Each state is divided into a number of districts (or areas), one for each representative that it has in the House.
每个州被分为若干个选区，每个选区都有一位众议院议员。
Each representative is elected by the people living in his or her district.
每位众议员是由他或她选区的选民选举出来的。
Changing where the district boundaries (or the lines between districts) are drawn on the map can change which political party has more power in a district.
改变地图上的选区分界线（或选区之间的界线）就可以改变政党在选区的权力大小。
Redistricting, or changing the district boundaries, is called gerrymandering when it influences (or affects) the results of elections so that one political party is more likely to win.
重划选区或者改变选区分界线会影响选举结果、使得某个政党更可能获胜，被称为“杰利蝾螈”。
As you can see, this is a very big issue because redistricting can decide which political party has power.
如你所见，这是个非常重大的问题，因为重划选区能决定那个政党掌权。
Sometimes gerrymandering is used to make district boundaries match (or be the same as) where racial groups (or groups of people with the same skin color) live.
有时“杰利蝾螈”被用来让选区分界线等同于同一种族（或者相同肤色的人群）分界线。
If the district boundaries are drawn so that white people are the majority (the largest group) in each district, then it is more likely that only white representatives will be elected.
如果划分的选区分界线使得白种人成为每个选区的多数人种，那么该选区就只有白种人众议员更可能被选举出来。
Obviously gerrymandering is unfair, but it is very common in modern politics.
“杰利蝾螈”很显然是不公平的，但是它在现代政治中很常见。
Many have criticized this practice of racial gerrymandering.
种族“杰利蝾螈”的做法为许多人所诟病。
译文为秀哈英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
