Opponents of the late Margaret Thatcher are taking a kind of musical revenge on the former prime minister, pushing the song "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead" up the British charts in a posthumous protest over her polarizing policies.
已故英國前首相柴契爾夫人的反對者正對她採取一項音樂復仇行動,讓「叮咚!女巫死了」這首歌登上英國熱門單曲排行榜,在柴契爾死後抗議她曾推動讓國家陷入貧富兩極的政策。
The online campaign had propelled the "Wizard of Oz" song to No. 1 on British iTunes and into the top five of the music chart used by the BBC to compile its weekly radio countdown.
這項網路運動已讓音樂劇「綠野仙蹤」裡的這首插曲成為英國iTunes音樂排行榜第一名,更打進BBC排行榜前五名,BBC每週都會在電台節目中播放榜單上的熱門歌曲。
The unusual campaign has caused a headache for the BBC. With the ditty near the top of the charts, the broadcaster faced the prospect of airing the words "The Wicked Witch is Dead!" on its Sunday countdown show, just days before Thatcher’s funeral.
這項不尋常的運動讓BBC非常頭痛。由於這首歌排名已接近榜首,BBC面臨可能必須在柴契爾葬禮舉行數天前,於週日流行音樂排行榜電台節目中公開播出「這邪惡巫婆死了!」等字眼的難題。
The controversy _ which made the front pages of many national newspapers _ serves as a strange musical coda to Thatcher’s time in office. The woman known to many as the Iron Lady was in power for 11 years, during which she wrenched Britain from the economic doldrums and successfully retook the Falkland Islands after Argentina’s 1982 invasion.
這項爭議已成為許多全國性報紙的頭條新聞,更替柴契爾首相任內政績譜出古怪的音樂終曲。以「鐵娘子」外號為人熟知的柴契爾任職首相長達11年,曾經大力扭轉英國陷入蕭條的經濟,也曾在阿根廷1982年入侵後,成功奪回福克蘭群島。
Many still resent Thatcher for her uncompromising stance against the country’s labor unions and what they saw as her inhumanity toward the working class. The campaign to send "Ding Dong!" to the top of the charts began soon after she died of a stroke at London’s Ritz Hotel. (AP)
許多民眾至今仍憎恨柴契爾堅決不向英國工會讓步,以及對勞工階級冷血無情的態度。柴契爾因中風在倫敦麗池飯店去世後不久,就有人在網路上發起把「叮咚」一曲送上排行榜榜首的運動。(美聯社)
新聞辭典
hot seat:名詞,非正式用語,原指電椅,引申為指處於困境或尷尬局面,如When the company ran into financial trouble, it was the accountant who found herself in the hot seat.(當這家公司陷入財務困境時,公司的會計發現她變成了眾矢之的。)
polarize:動詞,指造成(群眾或意見等)陷入分裂或對立,如The war has polarized the nation.(這場戰爭使國家陷入分裂。)文中則作形容詞用法。
coda:名詞,指樂曲、文學作品或戲劇的最終章、終曲,如In a fitting coda to his career, he served as ambassador to China.(他獲任命為駐中國大使,作為他職業生涯的合適終點。)
資料來源 http://iservice.libertytimes.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=674415&day=2013-04-28