奧巴馬勸國人不去賭城 得罪市長忙道歉

US President Barack Obama has contritely urged tourists to visit gambling heaven Las Vegas after recent remarks that were interpreted as telling Americans to shun recession-battered "Sin City."

Obama offended Las Vegas officials during a visit Tuesday to New Hampshire, where he warned "you don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college."

His comments -- the second time in 12 months that Obama has disparaged Las Vegas -- drew an outraged reaction from elected officials in the hard-hit city and from Nevada's representatives in the US Congress.

"Lay off Las Vegas and stop making it the poster child for where people shouldn't be spending their money," Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who faces a tough reelection battle this year, urged the President.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, a Democrat-turned-Independent, denounced Obama's "vendetta" against the city, and declared the president "has a real psychological hangup about the entertainment capital of the world."

"When he comes, I'll do everything I can to give him the boot back to Washington and to visit his failures back there," Goodman said. "This president is a real slow learner."

Obama wrote Reid Tuesday to insist "I wasn't saying anything negative about Las Vegas."

"I was making the simple point that families use vacation dollars, not college tuition money, to have fun. There is no place better to have fun than Vegas, one of our country's great destinations," the president said.

"I have always enjoyed my visits, look forward to visiting in a few weeks, and hope folks will visit in record numbers this year," said Obama.
近日，美國總統貝拉克•奧巴馬發表的一番言論被理解爲讓美國人別去拉斯維加斯。爲彌補自己的失言，奧巴馬日前又大力宣傳該市，號召人們前往該市旅遊。有“罪惡之城”之稱的拉斯維加斯是一個賭博天堂，在經濟危機時期受到了重創。

奧巴馬於本週二訪問新罕布什爾州時提醒民衆說：“如果你想爲上大學存點學費，就不要把錢浪費在拉斯維加斯。”這一言論引起了拉斯維加斯官員們的不滿。

此番言論觸怒了該市的當選官員和美國國會中內華達州的代表。這是12個月以來奧巴馬第二次“詆譭”拉斯維加斯。

今年面臨艱難的再選大戰的民主黨人、參議院多數派領導人哈里•裏德表示：“總統需要淡化拉斯維加斯，不能再將其作爲一個吸引人們亂花錢的典範來宣傳。”

原民主黨人、後轉爲獨立黨人的拉斯維加斯市長奧思卡•古德曼諷刺地說，奧巴馬跟拉斯維加斯“有仇”，並稱其“對這一世界娛樂之都有牴觸情緒”。

古德曼說：“他下次訪問拉斯維加斯時，我會盡我所能把他踢回華盛頓，讓他回去好好想想自己做錯的事。這個總統真是不懂得吸取教訓。”

奧巴馬於週二致信裏德，堅稱自己“並沒有發表任何詆譭拉斯維加斯的言論”。

他說：“我只是想表明一個簡單的觀點，就是讓民衆最好用度假經費而不是大學學費來娛樂。沒有哪個地方比拉斯維加斯更有意思，它是美國最棒的旅遊勝地之一。”

奧巴馬說：“我每次去拉斯維加斯都很開心，也很期待幾周後訪問該市，希望今年拉斯維加斯的遊客數量能創紀錄。”

Vocabulary:

contrite: very sorry for something bad that you have done 深感懊悔的；痛悔的

disparage: to suggest that somebody/something is not important or valuable 貶低；輕視

poster child: one who is a prototypical or quintessential example of something 典範

vendetta: a long argument or disagreement in which one person or group does or says things to harm another 積怨；宿怨；長期不和

hangup:a psychological or emotional difficulty or inhibition 心理的或情緒的問題