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Backstory
幕后故事
The drama of democracy
民主政治的戲劇
A critical guide to election night, the top-billing show of 2024.
2024年頭牌節目“選舉之夜”批評指南。
A car drives down a road in drizzly central London, taking a besuited man home from a meeting.
一輛汽車在細雨霏霏的倫敦市中心沿著馬路行駛，載著一位身穿西裝的男子，把他從會議現場送回家。
It is a mundane image, transmuted into spectacle by the alchemy of elections.
這是一個平淡無奇的畫面，但選舉的魔力將其點石成金為奇觀。
Tracked in the sort of aerial footage normally reserved for felons on the run, the car conveyed Sir Keir Starmer to Downing Street from Buckingham Palace, where, at the king’s invitation, he became Britain’s new prime minister on July 5th.
在通常只用來拍攝逃犯的航拍鏡頭的追蹤下，這輛車把基爾·斯塔默爵士從白金漢宮送往唐寧街，7月5日，他在白金漢宮得到國王授權后成為英國新首相。
Walter Bagehot, a Victorian editor of The Economist, divided the constitution into the “efficient” parts (like the cabinet) and the “dignified” or “theatrical” elements (like the monarchy).
沃爾特·白芝浩是維多利亞時代《經濟學人》的編輯，他將憲法分為“效用”部分（如內閣）和“莊重”或者說“戲劇”部分（如君主制）。
Election night—the top-billing show in many countries in what is a bumper year for voting—brings the two together.
選舉之夜——在今年這個投票大年里，這是許多國家的頭牌節目——將這兩者結合在了一起。
It is a pivotal moment in the life of a nation.
這是國家歷程中的一個關鍵時刻。
But it is also a drama, mixing a high-stakes plot with actorly set pieces and rhetorical motifs.
但這也是一部戲劇，高賭注的情節、表演般的固定橋段、演講辯論的主題匯聚一堂。
These days the night’s action begins with an exit poll, which, like a prologue, announces the key themes.
如今，選舉之夜以出口民調開始，就像開場序幕一樣，宣布了節目的關鍵主題。（注：出口民調即選民離開投票站時進行的民調，用于預測結果。）
Sometimes the findings are predictable, as with the thumping of the Conservatives foretold by pollsters in Britain.
有時候選舉結果是可以預測的，就像英國民調機構預測的保守黨慘敗一樣。
Sometimes this opening scene is electrifying.
有時候這個開場場景是令人激動的。
In France the preliminary results of parliamentary elections flash up on TV after a ten-to-one countdown; on July 7th they landed with a boom, showing Marine Le Pen’s hard-right National Rally surprisingly beaten into third place.
在法國，議會選舉的初步結果在倒數十個數后在電視上閃現；7月7日初步結果的公布引起轟動，顯示瑪麗娜·勒龐的極右翼國民聯盟出人意料地被擊敗，位居第三。
Sub-plots unfold as the main action simmers.
隨著主要情節的推進，次要情節也逐漸展開。
In America TV networks race to call the outcomes in each state.
在美國，各大電視網絡競相宣布每個州的選舉結果。
In a modern version of medieval football—which involved rival villages tussling over pigs’ bladders—English constituencies compete to count their votes fastest.
在現代版的中世紀足球比賽中——競爭村莊爭奪豬膀胱——英國各選區競相以最快速度計票。
Like the comic figures who jostle with Shakespeare’s heroes, joke candidates line up with serious ones to hear the results.
就像莎士比亞筆下與英雄們競爭的喜劇人物一樣，作為笑話的候選人和嚴肅正經的候選人一起排隊等待結果。
Challengers to Rishi Sunak, the Tory leader, included Count Binface.
比如挑戰保守黨領袖里希·蘇納克的人就包括賓法斯伯爵。（注：賓法斯伯爵是英國喜劇演員創造的一個角色，并用這個身份參與選舉。）
Sir Keir saw off Nick the Incredible Flying Brick.
基爾爵士擊敗了今年的超級飛行磚塊尼克。（注：超級飛行磚塊尼克是2019年大選中的惡搞角色。）
Then come the big soliloquies—ie, the concession and victory speeches.
然后是長篇的獨白，也就是敗選演講和勝選演講。
A leader’s concession is the political equivalent of a condemned man’s remarks from the scaffold.
領導人的敗選演講相當于一個被定罪的人在絞刑架上的遺言。
Fortunately a formula is available.
幸運的是，有一個公式可套用。
You accept your loss, take responsibility and call for national unity.
你接受你的失敗，承擔起責任，并呼吁國家團結。
Mr Sunak pulled this off brilliantly: nothing in his premiership became him like the leaving of it.
