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Instead, he beat him in politics, with words rather than fists. As things turned out, the contrasting styles of his predecessors may have made Mr Biden’s deeply prosaic register an asset after all.
相反，拜登没有动拳头，而是在政治上用言语击败了特朗普。事实证明，与前任总统们截然不同的风格竟然可能使拜登平淡无奇的语体风格变成难能可贵的财富。
Receiving his party’s nomination in 2008, Mr Obama said future generations might remember the occasion as “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal”. His high-flown rhetoric raised expectations to messianic levels. Dashed hopes led many voters to look for someone who sounded as little like a politician as possible. In 2016 that meant a political novice who eschewed focus-grouped formulations in favour of provocative, often vulgar tirades. Not only did voters not mind; Mr Trump’s outrageous style was hugely effective. His vernacular delivery implied that he was a real boss, not a backslapping hack, with unique skills to get things done. But in office his coarseness turned some voters off, even as it thrilled others.
奥巴马在2008年获得民主党党内提名时表示，我们的子孙后代可能会把这一时刻记为“海洋面上升开始放缓，地球开始恢复的时刻”。他浮夸的言辞让人们抱有很高的期待，期望总统会是弥赛亚那样的人物。然而希望破灭了，许多选民为此想要寻求一个听起来与政客截然不同的总统。也就是2016年大选时的政治新手特朗普，他完全避开了政客焦点组合式的表述，而倾向于挑衅性的、通常是言辞粗鄙的长篇大论。选民们不但不介意特朗普离谱的作风，反而十分受用。他的白话表达意味着他是一个真正的老板，而不是弹冠相庆的政客，他用这些独特的技巧当选了总统。但在执政期间，他的粗俗不堪让一些选民欣喜若狂，也让其他选民望而却步。
All that makes this an ideal time for Average Joe, for whom being able to talk fluidly at all was a hard-won achievement. Mr Biden grew up with a severe stutter, which he overcame as a young man. In one of the most touching scenes of his campaign, he told a boy who stutters, “Don’t let it define you. You are smart as hell.” Mr Biden took the boy’s number and called him with some tips that had helped him; later the boy spoke to the Democratic National Convention.
种种因素为普通人乔·拜登创造了绝佳的竞选时机。于拜登而言，能够流利地交谈已经是来之不易的成就了。拜登从小就患有严重的口吃，青年时期才得以克服。拜登竞选时曾有一幕最令人动容，他对一个结巴的男孩说，“别让口吃定义你。你非常聪明。”拜登记下了男孩的号码，并打电话跟他分享几个曾经对自己有帮助的小窍门；这个男孩后来在民主党全国代表大会上发表了演讲。
Even careful presidents make gaffes under constant scrutiny. In office, Mr Biden will no doubt give comics plenty of material to sharpen their impersonations. But if he gets tongue-tied or says the wrong thing every now and then, well, so do most people. After 12 years of extraordinary political speech, Americans may be ready for a president who sounds like them.
即使是谨慎的总统也会在不断的审视下失态。在任期间，拜登无疑会给喜剧提供大量犀利的模仿素材。如果他现在经常结结巴巴或说错话，没关系，大多数人也会这样失言的。经过12年非凡的政治演讲后，美国人可能已经准备好迎接一位听起来和自己差不多的总统了。
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