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)秀國務卿的某些關鍵特質(zhì)---才干和韌性,但是她是否能成功進行協(xié)商談判還不得而知,而且她作為奧巴馬前競爭對手的特殊身份也可能會使該職位歷來的重王牌地位受到動搖。
在上面的報道中,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。王牌往往會留到最后關頭才打出,所以一般人們用這個短語來形容決定性的可以扭轉(zhuǎn)局勢的手法。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。