TE 20180827 Above the Law 法律之上？
Above the Law 法律之上？
Is he above the law? 他是否凌驾法律之上？
The slow drip of revelations and convictions will eventually force America to confront a simple question
抽丝剥茧的真相，伏首承认的罪行，这缓慢汇聚而成的点滴，将逐渐迫使美国面对一个简单的问题
drip: 滴; 点滴，滴答滴答的声音; [医] 点滴;
revelation: 暴露；被揭示的真相，被揭露的内情
conviction: 定罪，判罪
IT WAS the kind of moment that would crown the career of a reality-TV producer. While the president of the United States was on his way to a campaign rally, his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was found guilty of eight counts of tax and bank fraud; and his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to eight counts of tax evasion, fraud and breaking campaign-finance laws. Cable-news channels needed so many split screens to cover what was going on that they began to resemble a Rubik’s cube. Amid the frenzy, however, something important changed this week. For the first time, President Donald Trump faces a formal accusation that he personally broke the law to further his candidacy.
这是那种足以让真人电视制作人登上生涯顶峰的时刻。当美国总统去往竞选集会途中是，他的前竞选团队经理保罗·马纳福特，被裁定在银行欺诈与逃税案中有8项罪名成立；还有他的前律师迈克尔·科恩，承认逃税、欺诈和竞选财务违规行为的8项控罪。有线新闻频道需要太多分屏来覆盖发生的内容，以至于他们开始使用类似魔方一样的屏幕。然而， 在这阵狂乱中，本周一些重要的事情发生了变化。唐纳德·特朗普总统第一次面临一项正式的指控：他个人违反了法律来推动他的候选人竞选结果。
IT WAS the kind of moment that would crown the career of a reality-TV producer. 强调句
背景：保罗·马纳福特(Paul Manafort)，1949年出生于美国康涅狄格州新不列颠市。美国政界人士，职业政治咨询师和游说者。曾在美国总统特朗普的竞选团队中供职，担任竞选团队经理。马纳福特因被曝曾收受乌克兰亲俄政党酬劳而离职。马纳福特后来成为“通俄门”调查的主要对象之一。2018年6月15日，因特别检察官罗伯特·穆勒提出的一项指控，保罗·马纳福特被撤销保释金并宣判入狱。8月21日，马纳福特被控银行欺诈与逃税案宣判，陪审团裁决18项罪名中有8项成立。
美国总统特朗普的前私人律师迈克尔·科恩(Michael Cohen)已就违反竞选财务法、银行诈欺和逃税与纽约联邦检察官达成认罪求情协议，其中包括刑期。报道称，除银行欺诈和逃税的指控外，科恩还对竞选财务违规行为认罪。此外，根据法庭文件，科恩共承认8项控罪，包括五项逃税罪，一项向银行作出虚假陈述及两项竞选财务违规行为。
Rubik’s cube：魔方；Rubik，中文名厄尔诺·鲁比克，出生于1944年7月13日，是匈牙利籍的发明家、雕刻家和建筑学教授。他为世界所知是因为发明了魔方系列玩具。
Mr Manafort’s conviction did not surprise anyone who had followed his trial, or his long career as a political consultant available for hire by dictators and thugs. Mr Cohen’s plea was more striking, because he was not just Mr Trump’s lawyer; he was the guy who made his problems go away. This included making payments during the 2016 campaign to buy the silence of two women who appear to have had affairs with Mr Trump. (The president has denied the affairs and now says he learned about the payments later.) But Mr Cohen told a court under oath that the money was paid “at the direction of a candidate for federal office”. In other words, that Mr Trump told Mr Cohen to break the law, then lied to cover it up.
follow: 对…有浓厚兴趣；密切关注
thug: 恶棍；暴徒；罪犯
under oath: 在法庭上宣过誓要说实话;
无论是谁，如果他关注马纳福特的审判，或者了解他在政治顾问生涯中都受雇于dc者和恶棍，他就不会对马纳福特认罪感到惊讶。科恩的恳请令人更震惊些，因为他不仅是特朗普的律师；他是帮特朗普从问题中脱身的人。其中包括在2016年竞选中，支付两位看上去和特朗普有绯闻的女性封口费。（总统否认了绯闻，如今表示他之后才知晓这笔费用。）但科恩在法庭宣誓表示，这笔钱是“在竞选联邦政府职务的候选人指示下”支付的。换句话说，特朗普告诉科恩违反法律，然后撒谎来掩盖这一事实。
长句：(Mr Manafort’s conviction) did not surprise anyone (who had followed his trial, /or his long career as a political consultant available for hire by dictators and thugs.) who后面的部分全部是定语从句trial和career是平级宾语
Neither Mr Manafort’s conviction nor Mr Cohen’s plea is directly related to the allegations of collusion with Russia that have dogged the Trump campaign, and are being investigated by Robert Mueller, the special counsel. Yet neither case would have been brought without his investigation. This week’s events mean that Mr Mueller now stands on firmer ground. It will be harder for the president to dismiss him without it looking as though he is obstructing justice. And in such cases, convictions often lead to more convictions as those found guilty look for ways to save themselves. The question now is whether, and how far, Mr Manafort and Mr Cohen will turn against their former boss in return for leniency. As the slow drip of revelations and convictions continues, Americans will have to confront a simple question: is Mr Trump above the law?
