Editor’s note (August 31st): Shortly after this piece was published, José Antonio Dias Toffoli, a Supreme Court justice who also sits on Brazil’s Electoral Court, suspended(暂停，中止) the candidacy of Renan Santos. Mr Toffoli said that the Santos campaign had failed to register its social-media handles(社交媒体账号) correctly. The Santos campaign said it would appeal.
编者按（8月31日）：本文发表后不久，巴西最高法院法官若泽·安东尼奥·迪亚斯·托福利（同时任职于巴西选举法院）暂停了雷南·桑托斯的候选人资格。托福利先生表示，桑托斯竞选团队未能正确注册其社交媒体账号。桑托斯竞选团队表示将提出上诉。
RENAN SANTOS is cocksure(极其自信的，自以为是的). “I am the greatest orator(演说家，雄辩家) of my generation in the world,” he claims in his small office, only half-jokingly. He has boasted of learning fluent Swedish in order to chat up girls on an annual pilgrimage to Europe that his friends have dubbed “the blondes tour”.(他曾吹嘘学会流利瑞典语，以便在年度欧洲之旅中搭讪女孩，该旅行被朋友称为“金发女郎之旅”。) He writes off(贬低，认为…无用) his rivals as “infantile”, “pathetic” and “mediocre”. Yet for all his bragging, Mr Santos is no charlatan(江湖骗子，冒充内行的人). The 42-year-old is running to become Brazil’s next president on a wonkish(政策细节的，学究气的) platform that sketches out a bold vision for the country.
雷南·桑托斯非常自信。“我是我这一代世界上最伟大的演说家，”他在自己的小办公室里半开玩笑地宣称。他曾吹嘘自己学会了流利的瑞典语，以便在一年一度的欧洲朝圣之旅中与女孩搭讪，他的朋友们称这次旅行为“金发女郎之旅”。他把对手贬为“幼稚”“可悲”“平庸”。然而，尽管他夸夸其谈，桑托斯并非江湖骗子。这位42岁的候选人正以一份专业而详尽的政治纲领竞选巴西下任总统，这份纲领为国家描绘了大胆的愿景。
Mr Santos’s rise has parallels(相似之处，类比) with that of Javier Milei(阿根廷自由派总统，以激进经济改革著称), Argentina’s firebrand(煽动者，激进分子) president. Like Mr Milei, he is obsessed with(对…痴迷，沉迷于) free-market economics. In 2014 he founded a political group, the Free Brazil Movement (MBL by its Portuguese acronym), to advocate(提倡，主张) a minimal state(最小国家，小政府) in a country with a long tradition of big government. Like Mr Milei, Mr Santos mixes his dogmatism(教条主义，独断) with rock music, fronting(领导，担任主唱) a band that extols(颂扬，赞美) the virtues of competition and low taxes. (Mr Santos claims to be the superior musician. His aide says both politicians’ bands are “equally awful”.)
桑托斯的崛起与阿根廷激进总统哈维尔·米莱有相似之处。和米莱一样，他痴迷于自由市场经济。2014年，他创立了政治团体“自由巴西运动”（葡萄牙语缩写为MBL），旨在为一个有着大政府传统的国家倡导最小国家。和米莱一样，桑托斯将他的教条主义与摇滚乐相结合，领导着一支颂扬竞争和低税收的乐队。（桑托斯声称自己是更优秀的音乐家。他的助手说两位政治家的乐队“一样糟糕”。）
Tackling the big one
应对大问题