非洲學生惹惱希拉里 “我纔是國務卿”

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has snapped at a Congolese university student after, as she heard it, he asked what her husband thought about an international financial matter.

"My husband is not secretary of state, I am," she said. "I am not going to be channelling my husband."

Mrs Clinton was speaking in Kinshasa during a seven-nation trip through Africa.

"You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?" she asked incredulously when the student raised a question about a multibillion-dollar Chinese loan offer to Congo.

"If you want my opinion, I will tell you my opinion," she said. "I am not going to be channelling my husband."

The moderator quickly moved on.

State Department officials said the student approached Mrs Clinton afterward and told her he had meant to ask what Mr Obama, not Bill Clinton, thought about the Chinese loan. A senior Clinton aide said that Mrs Clinton assured the student not to worry about it.

The question, according to the State Department translation, went like this: "Thank you. Mrs Clinton, we've all heard about the Chinese contracts in this country. The interference is from the World Bank against this contract. What does Mr. Clinton think through the mouth of Mrs. Clinton and what does Mr. Mutombo think on this situation? Thank you very much."

It was unclear whether the French-speaking student or translator had erred. Either way, she was not pleased at the mention of her husband's name.

Mrs Clinton quickly recovered her cool and moved on to other subjects.

Just before the question, another student had asked if the US and the West felt a need to apologise to the people of Congo for colonialism and postcolonial interference.

That brought a pointed rebuttal as well.

"I cannot excuse the past and I will not try," she said. "We can either think about the past and be imprisoned by it or we can decide we're going to have a better future and work to make it."

當美國國務卿希拉里•克林頓聽到剛果（金）一名大學生向她詢問她丈夫對一項國際金融事務的看法時，希拉里勃然大怒。

“我丈夫不是國務卿，我纔是，”她說，“我也不會爲我的丈夫傳話。”

正在進行非洲七國訪問之旅的克林頓夫人當時在金沙薩發表演講。

當那個學生針對中國向剛果提供數十億美元貸款一事提問時，希拉里吃驚地反問道：“你想讓我告訴你我丈夫的想法？”

她說：“如果你想知道我的想法，我可以告訴你，但是我不會爲我的丈夫傳話。”

會議主持迅速跳過了這一尷尬場面。

美國國務院官員說該學生後來去找克林頓夫人，告訴她他的本意是想問奧巴馬先生對這筆中國貸款的意見，而不是比爾•克林頓的意見。克林頓的一位高級助手說，克林頓夫人安慰該學生，讓他不必爲此煩惱。

根據美國國務院的翻譯，這個問題是這樣的：“謝謝。克林頓夫人，我們都聽說了中國在本國的合同。但是世界銀行卻這項合同進行干涉。不知道克林頓夫人能否告訴我們克林頓先生的看法，以及穆託姆博先生對這一情況的看法？非常感謝。”

當時不清楚究竟是說法語的學生出了錯還是翻譯出了錯，但是，不管怎樣，希拉里對於在這種場合提到她丈夫的名字並不高興。

不過克林頓夫人很快恢復了平靜，並轉移到其他話題。

就在該學生問這一問題之前，另外一個學生提問說，美國和西方是否認爲需要爲過去的殖民政策和後殖民主義干預向剛果人民道歉。

這個問題也引起了一陣尖銳的反駁。

她（希拉里）回答說：“我不能爲過去推脫責任，我也不打算這麼做。我們可以沉浸於過去，被過去所囚禁，但是我們也可以立志擁有一個更美好的未來，併爲了實現它而努力。”

Vocabulary:

snap: 厲聲說；怒氣衝衝地頂撞（或打斷）

channel: 輸送，傳送

Mr. Mutombo: 即Dikembe Mutombo（迪肯貝·穆託姆博），出生在剛果（金）首都金沙薩，是NBA歷史上第一位四次獲得最佳防守隊員的球員。作爲一個公認的人道主義者，穆託姆博在1997年建立了迪肯貝·穆託姆博基金會以幫助他的家鄉扎伊爾。在爲NBA效力了18個賽季後作爲火箭球員退役，在美國國務卿希拉里·克林頓的非洲七國訪問之行中被希拉里聘爲嚮導。

rebuttal: 反駁