又中又英 | Puts you to shame | 褚簡寧

　　Conservative commentator George Will uses such masterful English in his Washington Post columns that he puts me to shame. If someone puts you to shame, it means that person makes you feel ashamed because that person is better than you. Only a few columnists can write as skillfully as Will, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1977. Aged 85, he still writes two columns a week for the Washington Post focusing on politics, foreign affairs, and domestic policy. He describes himself as a libertarian conservative. A libertarian is someone who believes in personal freedom, free speech, and open markets.

　　He left the Republican Party in 2016 because he opposed President Donald Trump. He accused Trump of being a threat to democracy. A recent Washington Post column Will wrote so impressed me that I wanted to write about his writing skills. An eye-catching sentence in his column was: "Fill the government with barbarians, you get barbaric government". He regarded Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as a barbarian and dragged him over the coals for wanting to livestream the execution of Army Major Nidal Hasan by firing squad. To “drag someone over the coals” means to angrily criticize someone for doing something you oppose.

　　Hasan, a Muslim, shot dead 13 unarmed soldiers at the Fort Hood military base in Texas in 2009. He was paralyzed when other soldiers returned fire and now uses a wheelchair. Will mocked Hegseth by writing Americans could watch the livestreamed execution while eating popcorn. I wrote in my previous column that President Donald Trump initially approved the livestream but later said he would make the final decision. He cancelled the livestream after political leaders from both parties criticized livestreaming an execution, especially of someone in a wheelchair.

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　　保守派時評人喬治‧威爾，在其《華盛頓郵報》專欄內所用到的大師級上乘英語，使我自愧不如（puts me to shame）。若某人puts you to shame，意即那人比你更好，令你不禁汗顏。威爾於1977年榮獲普立茲獎，世上寫得精妙如他的專欄作家寥寥無幾。他已年屆85歲，每周仍然為《華盛頓郵報》撰寫兩篇專欄，專注政治、外交事務和內政等議題。他形容自己為libertarian 保守派。A libertarian 是相信個人自由、言論自由以及開放市場的自由主義者。

　　他因為反對總統特朗普，於2016年退出共和黨。他指責特朗普是對民主的威脅。在《華》最近一篇專欄裏，威爾所寫的令我甚為欽佩，使我不得不寫一下他的寫作技巧。他的專欄文章內有一句極為吸睛的句子：「用野蠻人塞滿政府，你只會得到一個野蠻的政府。」國防部長皮特‧赫格塞斯想直播行刑隊槍決陸軍少校尼達爾‧哈桑的過程，威爾將赫格塞斯稱為野蠻人，並且 dragged him over the coals——to “drag someone over the coals” 是指因為某人做了一些你反對的事，而嚴厲批評、斥責他。

　　回教徒哈桑於2009年在德州胡德堡軍事基地槍殺13名沒有武器裝備的士兵。他因為其他士兵開槍還擊而癱瘓，現在要使用輪椅。威爾嘲諷赫格塞斯，寫道美國人大可以一邊觀看行刑直播，一邊吃爆谷。我在上一篇文章中寫過，總統特朗普原已批准直播，後來又說他會再做最後決定。在兩黨政治領袖皆批評直播行刑，尤其是槍決一個坐輪椅的人之後，他取消了直播計劃。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