蘇納克出色地完成了敗選演講：他在首相任期內所做的最適合他的事就是離開首相職位。
In France Ms Le Pen deployed another familiar trope, that of disappointment as a triumph-in-waiting.
在法國，勒龐采用了另一種人們熟悉的比喻，即現在的失望是未來的勝利。
“Our victory”, she insisted, “has merely been delayed.”
“我們的勝利”，她堅持道，“只是被推遲了。”
In America the concession tradition is said to date to a telegram from William Jennings Bryan to William McKinley in 1896.
在美國，據說敗選演講的傳統可以追溯到1896年威廉·詹寧斯·布萊恩發給威廉·麥金萊的一封電報。（注：威廉·詹寧斯·布萊恩在總統選舉中敗給威廉·麥金萊。）
Perhaps the finest example was John McCain’s moving concession to Barack Obama in 2008.
也許最好的例子是約翰·麥凱恩在2008年對巴拉克·奧巴馬發表的感人的敗選演講。
The tradition was flouted by Donald Trump, who has turned a generic performance of democratic norms into a nail-biting moment of jeopardy.
這一傳統被唐納德·特朗普所蔑視，他將民主規范中的這個沒有特別意義的表演變成了一個令人緊張的危險時刻。
The victory speech, an altogether easier gig, evinces respect for vanquished foes and their supporters and embraces the challenges ahead.
勝選演講相對容易一些，要對落敗的對手及其支持者表示尊重，并迎接未來的挑戰。
Dawn is a popular metaphor: echoing Tony Blair in 1997 (“A new dawn has broken, has it not?”), Sir Keir spoke of the “sunlight of hope”.
黎明是一個流行的隱喻：模仿托尼·布萊爾在1997年的演講（“新的黎明已經出現，不是嗎？”），基爾爵士談到了“希望的陽光”。
If the results are messy, claiming victory early is a way to shape perceptions, as it was in France for Jean-Luc Melenchon, a left-wing firebrand.
如果結果很難辦，提前宣布勝利是一種塑造大眾看法的辦法，就像法國的左翼煽動者讓-呂克·梅朗雄所做的那樣。
When the winner assumes power, the choreography reflects the status of their office.
當勝利者掌權時，節目編排反映出他們這屆政府的地位。
America has the pageant of the inauguration, with its solemn oath and poems declaimed in the rain.
美國有盛大的就職典禮，在雨中進行莊嚴的宣誓和詩歌朗誦。
The British process is brisk, like a one-act play with no interval.
英國的就職程序很簡短輕快，就像一部沒有幕間休息的獨幕劇。
New prime ministers stroll up to Number 10, their relatively modest abode.
新首相步行至相對簡樸的官邸唐寧街10號。
The imagery casts the country as a family, with the leader as its steward rather than an overlord.
這種首相形象將國家描繪成一個家庭，領導人是其管家而不是領主。
Elections in autocracies belong to a different genre.
專制國家的選舉屬于不同的類型。
Instead of the will of the people, they showcase the autocrat-puppeteer’s grip on the state.
選舉展示的不是人民的意愿，而是專制傀儡操縱者對國家的控制。
Election night is a lifeless tableau of power, often with a hint of farce in the naked ballot-stuffing and inflated tallies.
選舉之夜是一幅毫無生氣的權力圖景，赤裸裸的選票舞弊和夸大的計票結果常常帶有一絲鬧劇色彩。
In a free vote, the ultimate coup de theatre features the extras rather than the stars.
在自由投票中，最終的戲劇性轉折是由配角而不是主角完成的。
Glugging your coffee on the way to work, or carrying your dry-cleaning as you plod home, you arrive at the polling station as an ordinary mortal.
你像一個普通人一樣，在上班的路上大口喝著咖啡，或者在倦步回家路上拿著你的干洗衣服，然后到達投票站。
Then you enter the voting booth—perhaps there is a curtain to draw behind you—and, as if in a conjuror’s trick, you become a hero in your country’s story.
然后你走進投票亭——也許你身后有一道簾子可以拉上——然后就像施展魔法一樣，你成為了你的國家故事中的主人公。
In the sweep of history, this is still an unusual and heartwarming plotline.
在歷史的長河中，這仍然是一個不同尋常且令人暖心的故事情節。
Yet as with Tinker Bell, the fairy in “Peter Pan” kept alive by the audience’s belief, the magic works only if enough people trust in it, whether or not they win.
然而就像《彼得·潘》中靠觀眾的信念才能存在的小仙子叮當一樣，只有當足夠多的人相信投票時魔法才會起作用，無論選的人是否獲勝。
Too many seem to be losing the faith.
但太多的人似乎正在失去信念。
