評論
打印
New York Times reports end to Iraq war
The United States has ended the war in Iraq and indicted President George W. Bush on treason charges, The New York Times reported Tuesday. OK, well not really.
An elaborate spoof hit the streets of New York on Tuesday: a convincing fake of The New York Times announcing not just the withdrawal of troops from Iraq but a raft of other US liberal fantasies.
Bush is indicted, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice apologizes that the fuss about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was invented, and Americans are finally getting national health insurance.
And that's just on the front page.
The only problem? The free, 14-page "special edition" newspaper is phoney.
Website www.gawker.com has identified the pranksters behind the stunt as The Yes men, a liberal group famous for practical jokes.
The newspaper was a vision of what Americans would love to see under Barack Obama after he takes power in January.
Dated July 4, 2009, its front-page motto reads: "All the news we hope to print" -- a play on the Times' famous "All the news that's fit to print."
A Times spokeswoman said: "This is obviously a fake issue ... We are in the process of finding out more about it."
One of the newspaper's own online commentators had a wittier retort:
"Sorry, folks, the paper isn't free. And the Iraq war isn't over, at least not yet."
It's not the first time the venerable newspaper has been parodied. One was published during the 1978 newspaper strike.
Another came out on April Fool's Day 1999, printed by British business tycoon Sir Richard Branson and titled "I Can't Believe It's Not The New York Times."
據《紐約時報》本周二報道，美國日前結束伊拉克戰爭，并以叛國罪起訴總統喬治•W•布什。可惜，這不是真的。
一個精心策劃的惡作劇于本周二引爆紐約街頭：當日的一份“高仿真版”《紐約時報》不僅宣布了美國從伊拉克撤軍的消息，還刊載了其它很多大快人心的報道。
其中包括布什總統被指控；國務卿賴斯承認布什政府在發動伊拉克戰爭前就知道伊拉克沒有大規模殺傷性武器；美國的全民保險制度終于建立等等。
這還只是頭版的內容……
只可惜，這份免費的、14版的《紐約時報》“特刊”是假的。
Gawker.com網站通過調查發現，這份假《紐約時報》的幕后操手是一個名叫“應聲蟲（The Yes men）”的以惡搞而著稱的自由組織。
這份報紙反映了美國人希望在奧巴馬明年1月接任總統后能看到的一些新變化。
這份日期為2009年7月4日的《紐約時報》在其頭版打出了宣傳口號，“我們刊登所有我們希望看到的新聞”，而正版《紐約時報》的宣傳語則是“我們刊登所有有價值的新聞”。
《紐約時報》的一位女發言人說：“這顯然是個惡作劇，目前我們正在對該事件進行調查。”
《紐約時報》的一位網絡評論員的反駁則更加詼諧幽默：“不好意思，各位，報紙并不免費，伊戰也未結束，至少現在還沒有?！?/P>
《紐約時報》遭惡搞已不是第一次，其中一次是在1978年報業罷工之時。
另一次是在1999年的愚人節，當時英國商界大亨理查德•布蘭森印刷了一批假報，當時報紙的頭條是“我不相信這不是《紐約時報》?！?/P>
Vocabulary:
phoney:贗品；騙人的東西
