Pat Oliphant's cartoon melds two current concerns prominent in US newspapers. At one level it plays wittily on the theme of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the dreaded 'mad cow disease' recently detected in the carcass of a slaughtered dairy cow from Washington state —— unless, as is now suspected, it actually originated in Alberta. Instead of a mad cow, however, we see a mad donkey or a 'mad ass', as Oliphant puts it in frame 4. If nothing else has tipped you off①yet, that switch from donkey to 'ass' should be evidence enough that Oliphant is not really worried about epizootics. Remember that the word 'ass' in spoken English also means a fool and is a very mildly impolite word for the human rump. A 'mad fool' would be tautological, while a 'mad rump', meaningless in itself, takes us back to frame 3, where the crazed donkey is seen munching on his own severed haunch, before consuming the rest of himself in frame 4. This is a donkey that Alice would not have been surprised to encounter in Wonderland②.
What is really going on? Well, obviously, Oliphant is talking about the antics of the many politicians still vying to be named the Democratic Party's candidate for the US presidency. Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, seems to be moving to the head of the pack, but this has only stirred the other candidates to attack him (rather than George Bush) all the more rabidly. The Democrats have a crazed look in their eye, like Oliphant's mad ass; the party seems insanely bent on③consuming itself before it even gets to the main contest, the effort to defeat Republican Bush.
Is there no remedy for this self-destructive behavior? As the little bird indicates, apparently not.
漫畫家派特·奧列芬特的這幅漫畫融合了當(dāng)今美國報章的兩大熱門話題。一方面，漫畫巧妙地提到了最近從華盛頓州宰殺的牛體中檢測出來的牛腦海綿體病，也就是可怕的瘋牛病———除非該病真是如所懷疑的那樣起源于加拿大的阿爾伯塔(否則就是源于華盛頓州了)?？墒?，我們在畫上看到的不是瘋牛而是瘋驢，或者說是瘋ass，正如奧列芬特在第四欄漫畫中用了ass一詞。如果你現(xiàn)在還沒有悟出什么，那么用詞從驢轉(zhuǎn)到ass就足以證明奧列芬特并非真正為牲畜流行病而擔(dān)憂。請記住，ass在英語口語中除了“驢”外還有“傻瓜”的意思，也是對“臀部”的一種雖很委婉但仍不太禮貌的說法。“瘋傻瓜”一詞在邏輯上是重復(fù)的，那么本身并無任何意義的“瘋臀部”則把我們帶到第三欄，那只瘋驢正在大嚼著從自己身上切下來的帶著一部分臀部的大腿，而在第四欄則把自己身體的其余部分全吃了。這是當(dāng)愛麗斯漫游奇境時不會感到驚奇的一只驢。
實(shí)際情況是怎樣呢？顯然，奧列芬特要說的是那些為爭得民主黨總統(tǒng)候選人資格的政界人士的怪異舉動。前佛蒙特州州長迪安看來是走在這群競選者的前面了，但這卻激起了其他候選人對他(而不是對布什)瘋狂的攻擊。民主黨人的眼中有一種瘋狂的神情，就像奧列芬特所畫的那只瘋驢：該黨在進(jìn)入主要競賽打敗共和黨的布什之前，看來是失去了理智，一心一意打起了內(nèi)耗戰(zhàn)。
對這種自我毀滅的行為可有藥治？正如畫中小鳥所說的，看來沒有。
What is really going on? Well, obviously, Oliphant is talking about the antics of the many politicians still vying to be named the Democratic Party's candidate for the US presidency. Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, seems to be moving to the head of the pack, but this has only stirred the other candidates to attack him (rather than George Bush) all the more rabidly. The Democrats have a crazed look in their eye, like Oliphant's mad ass; the party seems insanely bent on③consuming itself before it even gets to the main contest, the effort to defeat Republican Bush.
Is there no remedy for this self-destructive behavior? As the little bird indicates, apparently not.
漫畫家派特·奧列芬特的這幅漫畫融合了當(dāng)今美國報章的兩大熱門話題。一方面，漫畫巧妙地提到了最近從華盛頓州宰殺的牛體中檢測出來的牛腦海綿體病，也就是可怕的瘋牛病———除非該病真是如所懷疑的那樣起源于加拿大的阿爾伯塔(否則就是源于華盛頓州了)?？墒?，我們在畫上看到的不是瘋牛而是瘋驢，或者說是瘋ass，正如奧列芬特在第四欄漫畫中用了ass一詞。如果你現(xiàn)在還沒有悟出什么，那么用詞從驢轉(zhuǎn)到ass就足以證明奧列芬特并非真正為牲畜流行病而擔(dān)憂。請記住，ass在英語口語中除了“驢”外還有“傻瓜”的意思，也是對“臀部”的一種雖很委婉但仍不太禮貌的說法。“瘋傻瓜”一詞在邏輯上是重復(fù)的，那么本身并無任何意義的“瘋臀部”則把我們帶到第三欄，那只瘋驢正在大嚼著從自己身上切下來的帶著一部分臀部的大腿，而在第四欄則把自己身體的其余部分全吃了。這是當(dāng)愛麗斯漫游奇境時不會感到驚奇的一只驢。
實(shí)際情況是怎樣呢？顯然，奧列芬特要說的是那些為爭得民主黨總統(tǒng)候選人資格的政界人士的怪異舉動。前佛蒙特州州長迪安看來是走在這群競選者的前面了，但這卻激起了其他候選人對他(而不是對布什)瘋狂的攻擊。民主黨人的眼中有一種瘋狂的神情，就像奧列芬特所畫的那只瘋驢：該黨在進(jìn)入主要競賽打敗共和黨的布什之前，看來是失去了理智，一心一意打起了內(nèi)耗戰(zhàn)。
對這種自我毀滅的行為可有藥治？正如畫中小鳥所說的，看來沒有。