US President Barack Obama (R) and British Prime Minister David Cameron trade bottles of beer to settle a bet on the US-UK World Cup Soccer game during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Toronto. (Agencies) |
US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron toasted the "special relationship" between their two countries Saturday, swapping bottles of beer after a World Cup bet. The pair, who travelled to Toronto for the G20 summit together in Obama's helicopter after technical issues grounded Cameron's, clinked bottles after their first meeting since Cameron took office last month. They hailed the "special relationship" between their two countries after exchanging the drinks following a bet on who would win this month's World Cup football game between England and the United States which ended in a 1-1 draw. Obama presented Cameron with a bottle of Goose Island 312 from his home city of Chicago, while Cameron gave Obama a bottle of Hobgoblin, which is made in his constituency in Oxfordshire, west of London. "I advised him that in America we drink our beer cold, so he has to put this in the refrigerator before he drinks it," the president joked. On relations between the two countries, Obama told reporters that he and Cameron had "established a strong working relationship and we are confident that the special relationship is only going to get stronger in the months and years to come." Cameron agreed, saying: "The relationship between our two countries I think is incredibly strong and I think can get stronger in the years ahead." Britain is the second-largest contributor of troops to the war in Afghanistan after the United States, but the two did not refer to the recent dismissal of General Stanley McChrystal, commander of US and NATO forces. Nor did they publicly comment on BP, the British-based oil giant whose actions have drawn sharp criticism in the United States over its handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the worst environmental disaster in US history. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.) (Agencies) |
美國總統貝拉克?奧巴馬和英國首相大衛?卡梅倫于上周六舉杯共慶兩國間的“特殊關系”,并互贈啤酒,履行兩人間的一個“賭球約定”。 這是卡梅倫于上月就任英國首相后與奧巴馬的首次碰面。此前由于卡梅倫的專機出現技術故障,他搭乘奧巴馬的直升飛機(譯者注:從G8峰會現場)一同前往多倫多參加20國集團領導人峰會。 因英格蘭和美國隊在本屆世界杯小組賽中1比1戰平,兩人在當天的會面中互贈啤酒履行賭約,此外兩人在會面中還大贊兩國間的“特殊關系”。 奧巴馬送給卡梅倫一瓶他老家芝加哥所產的鵝島312啤酒,卡梅倫則送給奧巴馬一瓶他所在的選區、倫敦西部牛津郡產的一種叫做“淘氣鬼”的啤酒。 奧巴馬開玩笑說:“我跟他說美國人都喝冰鎮啤酒,所以建議他在喝之前要把啤酒放在冰箱里冷藏一下。” 在談及兩國關系的問題時,奧巴馬告訴記者說他和卡梅倫已經“建立起一種穩固的工作關系,我們相信這種特殊的關系在未來會變得更加牢固。” 卡梅倫對此表示同意,并稱:“我認為我們兩國間的關系十分牢固,我也認為這種關系在未來幾年內還會更加穩固。” 英國是繼美國之后向阿富汗派兵最多的國家,但當天兩位領導人并未提及最近美軍和北約部隊總司令斯坦利?麥克里斯特爾被撤職一事。 他們也未公開談及英國石油公司最近的漏油事件。總部位于英國的石油業巨頭英國石油公司在處理墨西哥灣漏油事件上的一些所作所為遭到美國的尖銳指責。這一事件造成美國歷史上最嚴重的環境災難。 相關閱讀 (中國日報網英語點津 陳丹妮 編輯蔡姍姍) |
Vocabulary: ground: to prevent an aircraft from taking off 使停飛;阻止…起飛 constituency: (in Britain) a district that elects its own representative to parliament (英國選舉議會議員的)選區 |