。我身為新聞工作者多年，總是依據事實，但攻擊廣告（attack ads）往往在扭曲事實（bend the facts），因此我對攻擊廣告（attack ads）已經甚為厭倦（jaded view）。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