(单词翻译:单击)
A year after the insurrection, I’m trying to imagine the death of American democracy.
国会暴动一年后，我在想象美国民主的消亡。
It’s somehow easier to picture the Earth blasted and bleached by global warming, or the human brain overtaken by the tyranny of artificial intelligence, than to foresee the end of our 250-year experiment in self-government.
不知何故，想象全球变暖摧毁地球和使地球褪色，或者人工智能的暴政取代人类的大脑，比预见我们250年的自治尝试的结束要容易得多。
The usual scenarios are unconvincing.
通常的情形是无法令人信服的。
The country is not going to split into two hostile sections and fight a war of secession.
这个国家不会分裂成两个敌对的部分，打一场分裂战争。
No dictator will send his secret police to round up dissidents in the dead of night.
没有一个独裁者会在深夜派他的秘密警察去围捕不同政见者。
Analogies like these bring the comfort of at least being familiar.
这样的类比至少会让人感到熟悉。
Nothing has aided Donald Trump more than Americans’ failure of imagination.
美国人缺乏想象力对唐纳德·特朗普的帮助最大。
It’s essential to picture an unprecedented future so that what may seem impossible doesn’t become inevitable.
想象一个前所未有的未来是很重要的，这样看起来不可能的事情就不会成为不可避免的。
Before January 6, no one—including intelligence professionals—could have conceived of a president provoking his followers to smash up the Capitol.
在1月6日之前，没有人——包括情报专家——能想到一位总统会煽动他的追随者击毁国会大厦。
Even the rioters livestreaming in National Statuary Hall seemed stunned by what they were doing.
就连在国家雕像大厅直播的暴徒似乎也对自己的所作所为感到震惊。
The siege felt like a wild shot that could have been fatal.
围攻感觉就像一阵狂射，可能会致命。
For a nanosecond, shocked politicians of both parties sang together from the hymnal of democracy.
在一纳秒内，震惊的两党政客们一起唱起了民主赞美诗。
But the unity didn’t last. The past months have made it clear that the near miss was a warning shot.
但这种团结并没有持续多久。过去的几个月已经清楚地表明，这次险些失手是一种警告。
If the end comes, it will come through democracy itself.
如果末日来了，它将通过民主本身来实现。
Here’s one way I imagine it could happen:
以下是我认为可能发生的一种方式:
In 2024, disputed election results in several states lead to tangled proceedings in courtrooms and legislatures.
2024年，几个州有争议的选举结果导致法庭和立法机构的程序混乱。
The Republican Party’s long campaign of undermining faith in elections leaves voters on both sides deeply skeptical of any outcome they don’t like.
共和党长期以来破坏人们对选举的信心，这让双方的选民对任何他们不喜欢的结果都深感怀疑。
When the next president is finally chosen by the Supreme Court or Congress, half the country explodes in rage.
当下一任总统最终由最高法院或国会选出时，半个国家的人都愤怒了。
Protests soon turn violent, and the crowds are met with lethal force by the state, while instigators firebomb government buildings.
抗议活动很快演变成暴力冲突，民众遭遇了政府的致命武力打击，煽动者向政府大楼投掷燃烧弹。
