八卦約翰-愛德華茲，學 cool as a cucumber

曾經春風得誌的約翰 愛德華茲

ON AUGUST 8th, as the Olympics ceremonies were being broadcast and Russian tanks were rolling into South Ossetia, John Edwards, a two-time Democratic presidential candidate, admitted  to having a short affair in 2006 with a filmmaker named Rielle Hunter,44 years old now, who was hired that year to produce short videos for his political action committee.
8月8日，正當奧運開幕式在全世界隆重播放、俄羅斯坦克隆隆開進南奧塞提亞時，美國兩屆民主黨總統競選人之一約翰·愛德華茲也公開承認在2006年籌備競選總統期間，竟背著妻子和競選陣營中的一名女電影製片人現年44歲的麗爾·亨特發生了私情。 她為愛德華茲拍攝了一係列的短宣傳紀錄片，上傳到他的競選網站上。


愛德華茲的小三：麗爾·亨特

In the Hunter video titled "Plane Truths," Edwards is relaxing on his plane, telling the director:" I actually want the country to see who I am, who I really am... I'd rather be successful or unsuccessful based on who I really am, not based on some plastic Ken doll that you put up in front of audiences."
在亨特拍的名為“飛機真情告白錄”一視頻中，愛德華茲坐在飛機上，在鏡頭前輕鬆相告：“毋庸置疑，我要全國知道我是誰，真正的我是個什麽樣的人...我成功還是不成功，關鍵在於真實的我，而不在於像那些你擺在眾人麵前的塑料玩具。”


Ken Doll

愛德華茲總是以溫和形象示人。他的名氣主要來自於媒體給他起的綽號“金色男孩”以及《人物》雜誌對他的評價“最性感的政治家”。愛德華茲的妻子伊麗莎白在1977年與愛德華茲結婚，55%的美國女性選民都認為愛德華茲夫婦擁有相當美滿幸福的婚姻。然而2004年，伊麗莎白卻被診斷出患有乳腺癌，本以為經過治療後可以根治疾病，可去年3月，伊麗莎白的癌症又卷土重來，her breast cance had spread to her bone and could not be cured. 已經無法治愈，但仍一門心思幫助丈夫競選。  


年輕時的伊麗莎白和現在的伊麗莎白

愛德華茲說：“在過去30年中，我隻愛過同一個女人，任何熟悉我們的人都知道，她是一個優秀的女人，她熱情、可愛、美麗、性感，是我生平遇到過的最好的人之一。”I've been in love with the same woman for 30-plus years and as anybody who's been around us knows, she's an extraordinary human being, warm, loving, beautiful, sexy and as good a person as I have ever known.

悲哀的是，馳騁政治沙場的一代豪傑愛德華茲難敵‘人肉炸彈’，墮入溫柔坑，倒在亨特的石榴裙下。用古話說是：英雄難過美人關。用現代通俗的說法就是：大頭管不住小頭。

更悲哀的是伊麗莎白，拖著癌症病體，一心撲在老公的競選上之外，還要照顧調教孩子。請看全美國被震動時，伊麗莎白的反應。

When he reached her the day after John Edwards admitted publicly to the affair, Jay Anania, Edwards' brother,  said Elizabeth asked him to call later because she was reading with Jack, their 8-year-old son.

"Jack reads to  her an hour a day as part of his home-schooling," Anania  told People.

"The world is whizzing around her and she's cool as a cucumher, saying, 'Jack just started, can I call you back?'"

（以上內容摘自各新聞網站，翻譯有錯，請指正，謝謝－－whatsthis）

看看about.com網站上對cool as a cucumber 的解釋。



Definition:  

Very calm and relaxed even in a difficult situation; cold and distant
非常的冷靜，即使在艱難的環境中也能處事不驚，泰然自若，冷靜沉著，鎮靜勇敢

Explanation:

Used when speaking about people who do not show much emotion. Often used in a negative context.
用於反麵情況，講人遇事鎮定異常，控製情緒，

Examples:

He had very bad news last night, but he came to the office as cool as a cucumber this morning as if nothing had happened.

昨晚他遇到很糟的事情，但今早他來上班卻特鎮靜，就像什麽也沒發生似的。


She was cool as a cucumber even right after she was fired.
她處世不驚，即使就是剛被炒魷魚也如此。

大家還可參考下麵VOA講座來了解cool as a cucumber ，加深印象。

美國習慣用語第173講
　
美國人喜歡吃沙拉，而黃瓜是沙拉不可缺少的成份。中國人到了夏天都喜歡吃拌黃瓜，實際上也是沙拉的一種類型。黃瓜給人一種清爽涼快的感覺。美國的俗語裏有這麽一個說法：to be cool as a cucumber.
　　
Cucumber就是黃瓜。To be cool as a cucumber從字麵上來解釋就是：像黃瓜一樣涼爽。但是，要從俗語的角度來解釋，它的意思就不同了。To be cool as a cucumber就是當一個人碰到困難和麻煩時很冷靜、很放鬆。這是美國人經常用的一個習慣用語。我們來舉個例子吧! 這是一個兒子在說他的爸爸：
　
例句-3: Last week Dad was in this auto accident and the other driver was so mad he was yelling and screaming. But Dad stayed cool as a cucumber and got the other guy cooled off too, once he saw there wasn't any real damage to either car.
這個兒子說：“上星期，我爸爸出了車禍。對方那個開車的人非常冒火，他大聲嚷嚷，大聲喊叫。但是，我爸爸卻非常冷靜，而且在那個人看到雙方的汽車都沒有受到很嚴重損傷後還設法使他冷靜了下來。”
　　
不管出什麽樣的車禍都是很不幸的。出嚴重的車禍涉及到人命，有的人為此成為終身殘廢。即便出小車禍，擔負責任的一方要承擔經濟損失，同時也使對方感到驚嚇，帶來修車、看病等許多麻煩。
　　
我們再給大家舉一個關於to be cool as a cucumber的例子。這是一個人在說他和他的朋友去飯店吃飯的時候發生的事：
　　
例句-4: While Mike and I were waiting for our food, this clumsy waiter spilled a bowl of piping hot soup on Mike's back. I was furious, but Mike was as cool as a cucumber. He even told the waiter not to worry about it.
這個人說：“我和麥克正在等我們的飯菜，那個笨手笨腳的服務員不小心把一碗滾燙的湯倒在麥克的背上。我真是生氣極了，可是麥克卻非常冷靜。他甚至還叫那個服務員不要擔心。”