18考研英語：外刊精讀（二）

原文：
If, like this newspaper, you believe that politics should be based on evidence, this is worrying. strong democracies can draw on（make use of） inbuilt defences against post-truth. Authoritarian countries are more vulnerable.

That politicians sometimes peddle lies is not news: think of Ronald Reagan's fib that his administration had not traded weapons with Iran in order to secure the release of hostages and to fund the efforts of rebels in Nicaragua. Dictators and democrats seeking to deflect blame for their own incompetence have always manipulated the truth; sore losers have always accused the other lot of lying.

翻譯：
如果你和我們這家報紙一樣，相信政治應該要基於證據，目前發生的狀況則是令人擔憂的。強有力的民主可以利用內在的抵禦系統對抗後真相，但是專制獨裁的國家則更容易受到傷害。

政治家時不時兜售謊言並不是新鮮事。想想羅納德·里根的謊言：他的政府並沒有和伊朗進行武器交易解救人質，為尼加拉瓜的反叛者提供資金資助。獨裁者和民主派試圖轉移公眾對其的無能的責備，並且經常控制着真相；徹底的失敗者經常指責另一方在撒謊。

peddle v. 兜售

fib n. 謊言

Deflect v 轉移、彎曲

inflect v. 〔詞形〕屈折變化
Most nouns in English are inflected for plural use by adding “-s” or “-es.”

hostages 人質

Nicaragua 尼加拉瓜（拉丁美洲一國家）

原文：
But post-truth politics is more than just an invention of whingeing elites who have been outflanked. The term picks out the heart of what is new: that truth is not falsified, or contested (contentious), but of secondary importance. Once, the purpose of political lying was to create a false view of the world. The lies of men like Mr Trump do not work like that. They are not intended to convince the elites, whom their target voters neither trust nor like, but to reinforce prejudices.

翻譯：
但是後真相政治不僅僅是那些被打敗的抱怨連篇的精英人士的一個發明。這一詞語指出了新事物的核心：真相沒有被虛假化，也沒有遭到質疑，而只是不再那麼重要罷了。過去，政治謊言的目的是創造一種錯誤的世界觀，特朗普這類人的謊言並不是這樣的。它們的目的不是為了説服目標選民不信任也不喜歡的精英，而是為了強化他們對精英階層的偏見。

Whinge v. whine
People were whinging about the lack of service.

Outflank v. get the better of 佔上風

Falsify v. 歪曲
He was caught falsifying financial accounts.