第一夫人

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第一夫人(first lady)

美国总统的妻子。虽然第一夫人的角色从未规定或正式定义过，但她却在美国的政治和社会生活中扮演重要的角色。不论是在国内或国外，在官方或各种仪典场合中，她都代表着她的丈夫；由於可从第一夫人身上发现总统的想法与未来行动的线索，所以她受到许多关注。从开国之初，美国的总统夫人就扮演着一个公众性的角色，但「第一夫人」这个称谓一直到很後来才受到普遍的使用，大约是在19世纪末时。到了20世纪末期，这个称号被其他语言吸收，也常（在不加翻译的情况下）被用来称呼该国领导者的妻子－－即便这些国家的总统夫人鲜少受人注意，也较无影响力，不像美国的第一夫人那样。虽然第一夫人不支薪也非民选，但她的显着地位使其得以影响他人行止和观点。有些第一夫人运用其影响力来影响某些重要议题的立法，例如禁酒改革、住宅改善以及妇女权益等。

English version：

first lady

Wife of the president of the United States. Although the first lady's role has never been codified or officially defined, she figures prominently in the country's political and social life. Representative of her husband on official and ceremonial occasions both at home and abroad, the first lady is closely watched for some hint of her husband's thinking and for a clue to his future actions. The wife of the president of the U.S. played a public role from the founding of the republic, but the title first lady did not come into general use until much later, near the end of the 19th century. By the end of the 20th century, the title had been absorbed into other languages and was often used, without translation, for the wife of the country's leader－even in countries where the leader's consort received far less attention and exerted much less influence than did her counterpart in the U.S. Although unpaid and unelected, her prominence provides her a platform from which to influence behavior and opinion, and some first ladies have used their influence to affect legislation on important matters such as temperance reform, housing improvement, and women's rights.