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A critical guide to election night, the top-billing show of 2024
2024年头牌节目“选举之夜”的评论性指南
A car drives down a road in drizzly central London, taking a besuited man home from a meeting. It is a mundane image, transmuted into spectacle by the alchemy of elections.
一辆汽车在细雨霏霏的伦敦市中心沿着马路行驶，载着一位身穿西装的男子，把他从会议现场送回家。这是一个平淡无奇的画面，但选举的魔力将其点石成金为奇观。
Tracked in the sort of aerial footage normally reserved for felons on the run, the car conveyed Sir Keir Starmer to Downing Street from Buckingham Palace, where, at the king’s invitation, he became Britain’s new prime minister on July 5th.
在通常只用来拍摄逃犯的航拍镜头的追踪下，这辆车把基尔·斯塔默爵士从白金汉宫送往唐宁街，7月5日，他在白金汉宫得到国王授权后成为英国新首相。
Walter Bagehot, a Victorian editor of The Economist, divided the constitution into the “efficient” parts (like the cabinet) and the “dignified” or “theatrical” elements (like the monarchy).
沃尔特·白芝浩是维多利亚时代《经济学人》的编辑，他将宪法分为“效用”部分（如内阁）和“庄重”或者说“戏剧”部分（如君主制）。
Election night—the top-billing show in many countries in what is a bumper year for voting—brings the two together. It is a pivotal moment in the life of a nation. But it is also a drama, mixing a high-stakes plot with actorly set pieces and rhetorical motifs.
选举之夜——在今年这个投票大年里，这是许多国家的头牌节目——将这两者结合在了一起。这是国家历程中的一个关键时刻。但这也是一部戏剧，高赌注的情节、表演般的固定桥段、演讲的主题汇聚一堂。
These days the night’s action begins with an exit poll, which, like a prologue, announces the key themes. Sometimes the findings are predictable, as with the thumping of the Conservatives foretold by pollsters in Britain.
如今，选举之夜以出口民调开始，就像开场序幕一样，宣布了节目的关键主题。有时候选举结果是可以预测的，就像英国民调机构预测的保守党惨败一样。
Sometimes this opening scene is electrifying. In France the preliminary results of parliamentary elections flash up on TV after a ten-to-one countdown; on July 7th they landed with a boom, showing Marine Le Pen’s hard-right National Rally surprisingly beaten into third place.
有时候这个开场是令人激动的。在法国，议会选举的初选结果在倒数十个数后在电视上闪现；7月7日初步结果的公布引起轰动，显示玛丽娜·勒庞的极右翼国民联盟出人意料地被击败，位居第三。
Sub-plots unfold as the main action simmers. In America TV networks race to call the outcomes in each state. In a modern version of medieval football, English constituencies compete to count their votes fastest.
在主要情节酝酿之时，次要情节也逐渐展开。在美国，各大电视网络竞相宣布每个州的选举结果。在现代版的中世纪足球比赛中，英国各选区竞相以最快速度计票。
Then come the big soliloquies—ie, the concession and victory speeches. A leader’s concession is the political equivalent of a condemned man’s remarks from the scaffold.
然后是长篇的独白，也就是败选演讲和胜选演讲。领导人的败选演讲相当于一个被定罪的人在绞刑架上的遗言。
Fortunately a formula is available. You accept your loss, take responsibility and call for national unity. Mr Sunak pulled this off brilliantly: nothing in his premiership became him like the leaving of it.
幸运的是，有一个公式可套用。你接受你的失败，承担起责任，并呼吁国家团结。苏纳克出色地完成了败选演讲：他在首相任期内所做的最适合他的事就是离开首相职位。
In France Ms Le Pen deployed another familiar trope, that of disappointment as a triumph-in-waiting. “Our victory”, she insisted, “has merely been delayed.”
在法国，勒庞采用了另一种人们熟悉的比喻，即现在的失望是未来的胜利。“我们的胜利”，她坚持道，“只是被推迟了。”
