◎陳維真
US President Barack Obama repeatedly called British finance minister George Osborne "Jeffrey" at the G8 summit, media reported on Thursday.
媒體週四報導，美國總統歐巴馬在八國集團高峰會上，一再將英國財政大臣喬治．歐斯本叫成「傑佛瑞」。
The US president said three times that he agreed fully with "Jeffrey" during his presentation on G8 host Britain’s plans to crack down on tax avoidance, leaving Osborne red-faced.
歐巴馬在高峰會上談到地主國英國打擊逃漏稅的計畫時，共說了3次他完全贊同「傑佛瑞」的主張，讓歐斯本尷尬得臉都紅了。
Realising his blunder afterwards, Obama joked that he had mistaken Britain’s chancellor for the US soul singer Jeffrey Osborne, The Sun and the Financial Times reported.
英國「太陽報」和「金融時報」報導，歐巴馬事後發現自己口誤， 開玩笑地表示，他將這位英國大臣和美國靈魂歌手傑佛瑞．奧斯朋給搞混了。
"I’m sorry, man. I must have confused you with my favourite R and B singer," Obama was quoted as saying.
媒體引述歐巴馬的話報導：「抱歉，老兄，我肯定是把你和我最喜歡的藍調歌手給搞混了。」
The chancellor, 42, bears little resemblance to Jeffrey Osborne, a 65-year-old African-American hit singer-songwriter known for his 1982 classic "On the Wings of Love".
42歲的英國財政大臣和65歲的非裔美籍歌手傑佛瑞．奧斯朋長得並不像。奧斯朋是歌手兼作曲家，其膾炙人口的作品包括1982年的「On The Wings of Love」。
The Sun quoted an onlooker at the session as saying："Osborne looked really put out" by what was a "visually crushing blow".
太陽報引述一名會議旁觀者表示，這個「明顯的重大打擊」讓「歐斯本看來真的很不高興」。
"The first time Obama did it was bad enough, but then he kept on repeating the error throughout the presentation. It got really cringe-worthy by the end."
「歐巴馬第一次叫錯時已經很糟了，可是他在整場演說中一直重複他的錯誤，最後真的超尷尬。」
George Osborne’s real first name is Gideon, but he switched to George after being teased as a teenager.（AFP）
喬治．歐斯本真正的名字是吉狄恩，但在青少年時期被嘲笑後改為喬治。
（法新社）
新聞辭典
red-faced：形容詞，因為尷尬或丟臉而臉紅。例句：Steve was left red-faced when a fan tried to rip his trousers off.（粉絲試圖把史提夫的褲子扯掉，讓他尷尬得面紅耳赤。）
put out：片語，讓…不高興或生氣。例句：He was not put out by the rebuff.（他沒有因為被拒絕而不高興。）
cringe-worthy：形容詞，極度尷尬或討厭。例句：The play’s cast was excellent, but the dialogue was unforgivably cringe-worthy.（這齣戲的卡司很棒，但對話實在是難以原諒地討人厭。）
文章出處：<a href="http://iservice.libertytimes.com.tw/Service/english/">自由時報電子報中英對照新聞
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