又中又英｜Dollars to doughnuts

January 20 will be a day that makes headlines around the world. That is the day Donald Trump will be sworn in as the next American president. He promised during the election campaign to issue many headline-making orders on his first day as president. These include closing the border with Mexico, beginning mass deportations of illegal immigrants, and pardoning some of those who broke into the US Congress in January 2021 to support Trump’s claim that Joe Biden cheated to win the election. Trump also said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war “in a day”.

I heard a political commentator say on social media he would bet dollars to doughnuts that Trump couldn’t do all those things on his first day as president. A doughnut is a fried and sweet pastry. Americans sometimes spell it “donut”. If you use the American expression “dollars to doughnuts”, it means you are so confident about winning or being right that you will use dollars to bet against someone who uses doughnuts in the bet. One American dollar is, of course, worth more than one doughnut. Some people believe many of Trump’s campaign promises were made on the spur of the moment.

If you say something on the spur of the moment, it means you say it suddenly without thinking or planning. It is impossible to carry out mass deportations in one day or to end the Russia-Ukraine war in a day, but I think Trump is determined to keep many of his campaign promises during his presidency. He will deport illegal immigrants convicted of crimes as a first step. He will raise trade tariffs. And he will tighten the US-Mexico border.

1月20日將會成為全球頭條的一日，在這一天，唐納德‧特朗普將會宣誓成為下一任美國總統。他在競選期間承諾，首天就任總統便會發布許多足以成為頭條的命令。這些命令包括，關閉與墨西哥的邊境，開始大規模驅逐非法移民，以及特赦其中一些於2021年1月闖入國會大樓，支持特朗普指控祖‧拜登以欺詐手段去勝選的示威者。特朗普也說他可以在「一天之內」完結俄烏戰爭。

我在社交媒體上聽過一個政治評論人說，他敢bet dollars to doughnuts，特朗普不能在就任總統的第一天之內就把所有那些事都完成。A doughnut就是炸甜圈圈，美國人有時會把它串成donut。若你用上美式俚語dollars to doughnuts，意即你非常有信心會贏，或者堅信自己是對的，即使對方只是用冬甩（doughnuts）來打賭，你也會用真金白銀來對賭。一美元當然要比一個冬甩（doughnut）昂貴。一些人相信，特朗普在競選期間的承諾，都只是on the spur of the moment許下的。

若你say something on the spur of the moment，那即是指你一時衝動，沒有經過三思或計劃而隨口說出的。要在一天之內實行大規模驅逐計劃，又或在一天內結束俄烏戰爭，是不可能的，但我認為特朗普會在任內履行他許多的競選承諾。第一步他將會驅逐那些被判有罪的非法移民。他會加徵關稅。而且他也會收緊美墨邊境的管制。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