『Social Sins,』 binoculars, Mozart collection among Bush gifts
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In 2006, gift-minded world leaders made sure that US President GeorgeW. Bush could listen to all of Mozart while smoking a cigar andreflecting on Gandhi』s "Seven Social Sins," according to a US StateDepartment list revealed on December 7th.# x4 J: X+ m$ S4 V& f9 k+ ]
4 p2 b( B1 o; o5 u An Indianlawmaker, Nirmal Deshpande, gave the US president perhaps the leastexpensive present of his time in office: The yellow linen scroll withGandhi』s warnings, with an estimated worth of seven dollars-or one persin.
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; F5 {" f& T3 n/ S* b9 K* C- R At the other end of the spectrum, Thai premier ThaksinShinawatra gave Bush an 11,000-dollar Cartier Santos Dumont watch inApril 2006. The Thai military toppled Thaksin』s government in September2006.3 w e' W w2 S5 D& p( S( `4 @
5 l. b4 K- v' _5 V* G% {$ m The Saudi king Abdullah gave Cheney the most expensivepresent on the list, which is required to make public under US law -- a55,000-dollar, 18-karat white gold, ruby and diamond jewelry set.
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As is common practice, Bush did not keep most of the gifts -- exceptfor Gandhi』s autobiography and a book about him, both from NirmalDeshpande -- but passed most along to the US National Archives or otherUS government offices.9 ~5 J8 K1 H' a V: o
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Bush received athletic equipment fromseveral leaders, including a leather horse saddle from Pakistani PrimeMinister Shaukat Aziz and black leather Huszar riding boots fromHungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.% s8 j1 E$ r% ~- J2 h& ]) W
3 z! r7 Q. G3 L1 k0 l% M# ^ Belgian PrimeMinister Guy Verhofstadt gave Bush, an avid bicyclist, two gray andnavy blue cycling jerseys and tights, embossed with the president』sname.1 ?5 a: `% l" \) j$ M
3 q9 {: ~2 a2 D- R; B4 U$ ~" a Junichiro Koizumi, the former Japanese prime ministernumbered among Bush』s closest friends on the world scene, gave thepresident an electric-power assisted bicycle, as well as a collectionof Elvis Presley works.
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u4 E* T6 b b3 v) V1 {7 z- [* Z In a more classical vein, AustrianPresident Heinz Fischer gave his US counterpart the "Mozart CompleteEdition" -- a massive set valued at 1,276 dollars.
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美國國務院於本月7日公佈了2006年白宮的「收禮清單」。布什總統收到的來自各國領導人的禮物可謂五花八門,有雪茄、《莫扎特音樂全集》和甘地的《社會七宗罪》等。布什總統可以一邊叼著雪茄、聽著莫扎特的音樂,一邊領會甘地的大作了。6 H- v5 ^ S7 Q1 T' T6 s! [1 g( b
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印度立法委員娜瑪拉‧迪什潘德送給布什總統的那本甘地的著作《社會七宗罪》可能是這份白宮「禮單」中最便宜的禮物,這本牛皮紙質的書估計僅值七美元,「一宗罪」差不多一美元吧!) B+ l* m( l" }8 N! d
3 F$ o$ |+ g! o 而布什總統收到的最昂貴的禮物則是泰國前總理他信去年4月送給他的一塊價值1.1萬美元的卡迪亞‧山度士‧杜蒙特表。他信政府於去年九月在軍事政變中被推翻。; i( R$ i# @: Q2 d" s$ u
; U6 _, g/ z, ? 沙特阿拉伯國王阿卜杜拉送給副總統切尼的一套18克拉的白金、紅寶石和鑽石首飾是「收禮清單」中最名貴的禮物,按照美國法律規定,這套價值5.5萬美元的禮品得上交政府。
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' M) ^/ R, X& w- b9 K% d 按照慣例,布什總統將大多數禮物都上交給了美國國家檔案館及其它政府機關,自己只留了娜瑪拉‧迪什潘德送給他的兩本書——一本是甘地自傳,另一本也是關於甘地的書。 O: f- o( k! ?$ F, {
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此外,布什總統還收到幾位國家領導人贈送的運動裝備,其中包括巴基斯坦總理阿濟茲送的一個皮馬鞍以及匈牙利總理胡扎送的一雙黑皮馬靴。
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( d$ B2 j: x& s0 O) R" I 布什總統酷愛騎車,比利時首相伏思達的禮物是兩套藍灰相間的騎行服和運動緊身衣,上面鑲有布什的名字。
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& U2 p9 }" m! z3 W# [0 z6 { 日本前首相小泉純一郎算得上是布什在國際範圍內為數不多的密友之一,他曾贈送給布什一輛電動自行車和一套「貓王」的歌曲精選集。
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" [4 Z2 S2 `, u/ i3 ]! b 奧地利總統海因茨‧菲捨爾的禮物則似乎顯得更有「品位」,他送給布什一套價值約1276美元的《莫扎特音樂全集》。
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調查:你「Google」過自己嗎?: M- s6 Y% \* J3 f6 W
Study: Googling oneself is more popular
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% N- S' A( x) Q! y More Americans are Googling themselves — and many are checking out their friends, co-workers and romantic interests, too.: r1 P+ a7 i6 q% p$ U- [' ?
