又中又英｜A clean sweep

There is much soul-searching within the Democratic Party after its drubbing by Donald Trump and his Republican Party in the US elections. The expression “soul-searching” means a deep, long, and careful examination of your beliefs and feelings to understand the reasons for your actions. A drubbing means losing by a lot, such as in a sports match or an election. The Democratic Party is soul-searching to understand why the party and its presidential candidate Kamala Harris lost so badly. Trump and his Republican Party made a clean sweep in the election.

A clean sweep means winning everything that is available to win. A candidate must win the Electoral College to be elected president. At least 270 Electoral College votes are needed to win. Trump won 312 compared to Harris’s 226. Each of the 50 US states has a certain number of Electoral College votes depending on size and population. The Electoral College votes for each state includes the two senators each state has and the number of members it has in the House of Representatives. Trump also won the popular vote by winning more votes from ordinary voters than Harris.

Electoral College votes, not the popular vote, decide who wins the presidency. Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016 but won the presidency by getting more Electoral College votes. Republican presidents have not won the popular vote for 20 years. Trump’s Republican Party has also regained control of the Senate from the Democrats and is likely to keep its control of the House of Representatives when all mail-in votes are counted. This is a clean sweep because Republicans will control the White House and the Congress.

民主黨在美國大選中被唐納德‧特朗普及其所屬的共和黨打得落花流水（drubbing）後，有着深刻的反省（soul-searching）。習語“soul-searching”是指深刻、漫長、仔細的反省，審視自己的信念和感受，去透徹明瞭自己的行為背後的原因。A drubbing 是指被徹底打敗，例如在一場運動比賽又或選舉之中。民主黨正在痛定思痛（soul-searching），要了解為何政黨及候選人賀錦麗會輸得這樣慘烈。特朗普和他的共和黨人在大選中取得了壓倒性的勝利（a clean sweep）。

A clean sweep是指大獲全勝。一個候選人必須贏得較多的選舉人票（Electoral College），才能當選總統，要勝出至少要有二百七十張選舉人（Electoral College）票。相比賀錦麗的二百二十六張，特朗普取得了三百一十二張。五十個美國州分根據面積與人口各有相應的選舉人（Electoral College）票，而每個州的選舉人（Electoral College）票包括了州分所擁有的兩位參議員以及眾議員人數。特朗普亦從一般選民中比賀錦麗贏得更多的普選票。

誰能奪得總統之位，是取決於Electoral College votes，即選舉人票，而非普選票。在二零一六年的大選中，特朗普在普選票中輸給希拉莉，但靠着奪得更多的選舉人（Electoral College）票而當選總統。來自共和黨的總統們已經有二十年沒有贏過普選票了。特朗普的共和黨亦從民主黨中奪回參議院的控制權，而當所有郵寄選票都點算過後，亦很有可能可以繼續掌控眾議院。這實在是大獲全勝（a clean sweep），因為共和黨人將會執掌白宮與國會。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