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Shut down is set to last for days, as Trump digs in
特朗普一意孤行，政府勢必繼續停擺
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Katy Rodgers
文/雪莉·蓋·斯托伯格，凱蒂·羅杰斯
As the White House and Democrats remained locked in a standoff over funding for President Trump’s border wall,
由于白宮和民主黨在是否為總統的修筑邊境墻方案提供資金一事上仍然僵持不下，
Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, sent his colleagues home for the Christmas holiday on Saturday,
周六，共和黨領袖、參議員米奇·麥康奈爾便遣散其同僚回家過圣誕節了，
virtually ensuring that the government will remain partially shuttered for at least several more days.
此舉無異于證實了政府部分機構將繼續停擺數日。
Mr. McConnell’s adjournment of the Senate until Thursday came after a frenzied day of negotiations in Washington and conflicting signals from the White House.
就在麥康奈爾將參議院休會至周四前夕，華盛頓曾上演了一天激烈的談判，白宮發出的信號也是前后矛盾。
Around the country, the partial shutdown, which began at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and affects roughly one-quarter of the federal government,
這一局部停擺，始于周六凌晨00:01且波及了聯邦政府將近四分之一的部門，
deprived 800,000 workers of their pay and was visible at places like national parks, where sites were unstaffed or, in some cases, closed.
已經剝奪了全國將近80萬人的工資，其影響眾目昭彰，尤其是國家公園之類的地方，這些地方已經出現了人手不足，甚至是關門歇業的情況。
Mr. Trump is demanding $5 billion for the “big, beautiful wall” he promised to build at the southern border,
特朗普聲稱需要50億美元來修建他承諾在南部邊境修筑的“高大而漂亮的邊境墻”，
and in a conference call with reporters, administration officials insisted that he would accept nothing less.
而且，在與記者的一次電話會議上，政府官員堅稱在這一金額上，特朗普不接受任何折扣。
But even as they spoke, Vice President Mike Pence was on his way to the Capitol to present an offer to the top Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York.
然而，就在他們談話期間，副總統邁克·彭斯已經在前往國會的路上，準備向參議院民主黨領袖、紐約州參議員查克·舒默提交一份提案。
Those talks, however, appeared to make little headway.
然而，他們的談判似乎并沒有取得什么進展。
Mr. Pence was tight-lipped as he left Mr. Schumer’s office — “We’re still talking,” he said —
離開舒默辦公室時，彭斯對他們的談話內容守口如瓶——他只說：“我們還在協商”。——
while a spokesman for Mr. Schumer, Justin Goodman, pronounced the two sides “very far apart.”
舒默的發言人賈斯汀·古德曼說則透露，雙方“分歧很大”。
Mr. McConnell then announced the Senate’s adjournment and left the Capitol to fly home to Kentucky for the holiday.
隨后，麥康奈爾宣布參議院休會，繼而便離開了國會，準備乘飛機回肯塔基州過圣誕節。
With lawmakers cleared out of Washington and no end to the impasse in sight,
隨著議員們陸續離開華盛頓，目前的僵局依然出路渺茫，
some speculated that it would be left to Democrats to reopen the government when they take over the House next month.
一些人猜測，要等到下個月民主黨接管眾議院時政府才會重新開放。
In an interview Saturday morning, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democrats’ nominee to be speaker, vowed that they would do just that.
民主黨提名的眾議院議長佩洛西在周六上午接受采訪時承諾，他們一定會這么做。
“We have certainty,” Ms. Pelosi declared. “We will end this the first week in January.”
“我們有把握，”佩洛西女士宣稱。“我們將在明年1月的第一周結束這一局面。”
The shutdown that began Saturday was the third of Mr. Trump’s 23 months in office and an ignominious end to a year that began much the same way, with a three-day government shutdown in January.
周六開始的政府停擺已經是特朗普上任以來的23個月時間里的第三次停擺了，也給今年畫上了一個恥辱的句號，因為就在今年年初，政府也曾以同樣的方式停擺了三天。
The latest breakdown, which hinges almost entirely on the impulses of a mercurial president, only added to the sense that,
這次歇業，幾乎完全是善變的總統一時沖動一手造成的，更是加深了人們的印象，
as Senator Claire McCaskill, the departing Democrat from Missouri, said in her recent farewell speech,
那就是，正如即將卸任的密蘇里州的民主黨參議員克萊爾麥卡斯基爾在最近的告別演說中所說的那樣，
“something is broken, and if we don’t have the strength to look in the mirror and fix it, the American people are going to grow more and more cynical.”
“有東西壞了，如果我們沒有能力進行自我反省，然后修復它，美國人民還會變得更加憤世嫉俗。”
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