allegation: （未经证实的）指责，指控
collusion: 勾结，共谋，串通
dog: 阻碍；跟随
dismiss: 解雇，把…免职; 遣散，解散（队伍等）; 驳回，拒绝受理; 搁置;
leniency: 宽大，仁慈
不管是马纳福特的认罪或是科恩的恳请，都和困扰特朗普阵营、同时也正遭受特别顾问罗伯特·穆勒调查的“通俄门”控诉没有直接关系。虽然没有穆勒的调查，这两件案子都不会被提起。本周的事件意味着穆勒现在站在一个更坚定的立场。总统会更难在看上去没有妨碍司法的情况下，同时去解雇穆勒。在这样的情况下，自首通常会带来更多的自首，因为那些被判有罪的人会寻找出路拯救自己。现在的问题是：马纳福特和科恩是否，以及到何种程度，会背叛他们的前老板以求宽大处理。随着内情抽丝剥茧揭露，认罪自首慢慢出现，这点点滴滴继续深入，将会让美国人必须面对一个简单的问题：特朗普是否凌驾法律之上？
句法： It will be harder for the president to dismiss him without it looking as though he is obstructing justice. with/without的独立主格结构，with ( without)+宾语（名词/代词）+宾语补足语，宾语通常由名词或代词充当，但代词一定要用宾格。特点是with/without后可以单独成句，例句：The girl hid her box without anyone knowing where it was. 分两部分：the girl hid her box. | anyone knows where it was.本句中也是it will be harder for the predisent to dismiss him. | it looks as though he is obstructing justice.
背景：guilty plea就是美国司法制度中的“有罪答辩”。提到guilty plea，就不能不提到plea bargaining/ negotiation（辩诉交易）。在美国的plea bargaining制度下，被告人就较轻的罪名或者数项指控中的一项或几项做出guilty plea就可以换取检察官的某种让步，检察官和被告人之间经过协商达成某种协议，通常是获得较轻的判决或者撤销其他指控。因此麦道夫这次认罪也是为了从轻处罚。除了表示与法律有关的“答辩，抗辩”，plea还常用来指“恳求”或者“托辞，借口”。昨天晚上Jim的车坏在半路上了，他找到附近的居民，he made a plea for help（请求援助），但人们赶来帮忙时却发现他撞坏了路灯，his plea was that he did not see the signal.（他辩解说没看见信号）。事后警察找他了解情况时，他on the plea of ill health（以身体欠佳为理由）没有去。
Follow the money 跟着钱走
Mr Cohen says Mr Trump asked him to make hush-money payments—something that is not illegal for ordinary citizens, but counts as an undeclared donation when done on behalf of a political candidate, as Mr Trump was at the time. So what? After all, America treats breaches of campaign-finance law much more like speeding tickets than burglary: they are often the result of filling in a form wrongly, or incorrectly accounting for campaign spending. There are good reasons for this indulgent approach. When voters elect someone who has bent the rules, it sets up a conflict between the courts and the electorate that is hard to resolve cleanly.
speeding tickets: 超速票
indulgent: adj. 宽容的; 任性的; 放纵的，纵容的
approach: n. （思考问题的）方式，方法，态度；靠近；通路，路径，路线；接洽；要求
bend the rules/law: to change the rules in a way that is considered to be not important or not harmful 通融
electorate: 全体选民
科恩说特朗普要求他去付封口费——对普通公民来说这并不是非法行为，但当这一做法代表政治参选者（比如那时的特朗普）时，会被认为是一笔未申报捐款。那又怎么样？毕竟美国对待违反竞选财务法的行为，与其说像对待盗窃，更像对待超速单：它们常常是表格填写错误的结果，或是对竞选花费的不正确解释。这种宽容的态度有充足的理由。当投票者选举了在规则上通融的人，法庭和全体选民间就建立起了难以干净利落解决的冲突。
Mr Trump does not stand accused of getting his paperwork wrong, however, but of paying bribes to scotch a damaging story. That is a far more serious offence, and one that was enough to end the career of John Edwards, an aspirant Democratic presidential candidate, when he was caught doing something similar in 2008. There is no way of knowing if Mr Trump would still have won had the story come out. Even so, the possibility that he might not have done raises questions about his legitimacy, not just his observance of campaign-finance laws.
