以下翻译仅为本人休闲练习英语之用，文章版权归The Economist所有

THE final skirmish before the big battle that is Super Tuesday will be played out in Florida on Tuesday January 29th. The main story will almost certainly revolve around Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York who has run what the history books will surely describe as one of the oddest primary campaigns in recent presidential history.

“超级星期二”大战之前的最后一场竞选大战在1月29日星期二于佛罗里达州结束。这场竞选大战当然主要围绕朱利安尼(Rudy Giuliani)展开，这位曾经缔造历史的前纽约市长将以其最大胆的总统竞选策略而被载入当代总统竞选史。

Mr Giuliani long ago took the odd decision to ignore the contests in Iowa, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Michigan, Nevada and South Carolina, and instead stake everything on a big win in Florida which would, he hoped spring-board him to crushing victory in the Super Tuesday states on February 5th. Those include large states like California, New York and New Jersey, where he expected to dominate. But it hasn't worked out quite like that. The early primaries have given vast amounts of free publicity to his rivals, John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, and have allowed Mr McCain to supplant him as front-runner in the national polls. Now Mr Giuliani finds himself a poor third in the Florida polls, and behind to Mr McCain even in his home state of New York. Some national polls show him coming fourth overall, a remarkable come-down after months of leading the pack.

朱利安尼之前所作的大胆决定是，放弃爱荷华,怀俄明,新罕布什尔,密西根,内华达和南卡这几个州的竞选，全力以赴经营其在佛州竞选，从而希望获得在2月5日进行的“超级星期二”的压倒性胜利。同时还包括之前像加州，纽约和新泽西州这样大洲的竞选，然而事与愿违，他希望能获得主导得票率的愿望都落空了。这美国总统大选共和党候选人提名初选的结果却是使朱利安尼的对手们，麦凯恩(John McCain), Mike Huckabee和罗姆尼(Mitt Romney)获得大量的选票，尤其是麦凯恩成为这场全国初选的领先者。现在朱利安尼在佛州的得票率仅仅是第三，落后于麦凯恩，这种情况甚至在他之前从政的纽约市也如出一辙。有些大选得票率显示他在总体上排名第四，这是在其领先数月后明显的支持率下降。

A miracle could, of course happen: the pollsters' record in these primaries has been pretty dismal, notably in New Hampshire where to a man they predicted a win for Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. More likely, though, is that Florida will mark the death-knell for Mr Giuliani, prior to a black Tuesday that will in effect put him out of the race.

然而奇迹是可能发生的：比如民意调查的结果是前途不明朗的，尤其是在新罕布什尔州的调查显示人们希望奥巴马(Barack Obama)能够赢过希拉里(Hillary Clinton)。然而无需置疑的是，佛州提名初选的结果给朱利安尼出线“超级星期二”提前敲起丧钟。也许对于他来说，“超级星期二”将变成“黑色星期二”。

Who will win in Florida, and what effect will that have? The polls, for what they are worth, are tight, showing Mr McCain in a tie with Mr Romney. But Mr McCain has a couple of big things going for him: over the weekend he secured the endorsement of the state's governor, Charlie Crist (who boasts a remarkable approval rating of 60% or more) and of Mel Martinez, Florida's Republican senator. As a Cuban-American, Mr Martinez's endorsement could help swing a powerful block of Republican voters Mr McCain's way.

谁将赢得佛州，而这又会带来怎样的后果？民意调查，也是其价值该得到体现的时候，显示麦凯恩是罗姆尼的主要竞争对手。然而对麦凯恩获胜至关重要的是：上个周末他获得了佛州州长查理·克里斯特(Charlie Crist)（为麦凯恩获取60%支持率甚至更多的重要源泉）和佛州共和党议员马丁尼兹(Mel Martinez)的支持。作为具有古巴血源的美国人，马丁尼兹的支持将会为麦凯恩带来强有保障的共和党支持票。

Mr McCain and Mr Romney are running campaigns that are mirror images of each other: Mr McCain stressing his impeccable credentials on security issues, and Mr Romney relying on his command of economic issues. Voters generally now put the economy at the head of their list of concerns, which ought to favour Mr Romney—as, too, should the fact that Florida's is a closed primary. Mr McCain has so far won only in states (New Hampshire and South Carolina) where independents are allowed to chose which primary to compete in, allowing him to pick up a good number of centrists.

麦凯恩和罗姆尼目前展开的激烈竞争也是其各自代表执政政策的竞争：麦凯恩重点放在其构造更加无暇的安全体系，而罗姆尼则重点放在经济政策的改革。大多数选民现在更加关注经济方面的政策，这无疑为罗姆尼增添了几分胜算——刚刚结束的佛州初选也多多少少证实了这一点。麦凯恩至今只是在那些容许自由人参加初选的州（新罕布什尔和南卡）中获胜，这样的政策是他获得较多的票数的基础。

And what of the Democrats? Officially, the candidates have agreed not to campaign in Florida—although that did not stop Mrs Clinton appearing there on Sunday, ostensibly on a fund-raising trip during which she was conveniently photographed by some palm trees. The self-imposed ban comes because the state, by moving its primary up ahead of Super Tuesday, has fallen foul of the national party authorities, who have declared that Florida's delegates will not be seated at the party convention in August. In practice, though, the result will be keenly watched. Florida is too big and important a state for the result even of a straw poll there to be ignored.

