Kevin McCarthy has been elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives, ending a tortuous week of wheeling and dealing on Capitol Hill that exposed sharp divisions in the Republican party and raised fresh questions about whether Congress can govern effectively in the years to come.
凱文•麥卡錫(Kevin McCarthy)當選美國眾議院議長，結束了國會山整整一周的艱難坎坷的討價還價過程，暴露出共和黨內部的尖銳分歧，並提出了美國國會能否在未來幾年有效治理的新問題。
McCarthy was elected Speaker just after midnight on Saturday with all but six Republicans backing his bid. The six opposing Republicans voted "present" — a technicality that reduced the critical number of votes required for McCarthy to seize the Speaker's gavel.
當地時間周五午夜過後，麥卡錫當選議長，得到了除六名共和黨人外其他所有共和黨人的支持。六名共和黨議員投了「在場」票，這一技術細節降低了麥卡錫獲得眾議院議長一職所需的關鍵票數門檻，讓其涉險過關。
It was the 15th round of voting since the process to elect a Speaker began on Tuesday. McCarthy is the first Speaker in a century to require more than one ballot to be elected.
這是自周二開始選舉議長以來的第15輪投票。麥卡錫是一個世紀以來第一位通過不止一次投票才選出的議長。
But the California congressman defied his critics when, after seemingly endless rounds of negotiations and concessions, he quelled enough opposition within his own party to be handed the Speaker's gavel. Earlier in the night, McCarthy suffered a humiliating defeat when he lost the 14th round of voting by the narrowest of margins.
但這位來自加州的國會議員頂住了批評者的壓力，在看似無休止的談判和讓步之後，他平息了黨內足夠多的反對意見，被授予議長之位。當晚早些時候，麥卡錫在第14輪選舉中以極微弱的差距輸掉了選舉，遭受了恥辱性的失敗。
McCarthy appeared visibly upset by that result, and in a last-ditch attempt walked over to Florida's Matt Gaetz and Colorado's Lauren Boebert to try to get them to change their votes from "present". Mike Rogers, a congressman from Alabama, appeared to lunge at Gaetz before he was restrained by another lawmaker.
第十四輪投票後，麥卡錫面露慍色。他孤注一擲地走到佛羅里達州共和黨眾議員馬特•蓋茲(Matt Gaetz)和科羅拉多州的勞倫•博伯特(Lauren Boebert)那裡，試圖讓他們改變「在場」的投票。來自阿拉巴馬州的國會議員邁克•羅傑斯(Mike Rogers)似乎要衝向蓋茲，隨後他被另一名議員拉住。
McCarthy insisted the laboured process had united his party and would make them more effective in legislating in the months and years to come. But many in Washington questioned whether he had weakened his own hand and left himself in an exceedingly vulnerable position at the start of a new Congress.
麥卡錫堅持認為，這個艱難的過程團結了他的政黨，並將使他們在未來的幾個月和幾年裡更有效地立法。但華盛頓的許多人質疑，他是否削弱了自己的力量，使自己在新一屆國會開始時處於極其脆弱的地位。
One of McCarthy's key concessions was approving a rule that would allow any single member of Congress to trigger a vote of no confidence in him or any future Speaker.
麥卡錫的關鍵讓步之一是批准了一項規定，允許任何一名國會議員就可以對他或未來的議長發起不信任投票。
McCarthy faced an uphill battle to becoming Speaker in large part because the Republican "red wave" that he and others predicted did not materialise in November's midterm elections. Instead, the Republicans eked out a razor-thin majority in the House, the lower chamber of Congress, and failed to regain control of the Senate, the upper chamber.
麥卡錫歷經艱險才當選議長，這在很大程度上是因為他和其他人預測的共和黨「紅色浪潮」在去年11月的中期選舉中並未出現。相反，共和黨人在眾議院(國會的下議院)勉強保持了微弱多數，也未能重新獲得參議院(國會的上議院)的控制權。