It was a long day in Angola. President Biden had already visited a port facility bracketed with cranes and toured a factory filled with conveyor belts. So by the time he sat down at a large wooden circular table in a warm, stuffy room with African leaders, he put his head in his hand and briefly closed his eyes as the speeches droned on.

在安哥拉的这一天很漫长。拜登总统已经参观了一个吊车林立的港口，以及一座满是传送带的工厂。因此，等到他在一个温暖、不通风的房间里与非洲领导人坐在一张大木圆桌旁时，他已经用手托着头，在滔滔不绝的言语中一度闭上了眼睛。

Flying across the world would have tired even a president younger than 82. But the point, as he saw it, was that he came. He traveled thousands of miles to highlight a new U.S.-backed railway that could transform the economies of Africa and supply resources for America. He came. He did not have to. He insisted on it and was proud to be the first president to come.

满世界飞的旅行是会让人疲惫不堪的，何况是82岁高龄的总统。但在他看来，重点是他来了。他跋涉数千英里，强调美国支持的一条新铁路可以改变非洲的经济，为美国提供资源。他来了。他不是非来不可。他坚持要来，并为自己是第一位前来的总统而感到自豪。

This is the twilight of Mr. Biden’s presidency, the final days of the final chapter of an epic half-century political journey that has had more than its share of twists and turns. Time is catching up with Mr. Biden. He looks a little older and a little slower with each passing day. Aides say he remains plenty sharp in the Situation Room, calling world leaders to broker a cease-fire in Lebanon or deal with the chaos of Syria’s rebellion. But it is hard to imagine that he seriously thought he could do the world’s most stressful job for another four years.

这是拜登总统任期的黄昏，也是他半个世纪充满曲折的政治生涯的最后篇章。岁月不饶人。随着时间一天天过去，他看上去更加苍老和迟钝。他的助手说，当他在战情室致电世界各国领导人斡旋黎巴嫩停火，或处理叙利亚叛乱的混乱局面时，他仍然非常敏锐。但很难想象，他真的曾经认为，这个世界上压力最大的工作自己还能再干四年。

That does not make it any easier as Mr. Biden heads toward the exit. Nothing that has happened since he was forced to drop out of the race in July has made that decision look wrong, yet Donald J. Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris has been interpreted as a repudiation of Mr. Biden. It stung. It still stings. But unlike Mr. Trump four years ago, this president accepts the outcome.

在拜登行将退场之际，事情并没有因此变得更轻松。自7月被迫退出竞选以来发生的每一件事情，都让人觉得他的决定是正确的，然而唐纳德·特朗普战胜副总统贺锦丽却被解读为对拜登的否定。这很伤人。现在依然如此。但与四年前的特朗普不同，这位总统接受了这个结果。

拜登决心以重大成就结束任期，并将自己塑造成一位具有影响力的总统。

“Yes, this is hard,” said Ted Kaufman, his longtime friend, aide and successor in the Senate. “But he has been through tougher things than this. He has a long list of things he wants to do, and he is focused on getting them accomplished.”

“是的，这很艰难，”他在参议院的老朋友、助手和接替了他的参议员席位的泰德·考夫曼说。“但他经历过比这更艰难的事情。他有一长串想做的事情，他正专注于完成这些事情。”

Determined to finish on a high note and shape his legacy as a consequential president, Mr. Biden wants to “sprint to the finish line” in these final weeks, as his chief of staff, Jeffrey D. Zients, put it. He is checking a few last boxes on his presidential bucket list. Angola? Check. A visit to the Amazon rainforest, another presidential first? Check.

拜登决心以重大成就收尾，将自己塑造成一位有影响力的总统，正如他的幕僚长杰弗里·D·齐恩茨所说，他希望在最后几周“冲刺终点”。他正在给总统目标清单上的最后几个方框打勾。安哥拉？打勾。访问亚马逊雨林，又一个美国总统的首次？打勾。

The biggest box left is a cease-fire in Gaza and if he manages that, it would be a validating triumph for a departing president. Otherwise, he is wrapping up his time in office by claiming credit for the healthy economy that he is turning over to his ungrateful successor and by getting money previously approved by Congress out the door for roads and bridges at home and arms for Ukraine abroad.

剩下的最大难题是加沙停火，如果他能做到，这场胜利能够肯定这位即将离任的总统的价值。否则，他在结束自己的任期时将声称，经济的健康发展是他的功劳，他的继任者却不会对此感激；他还会将国会之前批准的资金投入到国内的道路和桥梁建设以及乌克兰的武器装备中。

Tying a bow of forgiveness around his pending departure, Mr. Biden has extended a record number of commutations to prisoners who were already on home confinement — and more defiantly pardoned his son Hunter after convictions on firearms and tax charges, only to be surprised at the blowback from his fellow Democrats.

