亲近自然、热爱户外，能让心机很深的政客们显得真实，但在田园风光的衬托下，各种细节只会显得他们更做作。



A successful politician radiates authenticity while living on cunning. Plain-spoken principle wins elections. Redirection and compromise get things done. 6park.com
成功的政治家在依靠心机谋生的同时，还能让人感到真实可靠。率直的原则能赢得竞选，而改换目标和妥协，则能解决问题。 6park.com
It is in the hope of keeping up the fa?ade that, sooner or later, every holder of high office ventures into the great outdoors, dressed like an ass. The strategy has its logic: when hoping to appear natural, get close to nature. But in most cases, the contrast with a bucolic backdrop only highlights the artificiality of the politician. 6park.com
正是为了维持这种假象，每个身居高位的人都迟早会穿得像驴一样，到户外去“探险”。这种策略是有其逻辑性的：当想要显得自然不做作时，就要亲近自然。但在大多数情况下，与田园风光形成的对比只会更加突显政治家的做作。



The unparalleled example remains former US president Richard Nixon walking down a breezy California beach for the benefit of the press corps. He was attempting to ape his tanned rival John Kennedy. He wore black wingtips. 6park.com
美国前总统理查德?尼克松(Richard Nixon)就是个极好的例子。他曾经为了迎合记者团，沿着微风拂面的加利福尼亚海滩散步。当时，他是在试图模仿他的竞争对手、被晒得黝黑的约翰?肯尼迪(John Kennedy)。然而，他穿了一双黑色翼尖正装鞋。 6park.com
President Vladimir Putin did a bit better this autumn when he made one of his periodic, heavily photographed visits to the Russian wilderness. He wore a military-looking hat and a puffy vest, supplemented by a strangely long and aggressively symbolic walking stick. That Mr Putin managed to approximate standard outdoor gear — and kept his shirt on, for once — did not prevent the scene from having all the naturalness of Noh theatre. 6park.com
俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔?普京(Vladimir Putin)的表现稍好一些。今年秋天，他对俄罗斯的荒野进行了一次定期的、被大量拍摄的考察。他戴着一顶军帽样式的帽子，穿着一件鼓鼓的背心，外加一根长得出奇、极具象征意义的手杖。普京成功地接近了标准的户外装备——而且这一次他还没有脱掉衬衫——但这并没有阻止整个场景具有能剧剧场所有的自然感。(Noh theatre。译者注：能剧，日本的传统戏剧，戴面具表演。) 6park.com
The only reliably authentic aspect of Mr Putin is his aura of menace. By contrast, it is hard to imagine a less menacing figure than David Cameron bodyboarding in Cornwall. His problem was the opposite of Nixon’s or Mr Putin’s. Shrink-wrapped in neoprene, the former UK prime minister did not look like something he isn’t. He looked like what he is: a lumpy middle-aged professional attempting to approximate outdoor fun. That he seemed absurd doing it is native to his age, gender, and class. 6park.com
普京唯一真实的一面就是他的威胁光环。相比之下，很难想象比大卫?卡梅伦(David Cameron)在康沃尔玩趴板冲浪时的形象更不具威胁性的人物了。卡梅伦的问题与尼克松或普京的相反。这位英国前首相身上裹着潜水衣，看上去一点也不像假装出来的样子。他看起来就像他自己：一个身材臃肿的中年职业人士，试图获得户外乐趣。他这么做看起来似乎很荒谬，但这是他的年龄、性别和阶级所特有的。 6park.com
His successor, Theresa May, had a more severe case of the same problem. Her walking kit (rucksack buckled tight in two places, high-waisted pants with lots of zippers) is the kind of practical outfit that could have been designed by a sadistic older parent to cause the children maximum embarrassment. It’s not fake; just mildly tragic. 6park.com
他的继任者特里萨?梅(Theresa May)在同样的问题上遇到了更严重的情况。她的徒步装备（两处扣得很紧的帆布背包以及有很多拉链的高腰裤）是那种看上去像是年长的，喜欢“虐”人的父母为了让孩子最大程度地难堪而设计的、实用的装备。这不是伪装，只是有些悲剧色彩。



