On the first day of the United Nations general assembly(联合国大会) this week, two world leaders outlined competing(相互竞争的) visions for the future. Donald Trump’s speech was disturbingly similar to those he’s given before: a litany(一连串，冗长的列举) of false boasts and odd tangents(离题的话), peppered with(夹杂着，点缀着) grim military threats against a variety of nation states. Discussing his seven-month war with Iran, he mused(沉思，若有所思地说) over whether to “annihilate(彻底消灭，摧毁) the Islamic Republic and do it quickly”.
本周联合国大会开幕当天，两位世界领导人勾勒出截然不同的未来愿景。特朗普的演讲与他以往的发言惊人地相似：一连串虚假的吹嘘和离奇的跑题，还夹杂着对多个主权国家发出的严峻军事威胁。在谈到与伊朗长达七个月的战争时，他琢磨着是否要“消灭伊朗伊斯兰共和国，而且要快”。
In Trump’s eyes, the world is there to be ruled – and ruled only by the US, whose economy is “the envy of(令人羡慕的对象) the world” and military is “the most powerful on Earth”.
在特朗普眼中，世界就是用来被统治的——而且只能由美国来统治。美国的经济是“全世界羡慕的对象”，军队是“地球上最强大的”。
A couple of hours later, Emmanuel Macron took to the podium(走上讲台) to offer an alternative. In a full-throated(全力支持的，高声的) defence of international law, multilateralism(多边主义) and the rules-based order(基于规则的秩序), the French president said we were living in a “new era of barbaric acts”. He directly criticised Russia and Israel, but much of it was clearly aimed at Trump. “They say might is right(强权即公理) … but we will not yield(屈服，让步),” he argued. “We cannot simply accept this new order of impunity which some are trying to erect … Do we want to live under … the law of the jungle or do we want to live in a civilised international society?(我们不能就这样接受某些人试图建立的这种有罪不罚的新秩序……我们是想生活在丛林法则之下，还是想生活在一个文明的国际社会中？)”
几个小时后，埃马纽埃尔·马克龙走上讲台，提出了另一种选择。这位法国总统全力捍卫国际法、多边主义和基于规则的秩序，称我们正生活在一个“野蛮行径的新时代”。他直接批评了俄罗斯和以色列，但演讲的许多内容显然针对特朗普。“他们说强权即公理……但我们不会屈服，”他辩称。“我们不能就这样接受某些人试图建立的这种有罪不罚的新秩序……我们是想生活在……丛林法则之下，还是想生活在一个文明的国际社会中？”