处于低潮

I argued that respect for liberty is at a historic low in America and Europe, where governments think nothing of introducing 42-day detention without charge, spying on us through CCTV cameras or email surveillance, and bringing in new thought crimes – and therefore asking President Bush or our own beleaguered PM to pressurise China to "embrace liberty" was a bit like "asking Rose West to open a halfway house for young runaways".

我提出，对美国和欧洲来说，目前对自由的尊重正处于历史低潮，42天无理关押，CCTV的监控器，邮件监视，以及新思想的罪行，对那些政府来说这无关紧要——对此我认为，布什总统或者我们那位焦头烂额的首相要求中国&拥抱自由&的做法，有点像&请罗斯·韦斯特太太为离家出走的年轻人开启一个驿站&。

Boat at Low Tide, County Mayo, Ireland, 2003 Photograph by Chris Rainier A fishing boat, beached by low tide, leans against seaweed-covered rocks in Ireland's Sruwaddacon Bay.

意译：小船在低潮中，梅奥郡，爱尔兰，2003年。一艘渔船，在海滩处于低潮汐，倾斜依靠在海草覆盖的岩石在爱尔兰的Sruwaddacon海湾。

The split between the two groups can hardly be papered over.

这两个团体间的分歧难以掩饰。

This approach not only encourages a greater number of responses, but minimizes the likelihood of stale groupthink.

这种做法不仅鼓励了更多的反应，而且减少跟风的可能性。