In the US, the game is harder and the stakes higher, because the outdoor sport that matters in American politics is hunting. Presidential candidate John Kerry, shooting at geese in the swing state of Ohio, was a sheep in wolf’s clothing for all to see. (Then vice-president Dick Cheney took the masculine authenticity thing a bit far, admittedly, by shooting one of his bird-hunting companions in the face.) 6park.com
在美国，这样做的难度更大，风险也更高，因为在美国政治中重要的户外运动是狩猎。在所有人眼中，在摇摆州俄亥俄州朝着鹅群开枪的总统候选人约翰?克里(John Kerry)，就像一只披着狼皮的绵羊。（诚然，当时的副总统迪克?切尼(Dick Cheney)在展示他阳刚的真性情时有些过火，朝着他一位正在猎鸟的同伴的脸上开了枪。） 6park.com
Mr Kerry’s rival, George W Bush, liked to put his Andover and Yale education to work by “clearing brush” on his Texas ranch, wearing a cowboy hat and boots. One could only admire the purely performative character of this. There was no particular reason to clear the brush, which sat on a piece of land that Mr Bush bought while running for president and rarely visits in retirement. But Dubya’s knack for coming across as a regular guy — in defiance of all known facts — just about carried him through. 6park.com
克里的竞争对手老布什(George HW Bush)喜欢戴着他的牛仔帽、穿着他的牛仔靴，在他位于德克萨斯州的牧场里“清理灌木丛”，以此来应用他在安多佛中学(Andover)和耶鲁(Yale)所学到的知识。人们只能钦佩这一行为中纯粹的表演性质。这片灌木丛所在的土地是老布什在竞选总统期间购买的，在退休后他很少造访此地，他并没有什么特别的理由要清理这片灌木丛。但是Dubya（老布什的昵称——译者注）让自己看起来像是个普通人的本事——无视所有的已知事实——几乎让他成功了。 6park.com
Most politicians don’t have the knack, though. And, eventually, cruel mischance or a misguided campaign aide will drag them out to demonstrate their love for the land. How to avoid disaster? 6park.com
不过，大多数政治家没有这样的本事。而最终，无情的厄运或是误入歧途的竞选助手会把他们拖到户外，以证实他们对这片土地的热爱。如何避免这样的灾难？ 6park.com
Narendra Modi took a big risk this summer by appearing on Bear Grylls’ Man vs Wild TV programme for a tramp around India’s back country. The show has been dismissed as a “Putin-style propaganda exercise”. But Mr Modi played the part with infinitely more naturalness than his Russian counterpart — by looking every inch the bookish older man, a little unsteady, out of place, often reaching for a helping hand. All this was accentuated by the scarf (with a tell-tale stripe of saffron orange, his party’s colour) hanging around his neck, the sort of thing a city dweller might wear to the shops. 6park.com
今年夏天，纳伦德拉?莫迪(Narendra Modi)冒着很大的风险参加了贝尔?格里尔斯(Bear Grylls)的电视节目《荒野求生》(Man vs Wild)，在印度的荒野地区进行了一次徒步旅行。这次节目被斥为“普京式的宣传活动”。但是比起他的这位俄罗斯同行，莫迪的表现自然得多——他看上去完全是一个书生气十足的老人，有点颤颤巍巍、不太自在，以及经常伸出援助之手。他脖子上挂着的围巾（一条醒目的橙黄色条纹围巾，这是他所在政党的颜色）强化了他给人们留下的这个印象——这条围巾类似于城镇居民去商店时可能会穿戴的衣物。 6park.com
The lesson is a familiar one, but politicians often forget it. A big part of authenticity — in or out of doors — is not trying too hard. 6park.com
这是一个让人感到熟悉的教训，但政治家们经常忘了这一点。想要表现得真实的重要一点——不论是在室内还是在室外——就是不要用力过猛。