Former England soccer manager Steve McClaren fought off tough competition
from US President George W. Bush to win a dreaded "Foot in Mouth" award on
Tuesday from the Plain English campaign.
He was hailed for a supreme
example of in talking about star player Wayne Rooney: "He is inexperienced but
he's experienced in terms of what he's been through."
George W. Bush came second
for "All I can tell you is
that when the governor
calls, I answer his phone."
Plain English Campaign
spokesman Ben Beer said: "We
thought it was a bit obvious
to honor Bush as he comes up
with them every day."
Every year, the pressure
group hands out a raft of
awards mocking
incomprehensible jargon in a
battle to clear the
linguistic fog that so often
envelops the English
language.
Past winners include model
Naomi Campbell, actor
Richard Gere and former U.S.
Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld.
There is never a shortage of
entrants sent in by people
baffled by bureaucratic
language and befuddled
legalese.
"We get 40 to 50 examples a
week, mostly from British
documents. The media,
including advertising and
marketing, is riddled with
insider jargon," Beer said.
Offering the best way to
obliterate meaningless
verbosity, Beer said:
"Thinking before you write
is the main thing and then
re-reading what you have
written."
That message clearly fell on
deaf ears at Coleraine
railway station in Northern
Ireland.
The station sign read:
"Every autumn a combination
of leaves on the line,
atmospheric conditions and
prevailing damp conditions
lead to a low adhesion
between the rail head and
the wheel which causes
services to be delayed or
even cancelled."
London's Gatwick Airport got
10 out of 10 for brevity but
came bottom of the class for
clarity for one of its
signs: "Passenger shoe
repatriation area only."
The campaign was founded in
1979 by Chrissie Maher who
only learned to read and
write at the age of 14.
本周二，“简明英语运动组织”年度“不知所云”大奖揭晓，前英格兰国家足球队主教练史蒂夫•麦克拉伦力挫美国总统布什，赢得这一“殊荣”。
麦克拉伦对球星韦恩•鲁尼的评价是最为经典的例子，令人“赞叹”。他说：“鲁尼经验不足，不过他对自己做过的事情还是很有经验的。”
布什总统“屈居”亚军。他的“获奖名言”是：“我想告诉你们，如果州长打来电话，我一定会接。”（译者注：布什访问发生火灾的南加州，在回答有关应急救援的问题时说了这句话。）
“简明英语运动组织”的发言人本•比尔说：“我们原以为布什总统夺冠的可能性比较大，因为他说错话可是家常便饭。”
为了消灭英语中经常出现的“云山雾罩”的语言，该“施压组织”每年都颁发一系列奖项，嘲讽各种让人摸不着头脑的晦涩言论。
历届“不知所云奖”得主包括名模纳欧米•坎贝尔、影星理查德•基尔和美国前国防部长唐纳德•拉姆斯菲尔德。
该组织经常收到人们“举报”的一些令人费解的“官话”和法律用语。
比尔说：“我们每周能收集到四、五十个这样的例子，其中大多数来自英国的官方文件。此外，广告、营销等传媒中也充斥着大量的行业术语。”
针对这个问题，比尔提出，最好的解决办法就是“提笔前慎重思考，写完后再三通读”。
而北爱尔兰的科勒雷恩火车站显然没有做到这一点。
该火车站的一个告示牌上写道：“每到秋天，铁道上的落叶、大气状况和潮湿的天气使火车头和车轮间的粘附力减小，导致火车延误或取消。”
而伦敦加特维克机场是做到了百分百的“简要，但是在“清楚”方面却是最差的了。该机场的一个告示牌是这样写的：“乘客鞋遣送专用区”。
“简明英语运动”组织成立于1979年，其创始人克里西•马赫在他14岁时才开始识字。
Vocabulary:
foot-in-mouth:指“不知所云”；说错话
pressure group: 施压组织
be riddled with:very full of something bad or unpleasant（充斥着）
fall on deaf ears at:be ignored（被忽视）
