Repetitive Rants
2018/09/18 04:12:56 網誌分類: 生活
Just days after excerpts （short parts） of Woodward’s explosive book were released to the media, another anonymous White House official wrote an explosive article about Trump in the New York Times. Anonymous people are those not identified by name or people who choose not to be named. Like Woodward, the anonymous White House official who wrote an article in the New York Times also said Trump had gone off the rails. This person said during White House meetings Trump engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back. The word “rant” means to speak or shout angrily for a long time. What he meant was during meetings Trump would have repetitive （one after another） rants.
The word “impulsive” means doing things without thinking carefully first. The word “half-baked” used this way means not fully developed or not sufficiently planned. To “walk back” used this way means to change or reverse something you had said before or to admit what you had said was wrong. The sentence in the article, therefore, means Trump often shouts angrily （rants） during meetings and makes impulsive （not carefully thought out） decisions. Such decisions are not fully developed （half-baked） and then have to be reversed （walked back）. The anonymous writer said unsung heroes in the White House would quietly try hard to make sure Trump’s bad decisions are not followed. Unsung heroes are people whose courage or great achievements are not praised or noticed.
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在上一篇文章裏，我解譯了著名記者鮑勃．伍德沃德寫及總統特朗普的爆炸性（explosive）新書中的一些有趣用字和習語。Explosive有幾個意思，但在這裏是指極具爭議性的。伍德沃德在書中引述不透露姓名的白宮官員，指特朗普已經瘋了（unhinged）。這位不具名的官員亦說，白宮幕僚長約翰．凱利認為特朗普已經「脫軌」（gone off the rails）。正如我在上一篇文章中解釋過，若某人has gone off the rails，是指那人開始做出怪異、異常、令人難以接受的行為。
伍德沃德的爆炸性（explosive）新書節錄（excerpts）發佈給傳媒沒幾天，另一名匿名的（anonymous）白宮官員也在《紐約時報》寫了一篇談論特朗普的爆炸性（explosive）文章。 Anonymous people就是無名氏，或不願意公開姓名的人。一如伍德沃德，那位投稿至《紐約時報》的匿名（anonymous）白宮官員也道，特朗普已經發瘋了（gone off the rails）。該名人士說，特朗普在白宮會議期間，總是忙於重複的咆哮（repetitive rants），而他的衝動（impulsiveness）結果是帶來思慮不周（half-baked）、認知不足及有時鹵莽的決定，那些決定最終也得撤回（walked back）。Rant是指長時間的叫嚷、咆哮。他的意思是特朗普在開會期間，會重複不斷地（repetitive）咆哮（rants）。
Impulsive解作未有三思而衝動行事。Half-baked在這裏是解作未充份發展、思慮不周詳的。To “walk back”在這裏是指改變或收回你說過的話，或承認你所說的是錯的。因此，文章中那句話的意思是，特朗普不時在會議期間憤怒地叫嚷（rants），並作出衝動（impulsive）的決定。這些決定並未經過深思熟慮（half-baked），最終也得撤銷（walked back）。那位匿名（anonymous）作者說，白宮內的那些無名英雄（unsung heroes）會悄悄地致力確保特朗普的錯誤決定不會執行。Unsung heroes就是無名英雄，他們的勇氣與偉大的貢獻並未被讚揚或留意得到。
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
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