最近大熱的美劇《紙牌屋》引發了不少人對美國政治的關注，其中，主角安德伍德最早擔任的民主黨黨鞭一職更是讓不少人產生了興趣。這到底是一個什么樣的職位？他為什么可以對其他黨內成員有那么大的影響？今天，我們就簡單了解一下“黨鞭”（Whip）這個職位。

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.

黨鞭（Whip）是立法機構中主要負責確保其所在政黨的政策得到貫徹執行的官員。他們是政黨的“執行者”，通過恩威并施的方式讓黨內成員按照該政黨的官方政策進行投票，同時確保在有重要投票時黨內代表都能參加。Whip這個用法源于打獵時的用語whipping in，意即，讓獵犬們保持隊形，防止個別獵犬從整個群體中“溜號”。

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.

在美國，立法機構分為地方、州和聯邦三個級別。聯邦立法機構（國會）、州立法機構以及很多縣市立法機構都根據黨派分立，各自有各自的黨鞭，同時還有多數黨黨首和少數黨黨首。

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.

美國國會兩院，眾議院和參議院，都有多數黨黨鞭和少數黨黨鞭，下面還有“地區”黨鞭。在參議院，多數黨黨鞭位列多數黨（在參議院占多數席位的政黨）第三把交椅，排在他前面的分別是多數黨黨首和臨時議長。因為臨時議長一職很大程度上是榮譽性質的，一般由多數黨在位時間最長的參議員擔任，所以，多數黨黨鞭實際上是多數黨會議中實權僅次于黨首的參議員。在眾議院，多數黨黨鞭排在多數黨黨首和議長之后。與參議院的臨時議長不同，眾議院的議長是該黨在眾議院核心小組的領袖。

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.

黨鞭一職最早由共和黨議長托馬斯?里德于1897年在眾議院首次設立，他任命詹姆斯?陶尼為首位黨鞭。民主黨首位黨鞭奧斯卡?瓦爾德?安德伍德則約在1900年被任命。在參議院，首位民主黨黨鞭漢密爾頓?劉易斯在1913年由民主黨核心小組主席約翰?科恩任命，后來，共和黨在1915年讓詹姆斯?沃茲沃斯擔任了首位黨鞭。

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（中國日報網英語點津 Helen）