又中又英｜Goes off the rails

After winning last November's presidential election, Donald Trump moved quickly to keep his campaign promise of reducing America's huge deficit by cutting the size of the government. He created the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to be headed by billionaire businessmen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Its job is to cut wasteful expenditure and increase efficiency by restructuring the federal government. DOGE is an advisory commission, not an official government department. Musk and Ramaswamy will not get a government salary. But DOGE could go off the rails because of growing fears that Musk and Ramaswamy will cut spending on many popular government services and benefits, including retirement payments and healthcare.

If something goes off the rails, it means it starts behaving in an unacceptable way. The federal government’s expenditure last year was US$6.8 trillion, partly financed by borrowing. Musk had said he could cut US$2 trillion from this budget. He and Ramaswamy have threatened to fire thousands of federal government workers to stop America's ballooning budget. A ballooning budget means a budget that rises rapidly because of increased spending. There are fears DOGE will reduce Social Security, a monthly payment for older Americans, and Medicare, which provides healthcare for retirees at a low monthly payment.

Most Americans agree the US budget and debt are too high and should be reduced. Musk and Ramaswamy will face headwinds in the US Congress if they try to reduce expenditure for popular benefits such as Social Security and Medicare. A headwind is a wind that blows in the opposite direction of your movement. But to face headwinds can also mean to face opposition against what you want to do.

在上年11月總統大選中勝出過後，唐納德‧特朗普很快便轉去履行他的競選承諾，透過縮減政府規模來減省美國巨大的財赤。他創建了「政府效率部」（DOGE），由億萬富商伊隆‧馬斯克以及維維克‧拉馬斯瓦米所領導。它的工作是去削減浪費性的開支，以及重組聯邦政府以增加效率。DOGE是個諮詢委員會，而不是正式的政府部門，馬斯克和拉馬斯瓦米也不會獲得政府薪酬。但DOGE也可能會超出常規（go off the rails），人們逐漸擔心馬斯克和拉馬斯瓦米會削減許多受歡迎的政府服務和福利方面的開支，包括退休金以及醫療保健。

若某事物 goes off the rails，意即它開始做出脫軌、不能接受的行徑。聯邦政府上年的開支是6萬8000億美元，部分是從舉債而得的。馬斯克說他會從這個預算中削減2萬億美元。他和拉馬斯瓦米威脅要炒掉數以萬計的聯邦政府人員，以阻止美國的 ballooning budget。A ballooning budget就是因為增加的開支而迅速膨脹的預算。人們擔心DOGE會縮減每月補助年長美國人的社安保障金，以及聯邦醫療保險，就是以很低的月費為退休人士提供醫療保健。

大部分的美國人都贊同，美國的預算與負債實在太高，應予以削減。若果馬斯克及拉馬斯瓦米嘗試削減受歡迎的福利開支如社安保障金及聯邦醫療保險，將會在美國國會中面對阻力（face headwinds）。A headwind就是逆風，跟你移動的方向相反的；但to face headwinds也可以解作你想要做的事將要遭到反對。

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