拜登正在给自己的离任注入一种宽恕的气息，他为许多已经在家服刑的囚犯减刑，人数之众创下了纪录，而在他的儿子亨特因枪支和税务指控被定罪后，拜登更是不顾争议，赦免了儿子，虽然民主党同僚对此做出的强烈反应让他意外。

Like other lame-duck presidents, he is fading from the political scene, all but leaving the stage before the final curtain. While Mr. Trump already dominates the conversation more than incoming presidents typically do, making policy pronouncements and huddling with world leaders without waiting to take office, the president actually occupying the White House has become a national afterthought. “President — Still?” a host on “Saturday Night Live” referred to him.

与其他”跛脚鸭”总统一样，拜登正在淡出政治舞台，就差最后的谢幕。虽然特朗普已经比以往任何候任总统都更多地主导着话题，不等就职就发表政策声明，并与世界各国领导人公开往来，而白宫目前的主人却已经被这个国家抛诸脑后。《周六夜现场》节目的一位主持人提到他时说，“总统——还是他？”

Mr. Biden has absented himself from the debate convulsing the country. After warning again and again that Mr. Trump posed an existential threat to American democracy, he has now gone silent on the matter and even aides decline to answer questions on whether the incoming president is still a danger. A traditionalist to his bones, Mr. Biden has opted for the grace and reticence he believes are befitting the departing president of a defeated party, even as the incoming president threatens to imprison opponents and tries to install conspiracy-minded acolytes in positions of power.

拜登没有参与正在引起全国轰动的辩论。在一再警告特朗普对美国民主构成生存威胁之后，他现在对此事保持沉默，甚至连助手也拒绝回答候任总统是否仍然是危险人物的问题。拜登骨子里是个传统主义者，他选择了优雅和隐忍，认为这才符合一个败选政党即将离任的总统的形象，即使候任总统威胁要监禁反对者，并试图将有阴谋论思想的拥护者安插到掌权位置上。

在拜登上个月访问亚马逊雨林期间，他的虚弱在同行的人面前展露无疑。

Some of Mr. Biden’s allies and fellow Democrats wish he would use his position more assertively in the time he has left.

拜登的一些盟友和民主党同僚希望他能在剩下的时间里更坚定地利用自己的地位。

“He ought to be dramatically pushing until the last day on the things that he represented to seal his legacy and the memory of it in the American public because it is so diametrically opposite to what Trump is bringing into the White House,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil-rights leader and Biden ally.

“他应该继续推动他所代表的东西，直到最后一天，从而巩固他的遗产和美国公众对这份遗产的记忆，因为它们与特朗普将带入白宫的东西截然相反，”民权领袖、拜登的盟友艾尔·夏普顿牧师说。

Even when pushing for his priorities, Mr. Biden has found it hard to break through. During his visit to the Amazon rainforest last month, his fragility appeared painfully clear to those traveling with him.

即使在推动自己的优先事项时，拜登也很难取得突破。在上个月访问亚马逊雨林期间，他的虚弱在同行的人面前曝露无遗。

After speaking for seven minutes on a day of draining humidity, a blue shirt hanging loosely over his frame, he turned to slowly shuffle away down a dirt path as several people in the audience not used to seeing him up close said they held their breath, worried that he would trip. (Aides said his gait was no more unsteady than usual.)

在一个潮湿得让人疲惫不堪的日子里，他穿着一件松松垮垮的蓝衬衫，发表了七分钟演讲，然后转身慢慢地沿着一条土路走开，听众中几个很少近距离看到他的人说，他们屏住了呼吸，担心他会绊倒。(助手们说他的步态并没有比平时更加不稳）。

During an arrival ceremony on his trip to Angola this month, on the day after a long, tiring transoceanic flight that would have taxed any octogenarian, President João Lourenço suddenly clutched Mr. Biden’s arm to help guide him up a step.

在本月访问安哥拉的欢迎仪式上，一段漫长而劳累的越洋飞行过后的次日——这样的飞行对任何一位八十多岁的老人都是巨大的消耗——若昂·卢伦索总统突然紧紧抓住拜登的胳膊，帮助他登上了一个台阶。

When Mr. Biden visited the National Museum of Slavery that afternoon, he did not actually enter the main building to view the exhibitions; instead, artifacts were brought outside to show him, which two people familiar with the planning attributed to fear that the steep stairs would be too much of a challenge. (The White House denied that the stairs were a concern and said he was not brought inside for scheduling and logistical reasons.)

