Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan (2nd L) and his wife Nobuko Kan (L) are greeted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen Harper (R) as they arrive at the G20 Summit in Toronto, June 26, 2010. [Agencies] |
He lacks dress sense, can't cook to save his life and badly flunked delivering his first policy speech. Meet Japan's new Prime Minister Naoto Kan - as seen by his wife. These and other domestic insights are revealed in a new book by the woman Kan has called his "opposition in the home", entitled What on Earth will change in Japan after you become prime minister? Japan's unconventional first lady, Nobuko, pulls few punches in the book about her husband of four decades, who took over in early June as prime minister of the world's No 2 economy. "I wonder - 'Is it okay that this man is prime minister?' - because I know him well," the 64-year-old muses in the book released this week but written before Kan's party's recent upper house election drubbing. "Many people in the current political world are lightweights. Things may turn out like this if you choose from among them." Happy to break with the stereotype of the demure wife, sharp-tongued Nobuko relishes the role of Kan's toughest critic and famously spars with him over everything from household chores to tax reform. She said that her image of a Japanese prime minister was closer to that of an elder statesman like Yasuhiro Nakasone, now 92, who served as a contemporary of then-US president Ronald Reagan for five years in the 1980s. "Kan likes to be in the field ... I believe he is best suited to giving directions on the spot in support of somebody else," she said of her husband, a former civil rights activist and most recently Japan's deputy premier. Kan is a good speaker in the street, she said, but "worse at reading prepared scripts". "Even as a family member, I could not give him even a passing grade for his delivery of a policy speech, or for the question-and-answer sessions after he became prime minister." She also revealed Kan has "no interest in fashion at all" and cannot cook even simple meals "because of the bad education by me and his mother". (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.) (Agencies) |
他缺乏衣著品味,不會(huì)給自己做飯,首次施政演說也一塌糊涂。來看看日本新任首相夫人眼中的丈夫菅直人吧。 日前,日本首相夫人菅伸子最新出版了《你做首相,日本究竟會(huì)有什么變化?》一書,曝光了所有這些“家務(wù)事”。菅直人稱她為家里的“反對(duì)派”。 日本新派第一夫人菅伸子在書中毫不客氣地講述了結(jié)發(fā)40年的丈夫菅直人。菅直人于六月初就任世界第二大經(jīng)濟(jì)體日本的首相。 現(xiàn)年64歲的菅伸子在本周出版的新書中沉思道:“我想知道,這個(gè)人能當(dāng)首相嗎?因?yàn)槲姨私馑??!彼趯戇@本書時(shí),菅直人所在的政黨還沒有在最近的參議院選舉中勝出。 “如今政壇很多人都不夠資格,在矬子里面拔將軍時(shí)就會(huì)這樣。” 言語尖刻的菅伸子很高興顛覆了首相夫人端莊賢淑的傳統(tǒng)印象,對(duì)于“菅直人最尖銳的批評(píng)者”這一角色她津津樂道,并以從家務(wù)瑣事到稅制改革等所有問題都與首相爭(zhēng)執(zhí)不休而著稱。 她稱她印象中的日本首相應(yīng)該像中曾根康弘那樣的政壇元老?,F(xiàn)年92歲的中曾根康弘曾在上世紀(jì)80年代擔(dān)任日本首相長(zhǎng)達(dá)五年之久,時(shí)任美國(guó)總統(tǒng)的還是羅納德?里根。 菅伸子在談到丈夫時(shí)說:“菅直人喜歡做具體的工作。我覺得他最適合協(xié)助別人出謀劃策?!?菅直人曾是一名民權(quán)活動(dòng)家,在就職首相前擔(dān)任副首相一職。 菅伸子表示,菅直人在大庭廣眾之下能言善辯,但“不善于照本宣科。” “就算作為家人,我也沒辦法給他的政策演說,或者就職后的首相質(zhì)詢會(huì)打及格分?jǐn)?shù)?!?/p> 她還透露,菅直人“對(duì)時(shí)尚完全沒興趣”,“由于我和他的母親沒把他教好”,甚至不會(huì)做簡(jiǎn)單的飯菜。 相關(guān)閱讀 (中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津 Julie 編輯馮明惠) |
Vocabulary: pull few punches: to act with restraint or hold back the full force or implications of something(毫不客氣,不留情面。pull punches則表示“手下留情”。) drub: to defeat decisively(打敗,徹底擊?。?/p> lightweight: a person who is of little influence, importance, or effect(輕重量級(jí)選手,不能勝任者) demure: characterized by shyness and modesty; reserved(端莊的) spar: to bandy words; dispute(多指在友好氣氛中辯論,爭(zhēng)論) |