Hilary Clinton has some of the key attributes of a good secretary of state — stature and toughness — but that she’s untested as a negotiator, and her status as an erstwhile Obama rival might undermine an envoy’s traditional trump card.
希拉里•克林頓具備一位優(yōu)秀國(guó)務(wù)卿的某些關(guān)鍵特質(zhì)---才干和韌性,但是她是否能成功進(jìn)行協(xié)商談判還不得而知,而且她作為奧巴馬前競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手的特殊身份也可能會(huì)使該職位歷來(lái)的重王牌地位受到動(dòng)搖。
在上面的報(bào)道中,trump card就是指“王牌,絕招”。Trump card原意是“牌局中最大的王牌”。王牌在手,即勝券在握。王牌往往會(huì)留到最后關(guān)頭才打出,所以一般人們用這個(gè)短語(yǔ)來(lái)形容決定性的可以扭轉(zhuǎn)局勢(shì)的手法。如:The coach saved his star player for a trump card.(教練保留他的明星選手,作為他的王牌)。
我們常用play one’s trump card來(lái)表示“使出絕招”。如:Finally she played her trump card and threatened to resign.(最后她使出了絕招,揚(yáng)言要辭職)。
而have all the trumps in one's hand (hold some trumps) 則表示“胸有成竹,有必勝把握”,但如果你put someone to his trumps那可就要“把某人逼入絕境,迫使他使出最后的招數(shù)”了。