美国国家公共电台 NPR The Tweet Heard Around The Wrold

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The word of the week is covfefe. Ask your doctor about covfefe. (Singing) Say it loud, and there's music playing. Say it's soft, and it's almost like praying - covfefe.

12:06 a.m. Wednesday morning, President Trump¹ tweeted, despite the constant negative press covfefe - and nothing more. Twitter runnethed (ph) over with questions, speculation², GIFs and jokes, which we won't repeat because if there's anything worse than fake news in the news business, it's old jokes. Several people ran the word through translation software and briefly³ reported that covfefe Samoan, which Samoans say it's not. I entered covfefe into a rhyme generator⁴ - no match, but Mojave and Gadhafi are rated as close. Way out o'er the sands of the Mojave, the winds whip and whisper covfefe.

President Trump deleted his tweet at 5:50 a.m. Just after 6 a.m., he posted a new message. Who can figure out the true meaning of covfefe, he wrote - followed by three question marks - enjoy.

Like a lot of people, I assumed the president meant to type a complaint about negative press coverage⁵, but his fingers misfired and tapped out covfefe. Who among us hasn't committed a typo? It's happened to you. It's happened to me. It's probably happened to J.K. Rowling. But John Spicer, the White House press secretary, who told reporters after President Trump was inaugurated this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration⁶ period - which it was not - and once uttered a horrifying⁷ gaffe⁸ that twisted the history of the Holocaust⁹ - seemed unwilling¹⁰ to accept that President Trump could be wrong about even a typo. He told reporters who asked about covfefe the president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant. The problem with trying to put a happy face on a gaffe is that it can pump air into wild and ludicrous theories.

Late this week, some of President Trump's supporters insisted on social media that his covfefe was actually a shrewd and subtle presidential invocation of an ancient Arabic term for standing¹¹ up against an attack. Language experts say it's not.

But I'd like to try another explanation. Tweets travel at twice the speed of light - please don't check that, by the way. Covfefe may be a signal President Trump sent this week in the middle of the night when he thought no one on Earth would notice to the people on a planet that is light years from our own. Reporters may wonder, but the people on Covfefe know the president was saying, do you see any greenhouse gasses down here?

(SOUNDBITE OF PAUL TANNER'S "MIDNIGHT SUN")

SIMON: Ah, covfefe. You're listening to NPR News.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

3 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

4 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

5 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

6 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

7 horrifying   

a.令人震惊的，使人毛骨悚然的

参考例句：

• He went to great pains to show how horrifying the war was. 他极力指出战争是多么的恐怖。
• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate. 战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。

8 gaffe   

n.（社交上令人不快的）失言，失态

参考例句：

• I had no idea of the gaffe which I was committing.我不清楚我犯了什么错误。
• He made an embarrassing gaffe at the convention last weekend.他在上周末的会议上出了洋相，狼狈不堪。

9 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

10 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。