FOR TOO long, dreams of heroic purity have harmed ordinary Cubans, both on the island and in exile. Cuba’s dwindling(逐渐减少的) population of perhaps 9m rose this morning to yet another day of sweltering(闷热的), man-made misery. With food, medicine, electrical power and clean water in short supply(短缺的), Cubans can expect no swift relief from the ruling Communist Party. The island’s leaders are stubborn, lonely men. Fearing that openness will cost them control of their failed revolutionary project, they are trapped in a stance of fist-shaking resistance towards the world’s richest country, less than 200km away.(他们担心开放会使自己失去对失败革命项目的控制，因此陷入一种向世界最富裕国家（距其不到200公里）挥舞拳头抵抗的姿态。)
长久以来，英雄纯洁的梦想伤害了普通的古巴人，无论是在岛上还是流亡中。古巴不断减少的约900万人口今早醒来，又迎来了闷热的人为苦难的一天。食物、药品、电力和清洁水短缺，古巴人无法指望执政的共产党迅速提供救济。岛上的领导人是顽固、孤独的人。他们担心开放会使自己失去对失败革命项目的控制，因此陷入一种向世界最富裕国家（距其不到200公里）挥舞拳头抵抗的姿态。
At the same time, islanders may justly blame another group in thrall to(受...支配) dreams of unyielding(不屈的；固执的) defiance, namely, hardline Cuban-Americans. Cuba’s current, extreme isolation may be the work of President Donald Trump. It is his administration that has cut the island off from supplies of oil from Venezuela, Russia and other old friends, triggering power cuts that last most of the day. In just the past few weeks, Mr Trump has frightened away long-standing foreign investors with financial sanctions of unprecedented severity. It is Mr Trump, bent on asserting “American dominance” over his neighbourhood, who sent special forces to snatch Cuba’s close ally, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, and who has since threatened Cuban leaders with their own “friendly takeover”.(正是特朗普先生，一心要在自家后院建立“美国主导地位”，派特种部队抓捕了古巴的亲密盟友、委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗，并随后威胁古巴领导人要对他们进行“友好接管”。)
与此同时，岛上的人有理由指责另一群受制于不屈不挠梦想的人，即强硬的古巴裔美国人。古巴目前极端的孤立或许正是唐纳德·特朗普总统的杰作。正是他的政府切断了该岛从委内瑞拉、俄罗斯和其他老朋友那里获得石油的供应，导致每天大部分时间断电。就在过去几周，特朗普先生以前所未有的严厉金融制裁吓跑了长期的外国投资者。正是特朗普先生，一心要在自家后院建立“美国主导地位”，派特种部队抓捕了古巴的亲密盟友、委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗，并随后威胁古巴领导人要对他们进行“友好接管”。
But Mr Trump’s “maximum pressure” sanctions build on an embargo that was decades in the making(在形成中；酝酿中), as successive presidents and congressional leaders bowed to Cuban-American exiles. The diaspora(离散族群；流散者) has long had influence as a voter-bloc, notably in Florida, home to 1m-plus Cuban-Americans, among them Mr Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Votes are not the group’s only source of strength. After Fidel Castro led revolutionaries to power in 1959, Cuba became a front line between the free world and communism. Even after the Soviet Union fell, Cubans reaching America enjoyed immigration privileges as refugees from tyranny.
但特朗普先生的“极限施压”制裁是建立在一个酝酿了数十年的禁运之上，因为历届总统和国会领袖都屈从于古巴裔流亡者。这一离散群体长期以来作为选民集团具有影响力，尤其是在佛罗里达州，那里有超过100万古巴裔美国人，其中包括特朗普先生的国务卿马可·鲁比奥。选票并非该群体的唯一力量来源。自菲德尔·卡斯特罗1959年领导革命者上台后，古巴就成了自由世界与共产主义之间的前线。即使在苏联解体后，到达美国的古巴人仍享有作为暴政难民的移民特权。
When political principle gets in the way
当政治原则成为阻碍