■“Thank you for deciding that of the six fine books on the shortlist, mine was the luckiest．” “谢谢你们作出如此决定：在最后候选名单上的六本好书中，我的是最幸运的。” 39岁的加拿大作家扬·马特尔（见图）凭小说《阿皮传》获2002年英联邦布克奖后向评委们说。
■“Social goals? Perˉhaps, but the most imˉportant mission is aesthetic, artistic, stylistic． Theatre is not a newspaper．” “社会目的？也许有，可是最重要的使命是美学的、艺术的、风格的。戏剧不是报纸。” 85岁的俄罗斯话剧导演柳比莫夫（见图）谈戏剧时说。在俄罗斯戏剧 界，他的名字是反叛的代名词。他说剧团目前最大的威胁是电视。 （香港《明报》）
■“All the information I need is in the script itself． I don't need to sit in an asylum to be Hann ibal Lecter．” “我需要的资料都在剧本里面。我演汉尼巴尔·勒克泰尔无须待在疯人院里。” 演员安东尼·霍普金斯（见图）说。他不厌其烦地向记者解释他分得清电影与现实生活。他说虽然他喜欢演食人医生勒克泰尔，但那只是他的工作。
■“God will decide whether my children are healthy． I don't have time to worry about such matters．” “神会决定我的孩子健康不健康。我没时间担心这种事情。” 危地马拉的危拉基查村村民门德斯（见图）说。去年12月她的3岁儿子梅塞德因营养不良及腹泻死亡。中美洲去年发生20年来最严重的旱灾，危地马拉灾情最严峻。
■“I beg you Mr President, listen to Gershwin, read chapters of Saroyan, the speeches of Martin Luther King． Remind yourself of America．” “我恳求你，总统先生，听格什温的音乐，看几章萨罗扬的书，读马丁·路德·金的演讲词。让你自己记起美国。” 美国电影导演兼演员肖恩·佩恩（见图）在《给美国总统的公开信》中写道。他付了5·6万美元广告费给《华盛顿邮报》刊出那封公开信。他在信中详述自己关于美国计划向伊拉克开战的意见。
■“You can't just declare a national park and assume that the animals will be safe． There will be some confrontations and you have to assume there will be gunˉfire．” “不能假设宣布成立国家公园动物就会安全。冲突会发生，我们得假设会有人开枪。” 美国怀俄明州极端环保分子海斯（见图）说。他捐款15万美元供中非共和国成立武装反偷猎巡逻部队。
Hearing and Will 听力与遗嘱
An elderly gentleman had serious hearing problems for a number of years． He went to the doctor and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman to hear 100%． The elderly gentleman went back in a month to the doctor and the doctor said, “Your hearing is perfect． Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again．” The gentleman replied, “Oh, I haven't told my family yet． I just sit around and listen to theconversations． I've changed my will three times！” 有位老人多年来一直有严重的听力障碍。 他去看医生，医生给他装了一套助听器，使他的听力完全恢复。 一个月后，老人又去看医生。医生说：“你的听力很棒，家里人对你的听力恢复一定很高兴吧。” 老人答道：“哦，我还没有告诉家人。我只是呆坐着听他们说话。我已经将遗嘱改了三次啦。”（刘宗亚提供）
REGIME CHANGE 政权更迭
Secretary of State Colin Powell laid it on the rhetorical line: the Bush administration “is committed to regime change” in Iraq． He reˉpeated to the Senate that “a regime change would be in the best interests of the region．” That's a euphemism for “overthrow of government” or “toppling Saddam．” Why, then, did he not say “we intend to throw him and his motley crew of mass murderers out of Baghdad, replacing them with a government that will allow the Iraqi people free elections?” Because that sort of talk is undiplomatic or even impolitic． Overthrow and topple are hot, vigorous verbs; regime change is a cool, polite noun phrase suggesting transition withˉout collateral damage． A regime is a government you don't like． （It can also be a strict diet of grapefruit and pasta, which you don't like either, but that's a different sense．） The “old regime” is always pejorative, coming from the French revolutionaries' gleeful derogation of the government of the last Bourbon kings as l'ancien rgime． The word's coloration is negative; no politician seeking a “fresh start”or a “clean sweep” goes on to call for a “new regime．” “If the case for regime change is clear,” writes MichaelEisenstadt in The National Interest, “the way forward is not． The deˉbate in Washington about regimechange in Iraq has become highly partisan．” （The title of his article is “Curtains for the Baath,” a play on the name of Saddam's Baath political party; this suggests further headlines like “Going to the Mat With Baath,” “Baath Throws In Towel,” etc．） Where did this euphemism begin? The earliest citation I can find in the Nexis databank is in a 1980 A．P． story predicting “risk to business fromregime change．” After kicking around in foreign—policy journals for a decade, it was picked up by Daily Variety in Hollywood, as it followed “the regime change at MCA Music．” Diplolingo is nowwresting the phrase back from the general usage． （to be continued） 科林·鲍威尔国务卿注意遣词地、坦率地宣称：布什政府“决意要”使伊拉克发生“regime change（政权更迭）”。他对参议院重申：“使其发生regime change将是符合该地区最大利益的。”这是表示“推翻政府”或“打倒萨达姆”的委婉语。 那么，他为何不说“我们打算把他以及他周围一伙大量杀人的刽子手撵出巴格达，代之以一个将允许伊拉克人民自由选举的政府”呢？因为这种说法是不合外交辞令的，甚或是不策略的。Overˉthrow（推翻）和topple（推翻，使之倒台）是强烈、有力的动词；而regime change（政权更迭）是个冷静客气的名词词组，表示没有附带伤害的转变。 人们称自己所不喜欢的政府为regime（政权）。（regime一词还可以指只限于吃胡柚和意大利面条的严格规定的饮食，这你也不会喜欢，但那是另一个词义了。）“old regime（旧政权）”一词始终是贬义的，这一用语来自法国革命者兴高采烈地把波旁王朝最后几个国王的政府贬称为l'ancien rgime（旧政权）。这个词的色彩是负面的；没有哪个谋求一个“新开端”或“清除全部积弊”的政界人物会接着要求成立一个“new regime（新政权）”的。 迈克尔·艾森施塔特在《国家利益》季刊上著文说：“如果说要求regime change（政权更迭）的理由是清楚的，前面的道路则并不清楚。华盛顿关于在伊拉克实现regime change的辩论已变得极其以党派观点为分野。”（他的文章的标题是《阿拉伯复兴社会党的末日》，这是拿萨达姆的政党阿拉伯复兴社会党的名称来嘲弄；这会促使报上再出现像《坚决与阿拉伯复兴社会党斗争》和《阿拉伯复兴社会党认输》等标题）。 这一委婉用语是从哪里开始的？我在内克西斯资料库中能找到的最早的例证是1980年美联社的一则预测“regime change（政权更迭）对企业带来的风险”的报道。这一用语在对外政策刊物上活跃十年之后，为好莱坞的《多彩世界日报》所采用，当时该报密切注视着“美国音乐公司＊音乐部的regime change（体制改变）”。外交用语界现正奋力把这一词组从一般用法中夺回来。（待续） 译注：＊MCA,全称为The Music Corporation of America,现为美国制作电影和电视片的大公司。