stand: （使）处于，进入（特定状态或境况）to be in, cause to be in, or get into a particular state or situation
scotch: 破除；制止；取消；阻止
offence: 犯罪行为；冒犯；触犯；得罪
aspirant: 渴望的，有抱负的，追求名誉或地位的;
observance: 庆祝; 惯例; 遵守，奉行; （宗教的，正式的） 仪式
然而，特朗普被指控的并不是弄错了他的文书工作，而是贿赂他人来阻止一个会对他造成伤害的故事传播。这是一项严重得多的罪行，并且足够终结远大抱负的总统候选人约翰·爱德华兹的生涯。2008年，爱德华兹被捉到做了类似的举动。如果事件被捅出，特朗普是否依然会赢得选举，这点不得而知。即使如此，他或许因此不能获胜这一可能性，对他的总统合法性提出了质疑，而不仅仅对他是否遵守竞选财务法提出了疑问。
长句：Even so, the possibility (that he might not have done) raises questions about his legitimacy, not just (his observance of campaign-finance laws).这里的done指代前面won
背景：约翰尼·爱德华兹（John Edwards，1953年6月10日－），美国民主党前参议员（1999—2005年）2004年民主党美国副总统选举候选人（约翰·克里为民主党2004年美国总统选举的候选人），在角逐2008年美国总统选举民主党候选人提名期间，于2008年1月30日宣布退出总统竞选。现年45岁的赖丽·亨特是一名电影制作人，在2008年的民主党总统初选战役期间，爱德华兹曾雇佣亨特充当他的竞选宣传片制片人。尽管美国小报当年偷拍到了爱德华兹和亨特同时亲密离开旅馆的照片，但爱德华兹当时极力否认他和亨特拥有私情。2008年8月，爱德华兹才在一次媒体访谈中承认了他和摄影师亨特的婚外情，并且两人有私生女。为帮助爱德华兹竞选，他的竞选阵营高薪聘请亨特为他拍摄宣传短片。自2006年起，两人便频繁接触。2008年2月，亨特诞下一名女婴。爱德华兹随后向妻子伊丽莎白承认这段婚外情。
What of the convention, which has been in place since the Nixon era, that the Justice Department will not indict a sitting president? Again, there are good reasons for this. As with breaches of campaign-finance law, such an indictment would set up a conflict between the bureaucracy and the president’s democratic mandate that has no happy ending. The convention would doubtless be void if there were credible evidence that a sitting president had, say, committed murder. But the payment of hush money to avoid an inconvenient story about an extramarital affair falls a long way short of that.
convention: 会议; 全体与会者; 国际公约; 惯例，习俗，规矩;
indict: v. 控告，告发；起诉
sitting president: n.现任总统
mandate: 授权；委任
extramarital: 婚外（性关系）的
fall short of: 不足以,达不到
司法部不起诉现任总统，这一尼克松时代开始的惯例又怎么办呢？再一次，这么做有足够好的理由。由于违反竞选财务法，这样的控告会在官僚组织与总统的民主委任间引发冲突，而这样的冲突从来不会圆满收尾。如果有可信的证据表明，现任总统曾经——打个比方，犯过谋杀，这个传统毫无疑问将被废除。但支付封口费来避免麻烦的婚外恋绯闻还远远不足以达到这种程度。
长句：What of the convention, (which has been in place since the Nixon era,) (that the Justice Department will not indict a sitting president)?
The authors of the constitution wanted to allow the president to get on with his job without unnecessary distractions. But, fresh from a war against King George III, they were very clear that the presidency should not be an elected monarchy. If a president does it, that does not make it legal. The constitutional problem that America is heading towards is that the Justice Department’s protocol not to prosecute sitting presidents dates from another age, when a president could be expected to resign with a modicum of honour before any charges were drawn up, as Nixon did. That norm no longer applies. The unwritten convention now says in effect that, if his skin is thick enough, a president is indeed above the law.
get on with： 继续（干某事）; 和…友好相处
modicum: 少量，一点点
draw up： 起草，草拟
charge: （警方）指控，控告
宪法撰写者想让总统心无旁骛地继续其工作。但是，刚从乔治三世的战争中返回的他们，很清楚地总统制度不应是一场有选举的君主制度。如果总统这么做了，那不意味着这件事是合法的。美国现在遇上的宪法问题是,司法部不起诉现任总统的协议追溯要到另一个年代，那时总统会被人们指望在任何的指控提起前，保有一点点的体面而辞职，就如尼克松做的那样。这个传统不再适用了。这个不成文的传统现在事实上传达的是，如果总统的脸皮够厚，他确实凌驾于法律之上。
长句：The constitutional problem (that America is heading towards) is that (the Justice Department’s protocol not to prosecute sitting presidents dates from another age, when a president could be expected to resign with a modicum of honour before any charges were drawn up, as Nixon did.) 从the Justice到did.是一个表语从句，里面可以当成单独的句子 ：the (Justice Department’s) protocol (not to prosecute sitting presidents) dates from another age, (when a president could be expected to resign with a modicum of honour before any charges were drawn up, as Nixon did.) 下划线为句子句干成份
Drip, dripping down the drain 滴嗒，滴到下水沟
This means the only solution to any clash that Mr Trump sets up between the courts and the voters is a political one. Ultimately the decision to remove a president is a matter of politics, not law. It could hardly be otherwise, as America’s Founding Fathers foresaw. In “Federalist 65”, Alexander Hamilton explained why it was the Senate, rather than the Supreme Court, that should sit in judgment on the president, for “who can so properly be the inquisitors for the nation as the representatives themselves?” No other body, he thought, would have the necessary “confidence in its situation” to do so.
