布什講述離任後生活:已習慣撿拾狗糞

　Former US president George W. Bush says he made a swift transition from White House pampering to picking up his pet's poop, according to a news report Wednesday。

Bush told a packed university lecture hall in his home state of Texas on Tuesday that, shortly after leaving Washington, he faced a decidedly un-stately moment when his dog Barney relieved himself on a neighbor's lawn。

"Ten days out of the presidency, there I was with a plastic bag in my hand, picking up that which I had been dodging for eight years," he was quoted as saying by the Tyler Morning Telegraph in remarks confirmed by his office。

The former president has mostly shied from the limelight since leaving office -- except for a high-profile stint raising money to help Haiti recover from a devastating earthquake -- and kept a low political profile。

But Bush now plans a round of interviews to coincide with the November 9 release of his book about his time in office, "Decision Points."

"This will come as a shock to some people in our country who didn't think I could read a book, much less write one," joked the former president, who left office deeply unpopular amid the US economic crisis。

"It's not a judgmental book," he told some 2,000 people on the campus of the University of Texas at Tyler. "It's not a 'Bush is cool' (book)."

The former president spared a little bit of nostalgia for his eight years in office, telling the audience: "I miss being pampered; I miss Air Force 1; I miss being commander in chief of an awesome (military)."

The former president's book is expected to have a first run of 1.5 million copies, along with an e-book version containing a video message from the former president and his home movies, Crown publishers said earlier this month。

The huge print run is equivalent to that for former Democratic president Bill Clinton's book, "My Life," which was a runaway hit。

　　本週三最新報道稱，美國前總統喬治•W•布什表示自己很快適應了角色轉變——從“養尊處優”的美國總統到撿拾自家寵物糞便的普通人。

布什於本週二在家鄉得克薩斯州的一所大學發表演講，禮堂內座無虛席。他稱離任後不久，愛狗巴尼在鄰居家草坪上“隨地大小便”，使他不得不面對明顯讓自己丟份兒的時刻。

《泰勒電訊早報》向布什辦公室證實後引述他的話稱：“離任才10天，我就開始手提塑料袋收拾狗糞，我已經8年沒幹過這活兒了。”

前總統布什自離任後極少公開露面，一直保持低調的政治姿態，但在海地強震後曾爲幫助募集善款高調亮相。

但爲了配合11月9日將出版的講述其白宮歲月的書籍《抉擇時刻》，他計劃接受一系列採訪。

布什開玩笑說：“這可能讓很多美國人感到震驚，他們認爲我連讀書都不會，更別說寫書了。”布什離任時恰逢美國經濟危機，支持率很低。

布什對得克薩斯大學泰勒分校的大約兩千名觀衆說：“這本書既沒有動輒指責別人，也沒有自我誇耀。”

這位前總統還分享了一些對8年白宮生活的留戀之情，他對觀衆說：“我懷念在白宮養尊處優的生活；懷念‘空軍一號’；懷念擔任一個強大軍隊統帥的感覺。”

發行商皇冠出版社本月早些時候表示，《抉擇時刻》預計首印150萬冊，同時還將發行含有布什視頻信息及其家庭錄像的電子書版本。

首版印刷量可比肩前民主黨總統比爾•克林頓當年熱銷的書籍《我的生活》。