Play With Words

Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland assesses the pros and cons of Hillary Clinton as Secrectary of State.

上星期 BBC Radio 4 上一位女主持顺口说，目前的经济危机，已经到了“Darling, do something!”的地步。这里的 Darling，当然是英国财相 Alistair Darling，他的这个奇妙的姓，是标题党们梦寐以求的。当然英语中还有许多奇妙的姓，Love 已是很普通，还有姓 Kiss 的。上次把一架忽然失去动力的英航班机安全滑翔到西思罗机场的驾驶员姓 Coward。

Daily Mail: A hero called Coward. BA pilot declares it was his deputy who landed stricken flight.

喊 Darling, do something! 是有原因的，Alistair Darling 即将在下周一公布下一年度财政预算案的预案，万众关注的，是其中的 fiscal stimulus －－“财政刺激”方案。最近是首相布朗首先使用 fiscal stimulus 这个说法，为什么不说大白话 tax cut －－“减税”呢？原因是：1.用术语显得比较专业；2.fiscal stimulus 听上去更正面，更象是在“采取行动”；3.避免卷进 tax cut 这个传统上左右两派的纷争。全球金融风暴暂时让意识形态乱了套，工党政府高举“减税刺激经济”大旗，保守党就跳出来说“不能不负责任的减税”。

Independent: Brown and Darling slash VAT in £18bn tax gamble

…Mr Brown is banking on tax cuts to provide the “fiscal stimulus” needed to kick-start the economy out of recession.

BBC: PM calls for global tax-cutting

He said: “It is now becoming increasingly accepted around the world that a temporary and affordable fiscal stimulus is necessary.”

《时代》杂志记者 Platon 向 Leo Benedictus 回忆他在2007年底前往莫斯科拍摄俄罗斯总统普京肖像的过程。Platon 说普京肖像是他最好的作品。

Platon’s best shot
‘There were snipers everywhere. Putin saw my tears and said: I’ll do it’

* Leo Benedictus
* The Guardian, Thursday November 13 2008

Vladimir Putin hates having his portrait taken. But when Time magazine made him its Man of the Year for 2007 he said he would grant an interview. So then there was this big question: would he pose for a photograph?

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英国作家 JK Rowling 在《生日图册》(The Birthday Book)中介绍她最喜欢的生日故事，选择她自己的作品《哈利·波特与致命圣灵》(Harry Potter and Deathly Hollows)中的一段：哈利·波特即将独自面对伏地魔(Voldemort)。

JK Rowling on Harry Potter’s last, long walk
The author introduces her favourite scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this extract from The Birthday Book, a treasury of children’s stories and poems

* JK Rowling
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 13 2008 11.19 GMT

Harry Potter by Quentin Blake Harry Potter in the Dark Forest. Illustration by Quentin Blake, copyright © JK Rowling 2008

I admit that, at first glance, the extract I’ve chosen for The Birthday Book might not seem particularly celebratory, given that it has for its subject my hero walking to what he believes will be certain death. But when Harry takes his last, long walk into the heart of the Dark Forest, he is choosing to accept a burden that fell on him when still a tiny child, in spite of the fact that he never sought the role for which he has been cast, never wanted the scar with which he has been marked. As his mentor, Albus Dumbledore, has tried to make clear to Harry, he could have refused to follow the path marked out for him. In spite of the weight of opinion and expectation that singles him out as the “Chosen One”, it is Harry’s own will that takes him into the Forest to meet Voldemort, prepared to suffer the fate that he escaped sixteen years before.

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Harriet Swain 教大学生如何与人交际。这是她 How to be a student 系列中的一篇。

The art of networking
* Harriet Swain
* The Guardian, Tuesday November 11 2008

Networking is easy if you’re beautiful, rich or the prime minister. Fulfil any of those criteria and you can leave the active bit to other people while you sit back and net whoever takes your fancy. If, on the other hand, you’re none of these things, you’ll need to work at it.

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《卫报》作者 Laura Barton 介绍一幅在奥巴马竞选过程采用最多，由街头艺术家 Shepard Fairey 创作的海报招贴(组图)。

Hope – the image that is already an American classic
o Laura Barton
o guardian.co.uk, Monday November 10 2008 00.01 GMT

The iconic image of the US presidential election is a screenprint measuring 85x55cm on woven paper showing Barack Obama above the word “HOPE”. Created by street artist Shepard Fairey, it has cropped up across America and, though not officially commissioned by the Obama campaign, on November 5 it hung around Chicago accompanied by the message “Congratulations Chicago’s Own Barack Obama, President-Elect of the United States of America.”

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今天 Alexander Chancellor 的专栏文章把布什比作一个小孩把自己的玩具全部砸烂后，让另一个小孩接着玩。

Bush is like a child who has smashed up his toys inviting another to come and play in his nursery
Alexander Chancellor

“Go enjoy yourself,” said President Bush in his congratulatory telephone call to Barack Obama on election night. It was like a child who has just smashed up all his toys inviting another to come and play in his nursery. To inherit two wars and a broken economy would not be most people’s idea of fun. But that’s pig-headed Bush for you.

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《卫报》驻美国专栏作家 Gary Younge 在奥巴马获胜时回顾美国黑人的艰辛历史。

Journey of generations that passed in a moment

* Gary Younge in Chicago
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 6 2008 00.01 GMT

There are times when the usually glacial pace of social progress accelerates to such a degree that you feel you are experiencing it in real time. Stand in the present and history comes rushing towards you, making you feel lightheaded.

The second that Ohio fell to Barack Obama on Tuesday evening, effectively handing him the keys to the White House, was one of those dizzying moments. A man born three years before African-Americans had secured their right to vote had risen by popular acclaim to the highest office in the land before he reached 50.

A political journey that should take generations felt as though it had occurred in a moment.

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奥巴马获胜演讲全文。

Obama acceptance speech in full
A speech by the new president-elect of the United States of America, Barack Obama

Barack Obama

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

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前首相 John Prescott 一直以自己是 working class 出身而自豪，同样一直认为英国的 class system 依然顽固地存在着。他为BBC拍摄的2小时长的纪录片 The Class System And Me 就是他到处找人辩论 class system。其中一段他和17岁的少女 Josie Hall 和她的朋友对话。Josie Hall 住在council house，中学因打老师被开除，没有工作，但是能说会道，颇有思想。他们谈到 class system:

John Prescott: What class are you then?

Josie Hall: I’m middle class.

John Prescott: You are middle class?

Josie Hall: Yeah. I ain’t got lots of money. I’m not poor.

John Prescott: As far as I see, I will say you are working class, but you say you are middle class.

Jose Hall: But I don’t work.

这其实是一部蛮有趣的纪录片。Independent 上有一篇详细的评论。