想去圣埃斯科巴度假嗎?

⊙ By Ewa Lalik

翻譯：Wendy

想去圣埃斯科巴度假嗎?

⊙ By Ewa Lalik

翻譯：Wendy

Do You Want to Visit San Escobar?

美英發音 適合泛讀

語速：175詞/分鐘

暑假到了，親，你考慮好出游目的地了嗎？要不小編給你推薦一個？到圣埃斯科巴去吧。這是加勒比海的一個小國，首都是圣多蘇比托，國旗是紅、黑、白、綠四種顏色，它的主打出口商品是西紅柿和葡萄酒。沒聽說過嗎？它的歷史確實不長，還不到一年呢，它的存在出自波蘭外長之口……

Host: Today, let’s head to the nation of San Escobar. It’s located somewhere in the Caribbean, or at least, that’s what Poland’s Foreign Minister said at the United Nations the other day. True story—fake country.

Ewa Lalik is Polish. She’s a technology1)blogger in Warsaw. Ewa, Why did your Foreign Minister make up and talk about this fake nation of San Escobar, and all in the2)austere setting of the UN?

Ewa: It was just [sic] slip of a tongue. He told reporters that he had meetings with officials from nearly 20 countries, and he said that he met with some Caribbean nation called San Escobar.

Host: Yeah, well…did he explain why he said that?

Ewa: Uh, not there, no, but, later he said that it was just a slip of a tongue, and he was tired, and, that he had in mind St. Kitts, and Nevis, a small Caribbean country known in Spanish as San Cristóbal y Nieves. It sounds similar to San Escobar, I think.

Host: The3)Twitterati have been having a4)field day with this non-existent country. What have the5)pranksters done to add to San Escobar’s fake back story?

Ewa: Yes, they made up almost everything, including history, even economic info.

Host: Info like major exports?

Ewa: Yes, like tomatoes and wine. It’s a small country between Mexico and Guatemala with, like, 300,000 citizens, with main cities as Esperal, Santo Subito, currency San Escobarean Pesos.

Host: Does it seem like the kind of place like6)Poles would want to visit this time of year? Ewa: Yes, of course, ’cause it’s [sic] very warm country, and Poles are7)tagging themselves in the biggest San Escobarean cities as we speak. For example, the capital of San Escobar, Santo Subito, or beautiful beach areas, so, yes, I…I think it’s now the most popular country for Poles to be in.

Host: As long as we’re talking fake news, I wonder if San Escobar supports Poland’s candidacy to the Security Council注.

Ewa: Ah, yes, of course. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of San Escobar said San Escobar is Poland’s strongest8)ally. It’s probably because big similarities in Polish and Escobarean history. Poland is the only country that recognises San Escobar as a country.

Host: Do you know what the reaction was when the Foreign Minister kinda brought this up? Were people in the room like, “Wha…what’s he talking about?”

Ewa: In that moment I think that nobody noticed that, so, it was later that Twitter called this mistake.

Host: Yeah, well, that kinda worries me about the people sitting at the United Nations—“Well, OK, San Escobar…”

Ewa: Not only you. Not only you. A lot of Poles are worried about this.

Host: Well, when you’re too stressed out with the real news, you can always think about the beautiful country of San Escobar in the Caribbean, I suppose.

Ewa: Yes, you can always go for vacation in San Escobar.

Host: In your mind.

1) blogger ['bl?g?(r)] n. 博主

2) austere [?'st??(r)] adj. 嚴肅的

3) Twitterati [tw?t?'rɑ?t?] n. 網絡達人，推客精英

4) feld day 忙碌的一天，愉快的一天

5) prankster ['pr??kst?(r)] n. 開玩笑者，惡作劇者

6) Poles [p??] n. 波蘭人

7) tag [t?g] v. 給……加標簽

8) ally ['?la?] n. 擁擠者，支持者

注：目前波蘭正在積極爭取2018–2019年東歐地區唯一一個聯合國安理會非常任理事國的名額。

見招拆招

習語學習：a slip of the tongue

大家想象一下，舌頭打滑了，那會是什么情況？當然就是舌頭不聽話，一下子說錯話了。習語a slip of tongue正是通過這個傳神的形象比喻，表達“失言，口誤”的意思。它既可指生理上的失誤，即舌頭一時轉不過來，也指人一時思想開小差，說錯了話，如：It was a slip of the tongue when I said John’s fancée is Anna; I meant Hannah.（我把約翰的未婚妻說成安娜，我原本想說漢娜的，那是口誤。）

參考譯文

主持人：今天，我們一起前往圣埃斯科巴吧，那是位于加勒比海的一個國家，或者說，至少波蘭外交部長前些日子在聯合國是這么說的。故事是真的，但這個國家是虛構的。

伊娃·拉里卡是波蘭人，她是華沙一個科技博客的博主。伊娃，為什么你們的外交部長會編造并談論圣埃斯科巴這樣一個虛構的國家，而且是在聯合國這么嚴肅的場合？

伊娃：這只是一次口誤。他告訴記者，他曾與來自近20個國家的官員會面，他說其中有叫圣埃斯科巴的加勒比海國家。

主持人：喲，他有沒有解釋為什么會這樣說？

伊娃：呃，沒有，當時沒有，但后來他說那只是一次口誤，他那時很疲勞，心里想的是加勒比海小國圣基茨和尼維斯，其西班牙語發音為“San Cristóbal y Nieves”。我覺得這聽起來很像圣埃斯科巴。

主持人：這個現實中并不存在的國家使網絡達人忙活起來了，這些惡作劇制造者為圣埃斯科巴的虛構背景故事加了些什么內容？

伊娃：是的，他們編撰出了差不多所有的背景資料，包括該國的歷史，甚至還有經濟方面的信息。主持人：比如主要出口貨物這類的信息？

伊娃：是的，比如說出口西紅柿和葡萄酒。人們稱這是一個位于墨西哥和危地馬拉之間的小國，人口約30萬，主要城市有埃斯佩爾、圣多蘇比托等；貨幣為圣埃斯科巴比索。

主持人：這聽起來像不像是波蘭人想在這個季節去看看的地方？

伊娃：確實，當然，因為那是一個氣候溫暖的國度，現在波蘭人都是會用上這類標簽，聲稱自己正在圣埃斯科巴的大城市度假，比如說圣埃斯科巴首都圣多蘇比托，或者美麗的海濱地區等，所以，是的，我……我覺得現在對波蘭人來說，它是最熱門的國家。

主持人：既然我們在談論虛假新聞，我想知道圣埃斯科巴是否支持波蘭進入安理會？

伊娃：啊，當然支持，圣埃斯科巴外交部說圣埃斯科巴是波蘭最堅定的盟友，這大概是因為波蘭與圣埃斯科巴有著相似的歷史，而波蘭又是唯一承認圣埃斯科巴的國家。

主持人：在你們的外長提到這個國家時，你知道大家有什么反應嗎？在場的人有沒有說：“什么？他在說什么？”

伊娃：在那一刻，我想沒有人留意到這個問題，是網友后來在推特上發現了這個錯誤。

主持人：是的，嗯，這倒是讓我有點擔心在聯合國的那些人：“呃，好吧，圣埃斯科巴……”

伊娃：不僅僅你，不僅僅是你，很多波蘭人都擔心這個問題。

主持人：好吧，我想，如果大家對真實的新聞感到“壓力山大”，那總可以想想在加勒比海的美麗國度——圣埃斯科巴。

伊娃：是的，大家隨時可以去圣埃斯科巴度假。

主持人：在你的想象中。