2016年美国大选两党内部的候选人辩论自去年9月开始，陆续爆出各种热议话题，各位候选人有关移民、枪支管控，恐怖主义等话题的言论也多次在媒体引发讨论。从学英语的角度来看，他们的辩论阶段其实也产生了一些新的词汇表达，我们今天选两个来看一看。

The kids' table 儿童桌

The implication of the term kids' table or kiddie table is that the candidates in the early meeting have not yet grown up enough to be included among the adults in the primetime debate. Ironically, though, the level of discussion in the early debates has often been judged to be more thoughtful and substantive than that in the main event, perhaps due to the smaller number of voices and the less manic atmosphere.

“儿童桌”这个说法的含义是：选举初期参与辩论的候选人还不够成熟老道，无法进入后期的黄金时段辩论。讽刺的是，初期辩论中的话题探讨水平往往被认为比核心辩论阶段有思想、有实质内容，或许是因为发言人数不多，气氛也不太狂躁吧。

For example:

[Carly Fiorina's] dominant showing at the ‘kid's table' in the first GOP debate earned her a spot at the main event for the second.

卡莉·菲奥莉娜在共和党第一场“儿童桌”辩论中的强势表现为她赢得了第二场辩论中的席位。

——Atlantic Online, 17 November, 2015

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