当天下午，拜登参观国家奴隶制博物馆时，并没有进入主楼观看展览，而是将文物拿到室外向他展示。两位知情人士称，这是因为担心陡峭的楼梯会带来太大的挑战。（白宫否认楼梯是一个问题，并表示是由于日程安排和后勤原因没有请他入馆参观。）

仍在坚持前往遥远地区访问的拜登与安哥拉总统若昂· 卢伦索在一起。

Yet Mr. Biden is still making those arduous journeys to far-off destinations like the Amazon and Angola when others might not have bothered. His meetings in Brazil forged international climate change commitments and his trip to Angola was meant to highlight a U.S.-backed railway being built across the African continent, competing for influence with China, both major challenges of this era.

然而，拜登仍在长途跋涉，前往亚马逊和安哥拉等遥远的目的地，换成别人可能不会这么做。他在巴西的会晤促成了国际气候变化承诺，他访问安哥拉的目的是强调一条由美国支持的横跨非洲大陆的铁路，与中国争夺影响力，这两者都是这个时代的重大挑战。

“It was a very important moment for me, for our institution,” said Vladimiro Fortuna, the director of the Angolan slavery museum. “That was a very important moment in the museum’s history.” He added that he was impressed by Mr. Biden and did not understand why there was so much concern about the stairs. “I didn’t see someone that was not ready to go up and to go in the museum.”

“这对我、对我们的机构来说都是一个非常重要的时刻，”安哥拉奴隶制博物馆馆长弗拉基米罗·福尔图纳说。“那是博物馆历史上非常重要的时刻。”他还说拜登给他留下了深刻的印象，他不明白为什么这么多人在关心楼梯的事。“我没看出来有谁是不方便走上楼梯，走进博物馆的。”

Several of those who traveled with Mr. Biden on those two trips took note that he maintained a light schedule at times and sometimes mumbled, making him hard to understand. With the end of his career in sight, he seemed ruminative. At one point, during a private meeting, he drifted into a reminiscence about the famous 1960 debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon.

在这两次旅行中与拜登同行的几位人士注意到，他的日程经常安排得很宽松，有时他说话会含混不清，让人很难听懂他在说什么。在职业生涯步入尾声之时，他显得思绪凝重。在一次与人私下会面，他开始沉醉于对1960年约翰·F·肯尼迪和理查德·M·尼克松的那场著名辩论的回忆中。

At the same time, those accompanying him said, he was focused on the issues at hand and demonstrated command of the details. Before meeting with President Xi Jinping of China on the sidelines of a summit in Rio de Janeiro, he insisted on a prolonged briefing that stretched on for about 90 minutes.

与此同时，陪同他的人说，他专注于手头的问题，并表现出对细节的掌控。在里约热内卢峰会期间会见中国国家主席习近平之前，他坚持听取了一场长达90分钟的简报。

In meetings at the White House, aides said, he is likewise still astute, still dictating specific actions and still editing speeches to suit his preferences. He made calls to other world leaders as part of a successful effort to broker a cease-fire to stop the war in Lebanon and again to consult on the aftermath of the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

助手们说，在白宫的会议上，他也依然敏锐，仍在指示具体行动，仍在根据自己的喜好修改演讲稿。为了促成停火以结束黎巴嫩战争，他致电其他世界领导人，而后又就叙利亚总统巴沙尔·阿萨德倒台的后续情况进行磋商。

At a ceremony honoring the Special Olympics last week, he struck some guests as fully engaged. “He seemed fine,” said Elaine Kamarck, a longtime Democratic National Committee member who attended. “To my amazement, he stayed through the whole dinner. We all thought maybe he would disappear, but no, he sat down, he ate with everybody, he stayed through all of dinner. And he seemed just fine.”

在上周举行的一场特殊奥运会庆典上，他给一些嘉宾留下了全身心投入的印象。“他看起来很好，”出席仪式的民主党全国委员会长期成员伊莲·卡马克说。“令我惊讶的是，整场餐会他一直都在。我们都以为他会消失，但没有，他坐下来，和大家一起吃饭，整个晚餐都待在那里。他看上去没什么问题。”

Still, he grew emotional at one point during the ceremony. At this time of year, friends say, Mr. Biden can become a little seasonally depressed, remembering the 1972 car accident that killed his first wife and daughter shortly before Christmas. During his brief speech at the Special Olympics event, he brought up the tragedy and choked up for a few moments. On Wednesday, he will be in Wilmington, Del., for the anniversary, when he typically visits the family graves.

