In hockey, to achieve a Gordie Howe(加拿大冰球传奇人物) hat-trick(帽子戏法) is to score a goal, record an assist and get into a fight, all in a single game. Over some 14 years, Canada and America endured a similar combination of glory, co-operation and conflict in building a bridge named after(以……命名) the Canadian legend.
在冰球运动中，完成戈迪·豪帽子戏法意味着在一场比赛中进球、助攻并打架。大约14年来，加拿大和美国在修建一座以这位加拿大传奇人物命名的桥梁时，也经历了类似的荣耀、合作与冲突交织的过程。
The fight happened to break out when Donald Trump entered the arena. Earlier this year the president lambasted(痛斥，严厉批评) Canada and threatened to block the bridge, delaying it by months. It is one of myriad(无数的，大量的) fights that Mr Trump has picked in his second term, exerting pressure on everything from universities to law firms to trading partners such as Canada that, until recently, would have been considered America’s closest allies. The Gordie Howe opened, at last, on July 27th. But, a year and a half into Mr Trump’s campaign of skirmishes(小规模冲突，小争论), the bridge is a neat parable of(一个绝妙的寓言) how trifling(微不足道的，不重要的) some of these efforts have proved to be.
当唐纳德·特朗普进入竞技场时，这场争斗恰好爆发了。今年早些时候，总统痛斥加拿大，并威胁要封锁这座桥，使其延误了数月。这是特朗普在第二任期挑起的无数争斗之一，他对从大学到律师事务所再到加拿大等贸易伙伴——直到最近还被视为美国最亲密盟友——施加压力。戈迪·豪大桥终于在7月27日开通。但在特朗普持续一年半的“小规模冲突”运动中，这座桥成了一个绝佳的寓言，说明这些努力中有多少被证明是微不足道的。
It should instead have been a case study in(……的案例研究) mutual benefit. For decades there had been only one bridge, the privately owned Ambassador, spanning(横跨，跨越) the stretch of the Detroit river that separates the city from Windsor, Ontario. The bridge has been among the busiest in the Canadian-American trade corridor, handling about a quarter of the countries’ freight trade by lorry. So in 2012, Canada and Michigan agreed to co-own a second bridge, to ease traffic and charge cheaper tolls(通行费，过路费). Canada would pay for construction and keep toll profits until it recouped(收回（成本），弥补) its costs. “This is one of those situations where you should just be happy(这是那种你应该感到高兴的情况之一。),” said Rick Snyder, Michigan’s Republican governor at the time.
这本应是一个互利共赢的案例研究。几十年来，只有一座私人拥有的大使桥横跨底特律河，连接该市与安大略省温莎市。这座桥一直是美加贸易走廊中最繁忙的桥梁之一，处理着两国约四分之一的卡车货运。因此，2012年，加拿大和密歇根州同意共同拥有第二座桥，以缓解交通并收取更便宜的通行费。加拿大将支付建设费用，并在收回成本前保留通行费利润。时任密歇根州共和党州长里克·斯奈德说：“这是那种你应该感到高兴的情况之一。”