最近你會經常聽到川普談論大選如何被 'rigged 操作'，意指選舉被不公地操縱。川普持續宣稱美國大選被 'rigged非法操縱'。儘管事實上他的每一個訟案都失敗，甚至連他自己的司法部長和負責選務的人員都承認未發現任何舞弊行為。沒有任何實質證據，不過，這對川普來說並不重要......
You will have heard Trump talking a lot recently about how the election was 'rigged', meaning it was manipulated to be unfair. Trump continues to claim that the USA election was 'rigged', despite the fact that every single court case has failed, and even his own Attorney General and the man in charge of the elections have had to admit that they have found no fraud. No evidence has been found, but that doesn't matter much to Trump...
'rigged 操縱' 這字的起源不明，它意思的起源難以查明。它似乎來自倫敦底層社會，竊賊們用來規避法律的一種 'cant 黑話/行話' 。我一直認為它與船上風帆 'rigging 繩索/索具' 有關，但看來不是。 'rig 裝備' 也可以是任何自製臨時的機器或設備，因此我也曾想像過，它指的是撲克玩家自製的夾子或暗袋，以便將牌暗藏於袖子或手中在牌局中作弊。不過，這只是我的推論，並非事實。 ( Luiz : 看來你真的毫無所知? Matt：至少比你多！ )。另一個推論（Luiz-又來了…）它指的可能是釣魚-釣具就是釣線、誘餌、任何用來“誘騙”魚上鈎的工具 - 因此，這場漁夫和魚之間的競爭不盡公平 - 這場遊戲被 'rigged操控' 在漁夫手中（Matt - 我最偏好這個解釋！）。
The word 'rigged' has a murky past, and the origin of its meaning is hard to find. It seems to originate in the London underworld, in a language called 'cant' used by thieves to hide their meaning from the law. I always thought it had something to do with the 'rigging', the sails, on ships - but it seems not. A 'rig' can also be any kind of home-made, temporary machine or device, so I also used to imagine that it referred to a homemade clip or secret pocket used by poker players to hide a card up their sleeve or in their hand, to cheat at poker. But, again, this is just my theory, not fact (Luiz - you really have no idea do you? Matt - more than you do!). Another theory (Luiz - here we go...) could be fishing - a fishing rig is the line, lure, everything you need to 'trick' the fish to bite and be caught - so it isn't really a fair fight between fisherman and fish - the game is 'rigged' in the fisherman's favor as he is cheating (Matt - I like this explanation best!).
關於川普聲稱大選遭人 'rigged 操縱'，奇怪的一點是，通常 'rigging 操縱' 是由負責的人、掌權的人進行。像民眾普遍相信白俄羅斯最近的選舉，是受到現任總統 Lukashenko 的控制，他有實權控制選舉過程和警力，因此很容易操控選舉。然而，川普是現任總統，一個可以掌控這麼多事情的當權者，竟然宣稱應由他掌控的選舉過程，遭人操控與他對立，真是不簡單 ! 若他真認為不在場投票制度有舞弊之嫌，何不在選舉前徹底地改變程序、或糟糕的不在場投票制呢？實際上，川普希望透過一個有疑慮的選舉過程以助他宣佈選舉無效、推翻不利於他的民主結果。
The odd thing about Trump saying the election was 'rigged', is that usually the 'rigging' is done by the people in charge, the ones with the power. The recent elections in Belarus are widely believed to have been rigged by sitting President Lukashenko - he had the power, control of the process and police, and so could easily rig an election. But Trump IS President - it is quite remarkable that the person in power who can control so much, could say that a process he controls has been rigged against him! If he really feared some kind of cheating by absentee ballot, why not change the process before the election, or bad absentee ballots altogether? The truth is Trump wanted an election with a questionable process, as it would help him declare it void and overturn a democratic result against him.
如何記住 'rig 操縱 ' 這個字呢 ? 讓我們利用 'rig' 跟 'pig' 的押韻，記住這個句子："Only a real pig would rig an election. 只有貨真價實的豬才會操縱選舉" ! real 真的 + pig 豬 = rig 操縱。這裡的 'real' 只是為了提示 'r' 字首的拼字, 以防遺忘 !
So how to remember the word 'rig'? Well the word rhymes with 'pig', so let's use that. Remember this sentence! "Only a real pig would rig an election!" real + pig = rig. The 'real' is there just to give us the 'r' - in case we forget!
牛津英語大師祝大家接下來的一週持續精進英文！
Have a great week mastering English, everyone!