Clown or Congressman?
巴西小丑最高票当选国会议员
Voters the world over complain about having clowns for politicians, but Brazilians embraced the idea on Sunday by sending a real one to Congress with more votes than any other candidate.
全世界的选民经常抱怨他们的政治人物好像小丑，而在星期天的选举中，巴西人却选出了一个真正的小丑当议员。他的票数超过了其他所有候选人的票数。
Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva, better known by his clown name Tiririca, received more than 1.3 million votes in Sao Paulo state in Brazil’ s presidential and congressional elections. That was more than double the votes of the second-placed candidate in Brazil’ s most populous state.
艺名特里里卡的佛朗西斯科·席尔瓦在 3 日举行的国会大选中，以 130万票在巴西最大省圣保罗省脱颖而出，当选国会议员，票数是第二名的两倍多。
Tiririca caught the attention of disillusioned voters by asking for their support with the humorous slogan: “It can’ t get any worse” and a promise to do nothing more in Congress than report back to them on how politicians spend their time.
特里里卡凭借幽默的竞选口号， “最糟糕不就是这样了” ，吸引失望的选民。他还承诺当他当上议员后，会向大家汇报政客每天如何打发时间。
“What does a congressman do? The truth is I don’ t know, but vote for me and I’ ll tell you,” the 45-year-old said in his campaign advertisements.
“联邦议员做什么？说实话，我不知道。不过投我一票，我会让你们知道。 ”
The clown, whose stage name means “grumpy”, usually appears in public wearing a blond wig, a red hat and a garish outfit. He survived a last-minute attempt by public prosecutors to bar him from running because of evidence that he is illiterate.
45岁的特里里卡艺名的意思是 “粗鲁的” 。 他在舞台上的典型形象是金发、老土的帽子和一身五彩的衣服，如今是巴西著名电视笑星。他差一点失去竞选资格，因为最后一刻一个监控官发现他居然是个文盲。
His candidacy may not have been as spontaneous or innocent as it might appear. Tiririca’ s well-financed campaign will help elect other politic rules he can pass his substan candidates in his coalition Party.
特里里卡的竞选资格也许不像看起来那么单纯。这场竞选背后有强大的财力支持，他的当选能帮助其他政客，巴西的选举法规定他可以把多余的票数给联盟中的其他候选人，包括现在的执政党劳动党。