英語新聞一點通：「維基解密」掀起外交風暴 @ 【精英翻譯】的部落格

Wikileaks Causes Diplomatic Storm

No-one likes it when their dirty laundry is aired in public. When the laundry belongs to the most powerful government in the world, the story is explosive. This is what happened when the website Wikileaks published hundreds of thousands of secret US documents at the end of 2010.

In fact, many of the documents were low level diplomatic messages. They were little more than gossip. Even so, many of the messages were very embarrassing for the US government. Others involved the wrong-doing of the US’s allies.

The US reacted very angrily. It tried to force the Wikileaks website off the web. Nevertheless, information is still coming out. What the story shows most clearly, though, is that in today’s wired world, be careful what you write down. You never know where it might end up.

「維基解密」掀起外交風暴

當醜聞遭到踢爆，總是令當事人感到極度不悅，尤其是全球最強大的政府面臨挑戰時，爆炸性的新聞往往成為眾所矚目的焦點。「維基解密」網站在2010年底公佈了幾十萬份美國外交機密文件，無疑地在全球投下一顆震撼彈。

事實上，許多外洩的日常外交訊息，反而較像是未經證實的傳言。即便如此，這些傳言已足以讓美國政府感到非常難堪，部份訊息並連帶抖出美國盟友犯錯的證據。

美國對於此事表達強烈的不滿，並試圖要求「維基解密」關閉網站。然而，所謂的外交機密仍持續在網上流傳。這起事件提醒了大眾：在現今的網路世界裡，必須小心檢視你所撰寫的內容，因為你永遠不知道它可能流傳至何處。

字彙

website 網站
documents 文件
diplomatic 外交的
gossip 流言蜚語
allies 盟友
wired world 網路世界

解讀

You can guess at the meaning of some idioms, even if you have not seen them before. You would be embarrassed if people could see your dirty underwear. So you can guess that airing your dirty laundry in public means having embarrassing secrets brought into the open.

即使你未曾看過某些成語，依照句意聯想即可約略猜到其含義。例如：若他人窺見你的髒內衣，你會覺得難堪，可據以聯想「airing your dirty laundry in public」代表醜聞外揚。

文句練習

After Amazon.com removed WikiLeaks, hackers attacked the popular book __________.
Over the last few years, Taiwan’s __________ relationship with China have improved.
Be careful with these __________ – you need them for your university application!
Now that every phone can get on the internet, the ___________ is becoming a reality.
I hate _________ – you never know what people are saying behind your back!
The US and Taiwan have long been ______.

文句練習解答