A Double Misunderstanding

once before the iranian revolution, the then president of the united states jimmy carter visited iran. he held a formal talk with the shah, pahlevi. as the shah had an excellent command of english, no interpreters were needed for the occasion. however, the shah spoke english with an accent which led to a misunderstanding on a major question, but interestingly enough, carter, being a southerner, also had his accent and so the misundeerstanding turned into a double one. this is how it all happened. during their talk carter mentioned a certain african organization and asked the shah to give an overall appraisal of it. the shah didnt have a very high opinion of the said organization as he found it beset with many internal problems, so he used the word "impotent" to describe it. the trouble was in pronouncing the word he put the stress on the second syllable and the word sounded like "important" to carter. as it happened carter himself thought the organization was a very important one and he felt most pleased that their opinions should "coincide", "yes, i agree that the organization is indeed very important," he repeated to the shah. now in his southern accent, the word "important" souded very much like the word "impotent", and the shah too felt most pleased that the president should agree with him. now of all the people present on the occasion, only the then us ambassador to iran, mr. sullivan, realised that it was a "double misunderstanding" as he knew the presidents and the shahs different opinions on that african organization and he was also familiar with both mens peculiar accents. naturally he didnt see it fit for him to put them wise on the matter so he kept his mouth shut. he cast a glance around the room to see if anyone else was enjoying the room to see if anyone else was enjoying the joke with him and so the matter was allowed to pass.

伊朗革命前，当时的美国总统吉米·卡特在访问伊朗时曾与巴列维国王举行过一次正式会谈。伊朗国王的英语水平是相当高的。因此，他与卡特总统的会谈无需经过翻译。但巴列维国王讲英文时有的音发不准。这曾导致双方就一个重大问题产生了误会。有趣的是，卡特总统的英语也带有南方口音，所以导致了双重误会。事情的经过是这样的：会谈中，卡特总统提到某一非洲组织的问题。他请巴列维国王对它作一概括的评价。国王认为这个组织是软弱无力的。不过，在表达时，国王把"软弱无力的(impotent)"一词的重音读错，放在了第二个音节，结果，卡特总统听起来，"软弱无力的"变成了"重要的(important)"。而总统心目中的这一组织正好是"重要的"，于是，他认为双方对此问题的看法一致。总统很高兴，便重复了一句说，"是的，这个组织的确是重要的。"碰巧的是，卡特总统用美国南方口音，重复"重要的"一词时，听起来很像是"软弱无力的"一词。这样，国王也以为双方的观点是一致的。在场的，只有当时美国驻伊朗的大使沙利文了解其间的奥妙，因为他清楚两位领导人对该非洲组织的真正观点，同时也知道他们语言方面的缺欠和特点。当然，在这样的场合，大使是不便说什么的，他扫了在场的人员一眼，看看是否还有人像他一样了解其中的奥妙，事情也就这样过去了。