譯／李京倫、核稿／樂慧生
川普激化對立 擇偶先問立場
For many couples, fighting about politics has become more common. Since President Donald Trump’s election, Ken Jewell, a New York City divorce lawyer, has had clients in his office regularly ranting about their partners’ outlooks on initiatives like Black Lives Matter.
許多情侶和夫妻比以往更常為政治議題爭執。自從川普當選美國總統以來，紐約離婚律師朱爾的辦公室經常有客戶抱怨，配偶對「黑人的命也是命」等倡議的看法與自己不同。
“Before that, it never really became much of an issue because you didn’t have the divisive candidate,” he said. And while people aren’t citing political differences as the sole reason for divorce, the topic is certainly compounding matters. “Presidential years are typically very quiet for divorces because of the uncertainty of the presidency,” Jewell said. “This year, it has been beyond insane.”
朱爾說：「在那之前，沒有如此引發分歧的候選人，政治觀點不同從來不是真正的問題。」政治看法歧異雖非離婚當事人舉出的唯一理由，卻的確會使關係惡化。朱爾說：「總統大選年通常是離婚淡季，因為不確定誰會當選，不過今年案件多到離譜。」
Pat Pierson, 72, a retired staffing executive in Denver, parted ways with her boyfriend of 12 years over conflicting opinions on the Trump administration. She’s more liberal and he’s conservative, but their views weren’t an issue before Trump.
72歲的派特．皮爾森是美國科羅拉多州首府丹佛市的退休人事主管，因為對川普政府的看法相左而與交往12年的男友分手。她偏向自由派，男友則較保守，不過在川普上台前政治立場的差異從來不是問題。
Political polarization has become such an issue that Maureen Tara Nelson, the owner of New York and Florida-based MTN Matchmaking, says her clients are requesting to only be paired with people who have similar political views. “My motto in the past was ‘work together and agree to disagree,’ but it has gotten to the point where people hate the other political side,” she said. “And if they hate them, how could they date them?”
政治立場兩極化變得如此嚴重，以致在紐約和佛州設有據點的聯誼社MTN Matchmaking的老闆莫琳．尼爾森表示，客戶要求只跟政治觀點相近者配對。她說：「過去，我的信念是『一起努力，存異求同』，但是現在情況變成大家痛恨政治主張對立的人，如果痛恨對方，又怎麼能約會呢？」
In years past, Nelson noted, singles wanted partners that were attractive, intelligent and successful. Now, finding someone politically compatible is non-negotiable.
尼爾森說，過去單身者想找富吸引力、聰明而且有成就的伴侶，如今，「政治立場相合」這個條件變得無可妥協。
Eighty-four percent of the singles using Dating.com won’t even consider dating someone with opposite political views, said Maria Sullivan, a vice president at the dating website.
Dating.com副總裁瑪麗亞．蘇利文說，使用這個網站的單身者，84%甚至不考慮與政治立場相反的人約會。
And then there are those whose relatives have insisted they date within family party lines, like Christina Mullins, 42, a legal assistant in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who grew up with a strict Republican father.
還有單身者的親人堅持，約會對象政治立場須與家族相符。奧克拉荷馬州土爾沙市42歲律師助理克莉絲汀娜．莫林斯，在共和黨籍嚴父教養下長大，就是一例。
“He put a clause that I would be written out of his trust if I married a registered Democrat,” she said, joking that yes, this does significantly limit her dating pool.
莫林斯說，「父親在生前信託中加了一項條款，就是如果我嫁給登記為民主黨人的選民，就喪失繼承遺產資格」，她還開玩笑說，沒錯，這的確大大侷限了她的約會對象。
These attitudes are behind a growing number of dating services dedicated to helping people on both sides of the aisle find inner-party love. DonaldDaters.com, whose slogan is, “Make America Date Again,” promises, “the RIGHT person is out there.” And Salvator Prano, who created LiberalHearts.com in 2002, deems his website more popular than ever.
擇偶時重視政治立場的態度，促使愈來愈多專門幫人找到相同政治立場伴侶的聯誼社出現。DonaldDaters.com的口號是「讓美國再度約會」，宣揚「合適（右派）的人就在眼前」。2002年創辦LiberalHearts.com的普拉諾則說，他的網站比先前更有人氣。
“Through 16 years of Bush and Obama, most partisans found a way to tolerate friends and family of different political persuasions,” Prano said. But this time, he said, it’s more about the man than the party.
普拉諾說，「小布希和歐巴馬在位的16年間，支持特定政黨的人多半能設法容忍政治立場不同的家人和朋友」，但這次，爭吵的重點與其說是政黨，不如說是川普這個人。
說文解字看新聞【李京倫】
美國總統川普激化對立，以致國人對政治立場相左者益發難以容忍，就連擇偶也要考慮政治立場是否契合。
partisan是政治新聞中常見的字，當形容詞意為黨派的、盲目推崇的，作名詞時指（通常盲目）支持某個黨派的人。partisan politics是黨派政治。partisan press是帶有黨派偏見的媒體。naked partisan是毫不掩飾的黨派支持者。non-partisan是無黨派的、不受任何黨派控制的。bipartisan則是受到兩黨派支持或包括兩個黨派的。
agree to disagree是「接受彼此意見不同」，即「願意存異（求同）」 ，通常發生在爭執各方認識到繼續衝突無濟於事時，例如2015年1月美國與古巴展開復交談判，洛杉磯時報的標題就是：As diplomatic talks begin in Havana, Cuba and U.S. agree to disagree。拉丁文片語modus vivendi意思相近，原意是「生活方式」，引申為「妥協辦法」，讓意見不同的政黨可以暫時和諧共處。