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In a report Sunday, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said 47percent of U.S. adult Internet users have looked for information aboutthemselves through Google or another search engine.
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That ismore than twice the 22 percent of users who did in 2002, but Pew seniorresearch specialist Mary Madden was surprised the growth wasn』t higher.
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"Yes it』s doubled, but it』s still the case that there』s a big chunk ofInternet users who have never done this simple act of plugging theirname with search engines," she said.
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8 p. E8 D; @. f, e) l7 s Americans under 50 andthose with more education and income were more likely to self-Google —in some cases because their jobs demand a certain online persona.
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n* ~0 p8 T& ?% X$ C+ c$ c3 s2 @ Meanwhile, Pew found that 53 percent of adult Internet users admit tolooking up information about someone else, celebrities excluded.3 v* v! H6 Q& s- I6 J& o* B
+ Q% P p( Q3 {/ J Often, it』s to find someone they』ve lost touch with. But looking upinformation about friends, relatives, colleagues and neighbors also wascommon.
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/ V7 W% U/ [# D7 [0 `( k# c Although men and women equally searched for onlineinformation about themselves, women were slightly more likely to lookup information about someone they are dating.0 _3 @6 W" w( G& W
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In many cases,the search is innocuous, done to find someone』s contact information.But a third of those who have conducted searches on others have lookedfor public records, such as bankruptcies and divorce proceedings. Asimilar number have searched for someone else』s photo.. i+ k% ^4 c. }- R1 U3 W
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FewInternet users say they Google themselves regularly — aboutthree-quarters of self-searchers say they have done so only once ortwice. And most who have done so consider what they find accurate./ L g( l5 r+ t5 m2 s6 j# S; n
2 c: i/ A. J" ?% p1 [+ I# q' t Pew also found that teens were more likely than adults to restrict whocan see their profiles at an online hangout like Facebook or NewsCorp.』s MySpace.
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/ _8 L) @9 T8 z# ~4 I 如今,越來越多的美國人在Google上搜索自己,還有很多人通過Google查找朋友、同事或約會對象的信息。+ E; ]1 ]: m) ]2 c4 T
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Pew互聯網和美國生活項目在上週日發佈的一份調查報告中稱,47%的美國成年互聯網用戶通過Google或其它搜索引擎查找過有關自己的信息。
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這一比例比2002年的22%增長了一倍多,但Pew調查中心的高級研究員瑪麗‧麥登認為增幅還不夠大。) o! F4 U* L; A: | P7 t
( y K/ \3 I2 j8 } 她說:「在Google上搜索自己的網民比例確實翻了一番,但調查同時顯示,目前仍有很多網民從未用搜索引擎搜索過自己的名字。」
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年齡在50歲以下的美國人以及受教育程度和收入較高的人在Google上搜索自己的幾率更大,這是因為他們的工作有時需要在網上公開個人信息。
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此外,Pew調查中心發現,53%的成年網民承認自己曾在Google上查找過除名人以外的其他人的信息。" O9 M6 ]/ F4 A D1 E! z
" h l6 z' A& o& V7 O 在很多情況下,人們這樣做只是為了尋找失去聯繫的人,但也有很多人通過Google查找朋友、親戚和鄰居的信息。
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男性和女性網民在Google上搜索自己的人數比例差不多,但女性更愛在網上搜索約會對象的信息。
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* T& f: R' r1 u: `; E# i( h5 @ 在很多情況下,在網上搜索別人純粹是為了找到此人的聯繫方式。但有三分之一的人這樣做是為了瞭解別人的公共紀錄,如破產及離婚紀錄等。另有相同比例的人曾搜索過別人的照片。
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多數網民並不經常在Google上搜索自己——約四分之三的人稱,他們僅搜索過一兩次。多數人認為他們搜索到的有關自己的信息是正確的。
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+ t4 Z/ m4 D! ?: L+ [ 該調查還發現,與成年人相比,青少年更希望限制別人在Facebook或Myspace等社交網站查看自己的個人信息。 |
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