又中又英｜Train of thought

Former President Donald Trump, who is running for a second term as US president, often loses his train of thought when he gives speeches or interviews. President Joe Biden who, at 81, is the oldest American president, also sometimes loses his train of thought due to old age. He lost his train of thought much of the time during an election debate with Trump last June. Democratic Party leaders succeeded in urging him to let Vice President Kamala Harris take over as the presidential candidate. The expression “train of thought” means a series of connected thoughts in your mind.

Loud noise makes me lose my train of thought. Trump is known for suddenly switching from one topic to a completely different one that is not related to the first topic. He loses his train of thought by doing that. During a Q&A session in New York last week, he was asked about how he would make childcare affordable if elected. He switched from childcare to increasing tariffs for foreign goods to making America great again to saying the US is a failing nation under Biden. His 2-minute answer was so confusing that it became a word salad.

A word salad is a mixture of confusing words or phrases, making it difficult to understand. Many of Biden’s answers were word salads during his June debate with Trump. Harris, who is much younger, doesn’t often lose her train of thought because she was a government prosecutor. But a few of her recent political speeches were also word salads.

现正争取美国总统第二个任期的前总统唐纳德‧特朗普，在演讲或受访时都经常会思路（train of thought）中断。八十一岁的总统祖‧拜登，是历来年纪最大的美国总统，他也会因为年事已高而有时思路（train of thought）中断。六月他跟特朗普进行选举辩论之时，就不时乱了思绪（train of thought），忘了自己要说什么。民主党的领袖们成功劝退了他，让副总统贺锦丽代他做总统候选人。习语“train of thought”是指你脑海中的思路。

吵耳的噪音也会打断我的思路（train of thought）。众所周知，特朗普常常突然由一个话题转换至另一个完全不同、与原先话题毫不相关的话题。他这样做的时候就会断了思路（train of thought），忘了本来想说什么。上星期在纽约一个问答环节中，他被问到若他当选，会怎样使儿童托管服务变得更便宜、让人负担得起。他从儿童托管转了去说给入口货物增加关税，再说要令美国再次强大起来，再去说美国在拜登治下是个失败的国家。他那两分钟的答复非常令人困惑，变成了个“语词沙律”（word salad）。

A word salad是东一句、西一句的杂碎拼凑，令其复杂难懂。拜登六月跟特朗普辩论时，他的回应亦是这种前言不搭后语的杂碎字句（word salads）。比二人年轻得多的贺锦丽，就很少会思路（train of thought）中断，因为她曾经是政府的检控官。但她最近有几篇政治演说亦是东拉西凑的语句杂碎（word salads）。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