又中又英｜A razor-thin election

Americans will cast their votes next Tuesday, November 5, in the most divisive presidential election in modern times. All the polls show it will be a nail-biting event. It will be even more of a nail-biter if there is no clear winner after voting closes in all the 50 states. This is possible because polls show it is a razor-thin election. A nail-biting event or a nail-biter means a very exciting or worrying situation because you don’t know how it will end. A razor-thin election is an election in which the winner wins by only a small number of votes.

Vice President Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party and former President Donald Trump of the Republican Party both know this is a razor-thin election that could be decided by just a few thousand votes in each of the seven battleground states. A battleground or swing state, as I explained before, means a state where the Democrats and Republicans have similar voter support. That’s why both candidates have campaigned many times in the battleground states. They are also spending millions of dollars on TV, radio, and digital platform ads attacking each other.

I am now in Atlanta in the battleground state of Georgia. I see these ads every time I turn on the TV. Campaigning has reached the home stretch with just days to go before election day. The home stretch is the final part of something, such as a horse race or political campaigning. Harris and Trump are now making their final arguments at rallies and with attack ads.

美國人將於下星期二，十一月五日，近代最分化的總統大選之中投票。所有的民調均顯示，那將會是一個非常緊湊刺激的局面（nail-biting event）。要是在五十個州的投票皆完成以後，還沒有明顯的勝出者，那就將會更加令人焦急萬分（nail-biter）。這是有可能的，因為民調顯示這是一個勢均力敵的選舉 （razor-thin election）。A nail-biting event或 a nail-biter 是指一個非常刺激或令人焦慮萬分的局面，因為你不知道它將會走向怎樣的結局。A razor-thin election就是在一個選舉中，當選者只是以些微的票數險勝。

民主黨的副總統賀錦麗以及共和黨的前總統唐納德‧特朗普，都知道這是一場鬥得難分難解的選舉（razor-thin election），最終很可能取決於七個 battleground states中每個州的幾千票之差而已。正如我之前解釋過的，a battleground或swing state就是戰場州、搖擺州，在這些州分中民主黨和共和黨有非常接近的選民支持。因此，兩名候選人都在這些戰場州（battleground states）之中為競選宣傳過許多遍。他們也花了數以百萬美元計的經費，在電視、電台和電子媒體平台上投放廣告，攻擊對手。

我現身處戰場州（battleground state）喬治亞州的亞特蘭大。我每次打開電視，便會見到這些廣告。距離選舉日只有數天，競選活動已進入 home stretch—— home stretch是最後階段，例如賽馬或政治競選活動的最後直路。賀錦麗與特朗普現在都於集會和攻擊廣告中作最後的辯論。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