We received a letter from the Writers War Board the other day asking for a statement on "The Meaning of Democracy." It presumably is our duty to comply with such a request and it is certainly our pleasure.

　　前些时候，我们收到作家战争委员会的一封来信.信中他们要求我们阐述一下“民主的意义”一回答这样的问题似乎确是我们的责任之一，当然我们也非常乐意于回答这个问题。

　　Surely the Board knows what democracy is. It is the fine line that forms on the right. It is don't in don't shove. It is the hole in the stuffed shirt through which the sawdust slowly trickles. It is the dent in the high hat. Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time. It is the feeling of privacy in the voting booths, the feeling of communion in the libraries, the feeling of vitality everywhere. Democracy is a letter to the editor. Democracy is the score at the beginning of the ninth. It is an idea that hasn't been disproved yet, a song the words of which have not gone bad. It is the mustard on the hot dog and the cream in the rationed coffee. Democracy is a request from a War Board in the middle of the morning in the middle of a war. Wanting to know what democracy is.

　　委员会必定已经知晓了民主是什么东西它就是以右排为基准，全队看齐;他是先来后到，不准推搡;它是绣花枕头上的一个洞，锯末就从其中慢慢撒出来;它还是高顶礼帽上的凹陷：民主是一个一直饱受质疑的论断：大多数在大多时候都是正确的。它还是投票室里那种私密的感觉，那种自由如影随形的感觉，那种到处充满生机和活力的感觉它是给编辑的一封信，它是贝多芬第九交响曲开始的乐谱。它是一种还没有证伪的信念，一首歌词还没有变味儿的歌曲它是热狗上的芥末和定量配给‘的咖啡上的奶油民主是在战争时期的一个早晨，战争委员会要求知道民主是什么。

　　英语学习笔记:

　　1 .It presumably is our duty to comply with such a request, and it is certainly our pleasure.

　　英语点睛：本句的presumably 一词将幽默和戏谑的意味表露无疑

　　2. Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time,

　　英语点睛：这个句子很纠结，要注意省略的部分。

　　3. Democracy is a request from a War Board, in the middle of the morning in the middle of a war, wanting to know what democracy is.

　　英语点睛：连用两个in the middle of，产生在语气上的诙谐和语感上的优美。

　　学习更多：

　　1. The past year has presumably, been kind to those with low testosterone levels.

　　(谈论金融危机)看来，对于那些睾丸素水平较低的人来说，过去的一年还算不错=

　　2.Nuclear power accounts for more than one-half of South Carolina's electricity generation.

　　(能源问题)南卡一半以上的电力来自于核能，

　　3.Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.

　　(《北非谍影》的经典台词)世上有那么多的城镇，城镇有那么多的酒馆，她却走进了我的。

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（实习编辑：高奕飞）