◎魏國金

Instead of going east to China for the Beijing Olympic ceremonies, Estonia’s President Toomas Hendrik Ilves is about to set off in the opposite direction, heading to France to take a language course.

沒有往東去中國參加北京奧運開幕典禮，愛沙尼亞總統托馬斯．亨德利克．易維斯即將往反方向出發，去法國上語文課。

"President Ilves will be in France from August 10-16. He will not have any official meetings," his spokeswoman Kristel Peterson said. "The only aim of his trip is to attend an intensive language course to brush up his French," she said.

「總統易維斯自8月10日至16日將在法國，他沒有任何官方會面，」他的發言人克莉絲特．彼得森女士說。「他此行的唯一目的是參加密集的語文課，以精進他的法語，」她說。

Ilves’office had already announced in March that he would not be attending the Olympics. It cited the president’s packed schedule, rather than concerns about China’s human rights record that several other heads of state had given as the reason for staying away.

易維斯的辦公室今年3月間已宣布他不會參加奧運會。該單位援引總統的行程滿檔為由，而不是對中國人權紀錄的憂慮，其他一些國家元首則以此做為不克出席的原因。

The polyglot Ilves, 54, was elected president in 2006. He speaks fluent English, German and Spanish, Peterson said. He has been studying French for several years, and several months ago his office hired a private tutor.

54歲、精通多國語言的易維斯於2006年當選總統。他說著一口流利的英文、德文與西班牙語，彼得森說。他已研習法語多年，幾個月前他的辦公室還聘請一名私人家教來予以授課。

新聞辭典

skip︰跳過、略過。比如︰skip breakfast（不吃早餐）、skip school（逃學）、skip work（曠工）。

opt︰選擇；opt out則有選擇退出之意，比如︰opt out of politics（退出政壇）。

brush up︰重溫、提升、改進。例句︰They come here to brush up on technology.（他們來此以求提升技術。）

packed︰塞得滿滿的、擁擠的。例句︰Churches are packed on Sunday. （教堂在星期天擠滿人）；an action-packed story（曲折豐富的故事。）

自由時報-970813

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