Why do Americans vote on Tuesdays?

翻译人员: Minji Seo 校对人员: Jenny Yang

（音乐）

我想来告诉大家一段美国历史

I want to tell you all about a piece of American history

因为太不为人知了

that is so secret,

that nobody has done anything about it for 167 years,

所以从来没人研究过它

就这样过了167年

until right now.

直到现在

And the way that we're going to uncover this vestigial organ of America past

而我们用来揭秘这段美国历史的方法

is by asking this question:

就是问：为什么？

Why?

我们都知道

As we all know --

(Laughter)

（笑声）

we are in the middle of another presidential election,

现在又一届的总统选举正如火如荼

如各位所见，烟硝味很重

hotly contested, as you can see.

(Laughter)

But what you may not know is that American voter turnout

但大家可能不知道，美国的投票率

在世界排名上是垫底的

ranks near the bottom of all countries in the entire world,

138th of 172 nations.

172个国家里排第138名

This is the world's most famous democracy.

这可是世界第一的民主国家耶

所以

So ...

到底我们为什么订周二为投票日？

Why do we vote on Tuesday?

有人知道吗？

Does anybody know?

其实密西根和亚利桑那州是今天投票

And as a matter of fact, Michigan and Arizona are voting today.

答案是

Here's the answer:

没有为什么

Absolutely no good reason whatsoever.

我可不是在说笑

(Laughter)

I'm not joking.

你们找不到答案的

You will not find the answer in the Declaration of Independence,

独立宣言里没提

nor will you find it in the Constitution.

宪法里也没说

It is just a stupid law from 1845.

这一切只因1845年的一则笨条文

(Laughter)

（笑声）

1845年时，美国人交通都靠马车

In 1845, Americans traveled by horse and buggy.

所以很显然

As did I, evidently.

It took a day to get to the county seat to vote, a day to get back,

去趟省城投票往往得花个一、两天

而且安息日（周日）又不能远游

and you couldn't travel on the Sabbath, so, Tuesday it was.

所以就订周二投票啰

我不常驾马车出游

I don't often travel by horse and buggy, I would imagine most of you don't,

我想你们多半也不常吧

所以当我发现这个解释时，我觉得很妙

so when I found out about this, I was fascinated.

于是组了个叫‘为何是周二’的团体

I linked up with a group called, what else -- "Why Tuesday?"

去寻访一些国内颇有名望的政治人物

to go and ask our nation's most prominent elected leaders

if they knew the answer to the question,

看他们知不知道这个问题的答案：

"Why do we vote on Tuesday?"

‘为什么订周二为投票日？’

（影片）Rick Santorum: 有人知道吗？

(Video) Rick Santorum: Anybody knows? OK, I'm going to be stumped on this.

好吧，尽管很冒昧：有人知道我们为何选在周二投票吗？

Anybody knows why we vote on Tuesdays?

您知道吗？

Jacob Soboroff: Do you happen to know? Ron Paul: On Tuesdays?

Ron Paul：周二吗？

11月的第一个周二

JS: The day after the first Monday in November.

我不清楚起源是什么

RP: I don't know how that originated.

您知道我们为何选在周二投票吗？

JS: Do you know why we do vote on Tuesday? Newt Gingrich: No.

Newt Gingrich: 不知道

Dick Lugar: 不清楚

Dick Lugar: No, I don't. (Laughter)

Dianne Feinstein: 不知道

Dianne Feinstein: I don't. Darrell Issa: No.

Darrell Issa: 不知道

John Kerry: In truth, really, I'm not sure why.

John Kerry: 老实说，我不太知道为什么

（笑声）

JS: OK, thanks very much.

(Laughter)

这些可是为选举日而活的人呢?

JS: These are people that live for election day,

yet they don't know why we vote on that very day.

但他们都不知道为什么我们订那天为投票日

(Laughter)

Chris Rock (著名喜剧演员）说：那些人不希望大家去投票

Chris Rock said, "They don't want you to vote.

否则不会订周二为投票日

If they did, we wouldn't vote on a Tuesday in November.

你在周二开过派对吗？

Have you ever thrown a party on a Tuesday?

(Laughter)

当然没有，因为没人会来

No, of course not. Nobody would show up."

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Here's the cool part.

现在是很酷的部分了

Because we asked this question, "Why Tuesday?"

因为我们问了‘为何是周二’这个问题，现在有个‘周末投票’的提案了

there is now this bill, the Weekend Voting Act

就在美国国会里

in the Congress of the United States of America.

It would move election day from Tuesday to the weekend,

如果通过就能把投票日改到周末

so that -- duh -- more people can vote.

这样一来，还用说吗，更多人就能投票啦

(Applause)

（掌声）

不过过了167年而已

It has only taken 167 years,

but finally, we are on the verge of changing American history.

但我们总算要开始改变

美国历史了。谢谢各位！

Thank you very much.

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thanks a lot.

谢谢！

(Applause)