《中英對照讀新聞》Bush's Spanish Not Good 布希的西班牙語不好

◎魏國金

President George W. Bush likes to drop a few words of Spanish in his speeches and act like he is proficient in the language. But he is really not that good, his spokesman said. "The president can speak Spanish but not that well,"White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "He、s not that good with his Spanish."

布希總統演說時喜歡溜出幾句西班牙語，表現得好像他專精這個語言。但他的發言人說，他真的不是那麼精通。白宮發言人史考特．麥克里蘭說︰「總統是會說西班牙語，但不是那麼好，他不是那麼精通西班牙語。」

McClellan、s comment was noticeable because presidential press secretaries usually boast about a president、s ability rather than talk about any shortcomings.

麥克里蘭的評論值得注意，因為總統的新聞秘書通常會誇耀總統的能力，不會談論任何短處。

McClellan made his remark in response to a report that Bush had sung the Star-Spangled Banner in Spanish during the 2000 campaign. Just last week Bush said the U.S. national anthem should be sung in English, not Spanish. "It、s absurd,"McClellan said of the report, suggesting that Bush couldn、t have sung it in Spanish even if he had wanted to.

麥克里蘭是在回應一篇指稱布希在二○○○年選戰期間，以西班牙語高唱美國國歌的報導時，發表他的評論。就在上週，布希說美國國歌應以英語，而非以西班牙語來唱。麥克里蘭談到該報導時說︰「這很荒謬」，暗示布希即便想，也無法以西班牙語唱美國國歌。

新聞辭典

proficient in/at： 精通的、熟練的。例句︰He is proficient in management.他專擅管理。也可當名詞，意指專家、行家。例句︰She is a proficient in music.她是音樂行家。

comment： 可作動辭與名詞，有批評、意見、註解之意。no comment： 不予置評。

shortcoming： 短處、缺點，與defect、weakness、imperfection、

deficiency 意思相同。

Star-Spangled Banner： 星條旗歌，即是美國國歌。 national anthem國歌。