As for power transition, much attention nowadays is lavished on a supposed American decline, often with facile historical analogies to Britain and Rome. But Rome remained dominant for more than three centuries after the apogee of its power, and, even then, it did not succumb to the rise of another state, but suffered a death by a thousand cuts inflicted by various barbarian tribes.
在权力转移方面，人们将过多的精力浪费在了假想中的美国衰退上，并常常将其比作历史上的英国和罗马。须知罗马在到达权力巅峰后的三个世纪内还依然保持着统治地位，它也并非陷落于另一个国家的崛起之中，而是在无数野蛮部落的蚕食下走向了灭亡。