clash: 打斗，打架；发生冲突；争论，争辩；（两种意见、声明或品质）有分歧，不相容，相抵触
sit in judgment on: 對(某人)妄加評判,對(某人)指指點點。
inquisitor: 检察官; 询问者
这意味着特朗普引发的任何法庭和选民间的争端，实际是一场政治分歧。最终要让总统下台与否的决定是政治事务，而不是法律事务。正如美国开国元勋们所预见，这很难会有其他的解释。在《联邦学人文集65篇》，亚历山大·汉密尔顿解释了为什么是参议院，而不是最高法院，应该对总统加以审判。因为“还有谁能像代表自己们那样，如此适合成为国家的审讯者？”没有任何其他人，他认为，拥有必要的“在这种情况下的自信”来行事。
背景：美国开国元勋（英语：Founding Fathers of the United States）是指签署《独立宣言》和《美国宪法》的政治领导人以及参与美国革命的领袖。他們是美國的奠基者。
《联邦党人文集》或称《联邦论》、《联邦主义议文集》（Federalist Papers），是18世纪80年代数位美国政治家在制定美国宪法的过程中所写作的有关美国宪法和联邦制度的评论文章的合集，共收有85篇文章。这些文章最早连载于纽约地区的报纸，之后在1788年，首次出版了合集，书名为“联邦党人”（The Federalist）。此书主要对美国宪法和美国政府的运作原理进行了剖析和阐述，是研究美国宪法的最重要的历史文献之一。《联邦党人文集》的作者包括詹姆斯·麦迪逊、亚历山大·汉密尔顿、约翰·杰伊。他们使用了普布利乌斯这个笔名。这个名字来源于他们所尊敬的古罗马执政官Publius Valerius Publicola。麦迪逊常被后人称为美国宪法之父，并且担任了第四任美国总统。汉密尔顿是宪法会议中非常有影响力的一位代表，并成为美国首任财政部长。约翰·杰伊则是美国首任联邦最高法院首席大法官。在文集中，大多数文章是由汉密尔顿执笔的。
Alas, that confidence has gone missing, leaving American democracy in a strange place. Thus far Republicans in Congress have stood by the president. The only thing likely to change that is a performance in the mid-terms so bad that enough of them come to see the president as an electoral liability. Although Democrats may well win a majority in the House, a two-thirds majority in the Senate—the threshold required to remove a president—looks unachievable.
thus far: 迄今; 迄今为止; 到目前为止; 到这点为止
stand by: 支持; 准备行动; 信守诺言; 站在旁边
liability: 责任; 债务; 倾向; <口>妨碍
threshold: 门槛，入口，开始; [物理学] 临界值; <英>级限协定; [航空学] 跑道入口;
哎，这份自信已经消失了，让美国民主留在了一个奇怪的境地。迄今为至，国会的共和党人都站在了总统身边支持他。唯一有可能改变这一情况的事，就是中期选举的表现太差，他们中有足够多的人视总统为选举的障碍。尽管民主党人很有可能在众议院获得大多数席位，在参议院获得三分之二席位——这是罢免总统所需的票数阈值——看上去遥不可及。
Mr Cohen’s plea has made the president of the United States an unindicted co-conspirator in a pair of federal crimes. That makes this a sad week for America. But it is a shameful one for the Republican Party, whose members remain more dedicated to minimising Mr Trump’s malfeasance than to the ideal that nobody, not even the president, is above the law.
unindicted: 未被告发的，未被起诉的;
malfeasance: 不正当，不法行为，渎职
ideal: 理想; 典范，典型; 目标，高尚的、有价值的原则或目标;
科恩的恳请，让美国总统成为一个未经起诉的、多起犯罪行为的共犯。对美国来说，本周因此成为悲哀的一周。但对于共和党人，这是可耻的一周。共和党人依然更热衷于将特朗普的不法行为最小化，更甚于维护这样的崇高目标：没有任何人，即使是总统，凌驾于法律之上。
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