最近大热的美剧《纸牌屋》引发了不少人对美国政治的关注，其中，主角安德伍德最早担任的民主党党鞭一职更是让不少人产生了兴趣。这到底是一个什么样的职位？他为什么可以对其他党内成员有那么大的影响？今天，我们就简单了解一下“党鞭”（Whip）这个职位。

A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy. A whip's role is also to ensure that the elected representatives of their party are in attendance when important votes are taken. The usage comes from the hunting term "whipping in", i.e. preventing hounds from wandering away from the pack.

党鞭（Whip）是立法机构中主要负责确保其所在政党的政策得到贯彻执行的官员。他们是政党的“执行者”，通过恩威并施的方式让党内成员按照该政党的官方政策进行投票，同时确保在有重要投票时党内代表都能参加。Whip这个用法源于打猎时的用语whipping in，意即，让猎犬们保持队形，防止个别猎犬从整个群体中“溜号”。

In the United States there are legislatures at the local, State, and Federal levels. The Federal legislature (Congress), State legislatures, and many county and city legislative bodies are divided along party lines and have Whips, as well as Majority and Minority Leaders.

在美国，立法机构分为地方、州和联邦三个级别。联邦立法机构（国会）、州立法机构以及很多县市立法机构都根据党派分立，各自有各自的党鞭，同时还有多数党党首和少数党党首。

Both houses of Congress, the House of Representatives and Senate, have Majority and Minority Whips. They in turn have subordinate "regional" Whips. In the Senate, the Majority Whip is the third-highest ranking individual in the majority party (the party with the most seats). The Majority Whip is outranked by the Majority Leader and, unofficially, the President pro tempore; because the office of President pro tempore is largely honorific and usually given to the longest-serving Senator of the majority, the Majority Whip is in reality the second-ranking senator in the Majority Conference in terms of actual power. Similarly, in the House, the Majority Whip is outranked by both the Majority Leader and the Speaker. Unlike the Senate's presiding officer, the Speaker is the leader of his or her party's caucus in the House.

美国国会两院，众议院和参议院，都有多数党党鞭和少数党党鞭，下面还有“地区”党鞭。在参议院，多数党党鞭位列多数党（在参议院占多数席位的政党）第三把交椅，排在他前面的分别是多数党党首和临时议长。因为临时议长一职很大程度上是荣誉性质的，一般由多数党在位时间最长的参议员担任，所以，多数党党鞭实际上是多数党会议中实权仅次于党首的参议员。在众议院，多数党党鞭排在多数党党首和议长之后。与参议院的临时议长不同，众议院的议长是该党在众议院核心小组的领袖。

The Whip position was first created in the House of Representatives in 1897 by Republican Speaker Thomas Reed, who appointed James A. Tawney as the first whip. The first Democratic Whip, Oscar Wilder Underwood, was appointed around 1900. In the Senate, the position was created in 1913 by John W. Kern, chair of the Democratic caucus, when he appointed J. Hamilton Lewis as the first Whip, while Republicans later chose James Wadsworth as the party's first in 1915.

党鞭一职最早由共和党议长托马斯•里德于1897年在众议院首次设立，他任命詹姆斯•陶尼为首位党鞭。民主党首位党鞭奥斯卡•瓦尔德•安德伍德则约在1900年被任命。在参议院，首位民主党党鞭汉密尔顿•刘易斯在1913年由民主党核心小组主席约翰•科恩任命，后来，共和党在1915年让詹姆斯•沃兹沃斯担任了首位党鞭。

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（中国日报网英语点津 Helen）