那么民主党的情形呢？官方来说，候选者放弃了佛州的竞选——尽管这样仍然不能阻挡希拉里于星期天出现在佛州，这是一次表面上为了基金赞助而进行的旅程然后就像惯例一样留下她在棕榈树旁的倩影。佛州不参与民主党选举的禁令提出是因为“超级星期二”的到来是对国家政党的权威性挑战，佛州立委会已经声称不参加八月的民主党传统例会。然而实际的结果将被高度关注。佛州是一个非常重要的竞选州以至于每一个选票都不能忽略。

背景：美国民主党全国委员会和佛州的尴尬境遇

And because winning Florida is so crucial to Democratic hopes for the presidential election in November, many observers reckon that the party will find a way to avoid alienating Democratic-leaning Floridians by seating the delegates after all.

由于佛州竞选的胜利对于民主党赢得十一月的大选具有重要意义，很多观察家预计民主党会通过与立委会达成共识来找到避开分化佛州民主党力量的方法。

All the polls favour a win for Mrs Clinton, especially after she scored so highly among Hispanics in Nevada (Cuban-origin Hispanics tend to vote in the Republican primary, but there is a fast-growing number of other Hispanics in Florida who are quite likely to show up for the Democrats). That would enable her to claim an advantage in the early states as America heads into February 5th, when 22 states are to vote.

那些支持希拉里的选民们，尤其是那些为她在内华达西班牙人中获得高选票的支持者(具有最初古巴血缘的西班牙人趋于支持共和党，然而在佛州快速增长的其他西班牙人群却趋于支持民主党)。这些将对她在22州同时选举的日子的2月5日获取领先地位具有重要意义。

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以下翻译仅为本人休闲练习英语之用，文章版权归The Economist所有

GEORGE BUSH delivers his final state-of-the-union address on Monday January 28th. However, most eyes will be on the state of the Republican race to select a candidate to replace him. Florida holds its big primary election on Tuesday: Rudy Giuliani is hoping that the Sunshine State will throw a ray of light on to his flagging campaign. Polls suggest that Florida's Republicans are at least as hot for John McCain and Mitt Romney as they are for New York's former mayor.

乔治布什将在1月28日星期一面向全国发表演说。然而，人们更加关注的是谁将是下一届替换布什的民主党的候选人。在即将到来的在佛罗里达州的初选中：朱利亚尼(Rudy Giuliani)希望这个称做“阳光之州”的人们会给他所带领的阵营带来一些希望。民意调查显示佛罗里达的民主党至少是支持罗姆尼(Mitt Romney)和麦凯恩(John McCain)就像他们也支持纽约前市长一样（指朱利亚尼）。  

AFTER last week's surprise rate cut of three-quarters of a percentage point by the Federal Reserve, it is unclear how the Fed will act at its scheduled meeting to discuss monetary policy on Tuesday January 29th and Wednesday January 30th. Some expect a further rate cut to be announced.

于上周美国联邦储蓄令人意外的下调三个季度的利率后，将于1月29日星期二和1月30日星期三召开的货币政策讨论会会带来怎样的制度调整尚不清楚。有些人期望宣布进一步的利率下调。

AFRICA'S heads of state gather in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, for their annual summit. The three-day meeting opens on January 31st and will be addressed by the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon. Attention is likely to be directed to the post-electoral violence in neighbouring Kenya and the ongoing killings in Darfur, a part of neighbouring Sudan.

非洲首脑聚集埃塞俄比亚(Ethiopia)首都亚的斯亚贝巴(Addis Ababa)召开一年一度的非洲首脑会议。为期3天的会议将于1月31日开始，联合国秘书长潘基文(Ban Ki-moon)将会宣布开始。会议将在邻邦肯尼亚(Kenya)大选后暴力事件和又一邻邦苏丹(Sudan)达尔福尔(Darfur)发生的流血冲突事件氛围中开始。

SERBIANS are set to choose a new president in a run-off election on Sunday February 3rd. Tomislav Nikolic, a pro-Russian nationalist got some 39% of votes in the first round. His opponent, Boris Tadic, the current president, came second with 35%. Mr Tadic is strongly pro-Western and wants Serbia to join the European Union. The winner is likely to face a declaration of independence by the province of Kosovo soon.

塞尔维亚人民已经准备好了在2月3日星期三的最后一轮大选中选举出一名新总统。Tomislav Nikolic，这位亲俄派在第一轮大选中获得了39%的选票。他的对手，现任总统Boris Tadic，紧随其后获得了35%的选票。Tadic是一位强硬的亲西派并且鼓励塞尔维亚加入欧盟。在不久的将来大选的获胜方将宣布科索沃(Kosovo)的独立。