『英语杂谈』 [休闲灌水]Lost in Translation: A U.S. Gift to Russia(转载)

    Lost in Translation: A U.S. Gift to Russia
　　
　　
　　By MARK LANDLER
　　Published: March 6, 2009
　　GENEVA — The United States and Russia tried to mend their frayed relationship by having their top diplomats sit down to dinner here on Friday. Before the appetizer was served, the diplomatic first date had gotten off to an awkward start because of a gag gift gone awry.
　　
　　Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in greeting Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, presented him with a red plastic button emblazoned with the English word “reset” and the Russian word “peregruzka.”
　　
　　The gift was a play on Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s call in Munich last month for the two countries to “press the reset button” on their relationship.
　　
　　“We worked hard to get the right Russian word,” Mrs. Clinton said, handing the button to Mr. Lavrov. “Do you think we got it?”
　　
　　“You got it wrong,” he replied, explaining that the Americans had come up with the Russian word for overcharged.
　　
　　“We won’t let you do that to us,” she said quickly, with a full-throated laugh.
　　
　　Later, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Lavrov reported that they had a wide-ranging and positive exchange, laying the groundwork to renegotiate a strategic arms reduction treaty and discussing ways of cooperating on missile defense, a major bone of contention between the countries.
　　
　　But that hapless red button kept getting in the way. Mr. Lavrov said he hoped the linguistic miscue would “contribute to the advancement of Russian in the United States and English in Russia.”
　　
　　Mrs. Clinton said the faulty translation was more apt than the correct one because in resetting ties, both sides faced an “overload” of work. Mr. Lavrov agreed, saying “the load is enormous in terms of our agenda, but neither Hillary nor I have any desire to get rid of any of that load.”
　　
　　Having exhausted electrical metaphors, Mr. Lavrov then remarked that it was fortunate the United States and Russia were pushing a reset button instead of another red button that would start a war.
　　
　　State Department officials professed not to know who was responsible for the error. But Mrs. Clinton was accompanied by several diplomats and White House officials who had lived in Russia and speak Russian — any of whom conceivably could have caught it.
　　
　　Recognizing that the error threatened to overshadow the substance of the meeting, the State Department dispatched several senior officials to brief reporters traveling with Mrs. Clinton.
　　
　　There were no concrete agreements, the officials said, but the tone of the meeting was constructive — which was an achievement in itself, given that relations between the United States and Russia had chilled to nearly cold-war levels after the war in Georgia last summer.
　　
　　“I appreciate the openness and willingness of Minister Lavrov to discuss any and all issues,” Mrs. Clinton said. “Nothing was off the table. It was, Sergey, a good beginning from my perspective.”
　　
　　Mr. Lavrov, who had a famously stormy relationship with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, concurred.
　　
　　“I think we can manage to arrive at a common view, both in the context of strategic offensive weapons and missile defense,” he said. Asked whether he and Mrs. Clinton got along, he smiled and said, “I venture to say we have a wonderful personal relationship.”
　　
　　He and Mrs. Clinton agreed on a “work plan” that would set the stage for a treaty to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, the 1991 pact that expires this year. President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia will set out a blueprint for the renegotiation when they meet for the first time in London in early April.
　　
　　Mr. Lavrov and Mrs. Clinton also discussed Mr. Obama’s recent offer, in a letter to Mr. Medvedev, of flexibility in the deployment of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, while seeking increased support from Russia in constraining Iran’s nuclear program.
　　
　　The Russians are “thinking very carefully” about ways to cooperate, said a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the delicacy of the matter. “We’re not talking about their good will in helping us to diminish this threat,” he said. “We’re talking about diminishing the threat.”
　　
　　Russia has signed a contract to supply Iran with long-range S-300 missiles, which experts say Tehran could use to defend its nuclear facilities from an American or Israeli strike. The missiles have not been delivered, but it is not clear whether that is a gesture to the Obama administration.
　　
　　Mr. Lavrov did not clear things up, saying that Russia’s arms sales to Iran were fully legal, but that Moscow understood that the issue stirred uneasiness in the United States and Israel.
　　
　　Mrs. Clinton stressed that she had not avoided uncomfortable topics, like the war in Georgia. Mr. Lavrov restated Russia’s opposition to an independent Kosovo, which Mrs. Clinton championed.
　　
　　Earlier in the day, Mrs. Clinton promised a rejuvenated trans-Atlantic relationship. At a town hall meeting with 500 interns and others at the European Parliament in Brussels, she called Europe the “essential partner” for the United States in climate change and fighting terrorism.

　　It just goes to show that Americans suck when it comes to foreign languages ;-) So we don’t need to feel too bad about ourselves....

　　好久没看这些玩意,看起来有些吃力了.不进则退,说的真是一点不错

　　作者：jobbix　回复日期：2009-03-07　12:37:31　
　　　　It just goes to show that Americans suck when it comes to foreign languages ;-) So we don’t need to feel too bad about ourselves....
　　 -----------
　　u got a point here:)

　　继续发。。。
　　偶当是偶的学习贴了~

　　frayed紧张的
　　appetizer开胃的食物
　　gag塞口物
　　in terms of就...而论;在...方面
　　a major bone of contention
　　champion拥护,支持,为...而战
　　rejuvenate使年轻;使恢复精神

　　miscue撞歪失策

　　 delicacy 敏感

　　:)