Most people have heard the word 'gerrymandering' once or twice, probably during a presidential election.
很多人可能听过“重划区界”，而且可能是在总统选举的时候。
What exactly is gerrymandering?
到底什么是“重划区界”？
Essentially, it's the process of giving one political party an advantage over another political party by redrawing district lines.
实际上，它是指一个政党为了赢过另一个政党，而采取重新划分选区区界的方式。
It's like Democrats trying to gain an advantage over Republicans, or Republicans trying to gain an advantage over Democrats.
就像民主党为了赢过共和党，或者共和党为了胜过民主党那样。
You see, each party wants to gain as many districts as possible, so they can do things like control the state budget,
你知道，每个政党都想尽可能赢得更多选区，以便他们日后行事，如控制国家财政预算，
or set themselves up to win even more districts in the future.
或是站稳地盘，在未来赢得更多的选区等。
So to understand how this process began, and how it continues today, we must go back to 1812 in Massachusetts.
为了了解重划选区的起源和当下运行状况，我们必须从1812年的马萨诸塞州讲起。
Elbridge Gerry, the governor of Massachusetts, supported and signed a bill to allow redistricting.
艾伯瑞奇·盖瑞，当时的州长，支持并签署了一项重划区界法案。
That is, redrawing the boundaries that separate districts.
即允许重新划分区与区的边界。
The catch? The new lines would favor Gerry's own political party, the Democratic-Republican party, which no longer exists.
他的目的？ 新的区界将有利于盖瑞所属的政党，即当时仍存在的民主共和党，但现在已经不存在了。
You see, Gerry wanted his party to win as many state Senate seats as possible.
盖瑞想让他的政党能在州参议院中赢得更多的席位。
The more members of your party who vote, the more likely you are to win an election.
在一次选举中，你所属政党有更多人投票，你就更可能获胜。
The new lines were drawn to include loads of areas that would help Governor Gerry in the future.
重新划分的区界涵盖的区域在未来将有利于盖瑞。
They were so strange looking that someone said the new districts looked like a salamander.
但新区界的形状看起来如此奇葩，以至于被人比作“蝾螈”。
The Boston Gazette added Gerry's name to the word salamander, and voilà!
波士顿公报把盖瑞的名字加到了蝾螈前面，就有了“盖瑞蝾螈”这个词。
Gerrymandering, the process of dividing up and redrawing districts to give your political party an advantage.
以专指这种重新划分区界以使己党占据优势的做法。
So how exactly does someone go about protecting their own political party, and actually gerrymandering a district?
那么，如何为了己党利益重新划分区界的呢？
There are two successful practices. Packing a district, and cracking a district.
实践中有两种成功的做法，一是整合选区，二是分散选区。
Packing is the process of drawing district lines and packing in your opponents like cattle, into as few districts as possible.
整合选区是指把你的反对者整合到尽可能少的选区里去，就像整合牛群一样。

If more districts equals more votes, the fewer the districts there are, the fewer votes the opposition party will get.
如果选区越多，投票权越多，那么反对者的选区越少，对立政党得到的投票也就越少。
Packing, then, decreases the opponent's voter strength and influence.
整合选区削弱了反对者投票的影响力。
Cracking is the opposite: taking one district and cracking it into several pieces.
分散选区则与之相反，它是把一个选区划分为几个选区。
This is usually done in districts where your opponent has many supporters.
这通常针对该政党支持者众多的选区中。
Cracking spreads these supporters out among many districts, denying your opponent a lot of votes.
分散选区把支持者分散在多个选区中，从而使得大量反对者的投票无效。
When you have a large number of people who would generally vote for one type of party, those folks are known as a voting bloc.
通常，如果一大帮人会投票向某一政党，那么他们就被称为投票集团。
Cracking is a way to break that all up. So when would a party choose to pack their opponent's districts rather than crack them?
分散选区可以将该集团打散。那么，什么时候一个政党会选择将它反对者所在的区整合而不是分散呢？
Well, that really depends on what the party needs.
这取决于政党的需要。
To dilute your opponent's voters, you could pack them into one district
为了削弱反对者的投票，你可以把他们集中到一个区，
and leave the surrounding districts filled with voters of your own party.
并且让政党支持者占据该区周围的区。
Or, if you and your party are in power when it's time to redraw district lines,
或者，如果重划区界时，你和你的政党当权，
you could redraw districts and crack up a powerful district
你可以分散一个支持者众多的区，
and spread your opponent's voters out across several neighboring districts.
以使得支持者的投票能分散到周围的区中。
So, Governor Gerry in 1812 wanted to gain an advantage for his party,
所以1812年，当州长盖瑞想要为其政党谋取利益时，
and redrew district lines in his state in such a crazy way we have a whole new word
他就划了如此奇葩的新区界，以至于创造了一个新的词汇
and way of thinking about how political parties can gain advantages over their opponents.
和一种新的政党竞争的方式。
Politicians think of creative ways to draw districts every few years.
每隔几年，政客们就会想出各种新方法来划分区界。
So the next time an election comes around, and politicians ask people to vote,
所以当下次选举来临，政客们呼吁民众投票时，
be sure to look up the shape of your district and the districts that surround it.
请注意你所在选区和周围选区的形状，
How wide does your district stretch across your state?
你的选区是如何在你所在的州的延伸分布的？
Are all of the districts in your state relatively the same shape?
该州所有选区是否形状大致相同？
How many other districts does your district touch?
你所在选区又与多少个其他选区相邻？
But always be sure to ask yourself, does my district look like a salamander?
特别是记得看一下，你所在的区看起来是否像个蝾螈？