不过在庆典期间，他一度显得有些感伤。朋友们说，每年这个时候，拜登都会有点季节性的抑郁，想起1972年圣诞节前不久那场夺去他第一任妻子和女儿生命的车祸。在特奥会的简短演讲中，他提到了这场悲剧，并哽咽了好一会儿。周三，他将在特拉华州威尔明顿度过周年纪念日，他通常会在那天前往家族墓地。

在任期的最后几天里，拜登和他的幕僚们正忙于确保他任内主要立法批准的资金能按计划得到使用。

While some close to Mr. Biden said he had made peace with the coming end of his presidency, others said he had been moody. He is currently angry at Democratic members of Congress who have publicly denounced his decision to pardon Hunter Biden despite promises not to, according to one person who has spent time with him recently.

虽然一些与拜登关系密切的人说，他已经接受了总统任期即将结束的事实，但也有人说他情绪不稳定。据一位最近与他在一起的人士说，拜登目前对国会民主党议员感到愤怒，这些议员公开谴责他赦免亨特·拜登的决定，尽管他曾承诺不会这样做。

White House officials said that while Mr. Trump attracts the headlines, Mr. Biden and his staff are busy making sure money approved as part of his major legislation is spent as intended for clean energy, manufacturing and infrastructure projects before the next team can try to block it.

白宫官员表示，虽然特朗普不断登上新闻，但拜登和他的幕僚正忙于确保他任内主要立法批准的资金能按计划用于清洁能源、制造业和基础设施项目，以免下届政府试图阻止。

In a memo to the White House staff last week, Mr. Zients, the chief of staff, reported that the administration has announced awards for about 98 percent of the money made available through the end of the fiscal year from four major laws passed by Mr. Biden: the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act.

白宫幕僚长齐恩茨上周在给白宫幕僚的一份备忘录中报告说，在拜登签署的四部主要法案拨发的经费中，截至本财年末可供支配的资金已经有约98%宣布了去向安排，四部法案分别是《美国救援计划》、​​《两党基础设施法》、《芯片和科学法案》以及《通胀削减法案》。

“The president has been very focused on how we implement these bills,” Natalie Quillian, the White House deputy chief of staff overseeing the process, said in an interview. “He’s impressed upon all of us that we need to run through the tape, we need to get the money out the door, we need to sign the contracts, and we need to get these impacts delivered to communities, red and blue, across the country as quickly as possible.”

“总统一直非常关注我们如何实施这些法案，”负责监督这一进程的白宫副幕僚长娜塔莉·奎利安在接受采访时表示。“他给我们所有人留下了深刻的印象，我们需要坚持到底，我们需要把钱用出去，我们需要签署合同，我们需要尽快将这些影响传递给全国各地的社区，无论他们是红是蓝。”

Mr. Biden gave a “legacy speech” last week at the Brookings Institution outlining what he sees as the successes of his economic program — and warning about the dangers of Mr. Trump’s. The roughly 40-minute speech, in the works for weeks, was meant to outline what Mr. Biden thinks worked in terms of the economy during his tenure and what will not work in the future, although he coughed throughout and was hoarse by the end.

拜登上周在布鲁金斯学会发表了一次“遗产演讲”，概述了他的经济计划在他看来的成功之处——并警告特朗普的计划的危险性。这场大约40分钟的演讲经过数周的筹备，旨在概述拜登认为在他任职期间经济上哪些是有成效的，哪些在未来不会有成效，尽管他全程都在咳嗽，最后声音嘶哑。

“He’s not looking for a statue,” Jared Bernstein, the chair of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, said over the weekend. “He’s looking for a better policy that uplifts the middle class and steers us away from trickle down.”

“他追求的不是给他立像，”总统经济顾问委员会主席贾里德·伯恩斯坦上周末表示。“他追求的是更好的政策，能提升中产阶级，引导我们脱离下渗经济的政策。”

在政治生涯的末期，拜登选择了优雅和隐忍，他认为这才符合一个败选政党即将离任的总统的形象。

But his aides said there is plenty still left to do. In his memo, Mr. Zients pointed to the Gaza cease-fire talks, efforts to confirm more judges and plans to cancel more student debt for public service workers and other borrowers.

但他的助手表示，还有很多事情要做。在备忘录中，齐恩茨提到了加沙停火谈判，确认更多法官的努力，以及取消更多公务员和其他借款人的学生债务的计划。

“During a time when most would expect us to slow down, you are accelerating,” Mr. Zients wrote, adding, “I know you and your teams are pushing forward on every issue, yard by yard.”

“在大多数人认为我们会放慢脚步的时候，你们在加速，”齐恩茨写道，“我知道你们和你们的团队正在一步一步地推进每一个问题。”