新闻英语词汇: Rendezvous with destiny

新闻英语词汇随着人类社会的快节奏发展而发生着日新月异的变化。学习新闻英语对于提高英语水平和拓宽知识面非常重要。掌握欧美网络报刊常用英语政治词汇有助于阅读和理解当今欧美主流媒体的新闻时事报道,了解国内外局势和世界的发展方向。

儒琴新闻英语词汇 Journalism Vocabulary

美国的新闻报刊经常会出现”Rendezvous with destiny” 这一短语。 单词 Rendezvous /ˈrɑːn.deɪ.vuː/ 源自中世纪的法语 rendez vous (present yourselves)。可作名词和动词:约会,会面 (to meet or come together at a particular time and place)。

Rendezvous with destiny 可翻译成:命运相会;命运紧密相连;与命运相遇等 。 Rendezvous with destiny 短语的内涵和意境远远超过其表面这两单词组合的意义。

“ Rendezvous with destiny ”最早是富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福(Franklin Delano Roosevelt)在接受民主党提名再次竞选总统发表演说时使用的一个短语。1936年6月27日1在宾夕法尼亚州的费城,罗斯福在民主党全国代表大会上发表了激动人心的演讲。那次演讲是这样结束的:

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

In this world of our in other lands, there are some people, who, in times past, have lived and fought for freedom, and seem to have grown too weary to carry on the fight. They have sold their heritage of freedom for the illusion of a living. They have yielded their democracy.

I believe in my heart that only our success can stir their ancient hope. They begin to know that here in America we are waging a great and successful war. It is not alone a war against want and destitution and economic demoralization. It is more than that; it is a war for the survival of democracy. We are fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and for the world.

I accept the commission you have tendered me. I join with you. I am enlisted for the duration of the war.”

几十年后,罗纳德·里根能成为成为美国历史上最重要的总统之一,毫不夸张地说,起源是一件戏剧性的事件:1964年10月27日晚, 为了支持巴里·戈德华特 (Barry Goldwater) 竞选总统, 他在全国电视上发表了长达半小时的演讲。过去作为通用电气(General Electric)的发言人,里根多年来一直在全国各地发表演讲,但这次演讲有了全国听众和特定的政治背景。这引起了激烈的反应,尤其是在保守派中; 这让里根立刻成为了一名政治家; 他开始考虑竞选加州州长,他在1966年成功了。

这篇演讲, 后来也被称为“Rendezvous with Destiny” ,解释了里根为什么离开民主党,以及他的政治观点是什么; 里根谈到了小政府的重要性,并解释了为什么他认为这个特殊时刻是如此关键。这次演讲是这样结束的:

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.

We’ll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

We will keep in mind and remember that Barry Goldwater has faith in us. He has faith that you and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny.

如今,每当一位美国政治领导人面临特别严峻的挑战或决定性时刻,人们就会使用“ rendezvous with destiny”这个短语。例如,《国家》杂志2014年7月30日刊登题为“The New Cold War Is Obama’s Rendezvous With Destiny” (新冷战是奥巴马总统的“ rendezvous with destiny”);副标题“The New Cold War has arrived, and the Washington hawks are unprepared.“(新冷战已经到来,华盛顿的鹰派毫无准备)。”同样,特朗普总统与以色列总统的会晤也被称为“ rendezvous with destiny”。

2015年,希拉里·克林顿(Hillary Clinton)开始了她的第二次“命运相会 ”(Hillary Clinton began her second “rendezvous with destiny”)。她承诺,如果当选美国首位女总统,她将制定旨在造福中产阶级的新政策。她还援引富兰克林·罗斯福总统的名言“ This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny. “这一代美国人与命运紧密相连”,指出美国任期最长的总统“呼吁每一个美国人尽自己的一份力量”。

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