听力文本

Some people say that the United States right now has deep divisions not this deep, obviously
有人说美国现在有着严重的党派之争，但与那时相比，明显要好多了
but some of the observers look at the political scene and find something to be worried about
但总有观察者为如今的政治形势感到担忧
Certainly, in the elections going on right now
的确，在正在进行的大选中
we see a lot of animosity between supporters of both political parties
我们看到很多仇恨，敌意存在于两党的支持者中
Actually in the last week it was the semi-two half intensified
事实上，上周随着大选进入关键阶段
some people look at that, and are worried
有人越来越感到担忧
but political scientists and political geographers debate about this issue
同时政治学者和政治地理学家也在就这个问题展开讨论
how polarized really is the United States and how geographically structured are those polarities
例如到底美国的分化严重到什么程度，美国的分化在地理上是怎么分布的

here are just some covers of a couple of recent books "POLARIZED AMERICA"
这里有2本最近出版的书的封面，一本是《两极分化的美国》
the Dance of ideology and unequal Riches
意识形态的分歧和不平等的财富分配
Versus a Stanford political scientist Morris P.Fiorina wrting Culture War,The Myth of a polarized America
一本是斯坦福大学的政治学家Morris P.Fiorina出版的《文化战争》——美国的分化之谜
Fiorina argues that yes, there's a lot of polarizations
Fiorina在书中写到美国的确存在很多分化现象
But it's mostly among what he calls the political classes
但主要存在于所谓的政治阶层当中
but actually if u look at a lot of political opinion polling
如果你留意一些政治方面的民意调查
You'll find most of Americans would put themselves somewhere in the center
你会发现大部分美国人都认为自己是比较中立的
Actually at 2004 fairly large scale public opinion poll find that
在2004年一个大型的民意调查显示
45% of American classified themselves as centrists or moderates
45%的美国人将自己归为中立派或温和派
21% as liberals and 34% as conservatives
21%的人认为自己是自由党人，34%的人认为自己较为保守
you added that all together it'll only give you 1% for radicals and extremists of our sorts
你算一算就知道，只有1%的人认为自己是激进分子或极端主义者
Seems low but I guess people don't like to classify themselves as such
看起来很低，但我想没人愿意把自己归为这一类
And of course it all depends on how you asked the questions what sort of thing you get
当然这取决于你如何安排问卷中的问题，以及你想得到怎样的信息
And different pollsters come out of different numbers
不同的民意测验家会得到不同的数据
and actually there are a lot of evidence suggested that many people in the U.S. are at the center
但的确有很多数据显示许多美国人是中立的
Political strategist so wonder how to deal with this polarization or lag there off
政治家们在思考如何减少这些分化与隔阂
In 2004, the well-known Republican political strategist Matthew Dawd decided that
2004年，著名的共和党人政治战略家马修提出，
the middle ground was so small and there were so few undecided voters or swing voters
处于中间立场的人很少，只有少数选民是犹豫或态度摇摆的
That one could win an election just by focusing on the base and getting out the vote
只有把注意力集中在大多数人身上，才能获得选票，赢得大选
That was successful
这种战略很有效果
The same strategy seems to be follow today by the McCain campaign doesn't seem to be working so well
现在相同的战略也正被麦凯恩阵营采用，却没有取得很好的效果
The question is they misjudge the center of the U.S
问题在于他没正确判断出美国如今的症结
Or have conditions changed, have voters changed, the economy changed
又可能是如今的政治环境，选民以及经济情况都已不同于04年
While there is a lot going into it
这其中包含很多复杂的原因
And We cannot obviously figure it all out quite so easily
显然这个问题不是我们轻易能弄清楚的
My question is how geographically structured is this polarity
现在我要提出的问题是这种分化在地理上是如何分布的
Because we know there is a large degree of polarization
因为我们知道如今两党支持者在地理上的分化程度很深
And there is more polarization now than it was twenty years ago
如今的分化程度远比20年前要大得多
Certainly more than it was 1950's, early 1960's
无疑比五六十年代的情况要严重
Apparently when polarization was relatively low
当时两党支持者的地理分化没那么明显

视频及简介

本课程结合大量地图，探索了美国总统大选（包括过去和现在）中的地理学，并且对仅仅简单把美国分为红州（共和党）和蓝州（民主党）这一说法提出挑战。现实中，美国社会两党的情况，远比这种简单的两分法要复杂。