桃花坞

如果要形容某件工作反反复复，总也做不完，你可以说 It’s like painting the Forth Bridge.

Forth Bridge，又叫 Forth Rail Bridge，是指爱丁堡城北 Forth 河(Firth of Forth)上的铁路桥。铁路桥建成于1890年，已近120岁，目前每天仍然有200趟火车经过，是英国人引以为豪的工程杰作。桥梁的大部份结构是钢，传说中等到把桥梁全部油漆一遍之后，前面的已经褪色，就又得开始重新油漆了，所以 paint the Forth Bridge 成为英国俗语。

最近负责维护 Forth Bridge 的公司发布新闻，说将采用新型油漆，保证30年不褪，所以得另找词汇代替 paint the Forth Bridge 了。

BBC documentary: Britain’s Best Buildings - The Forth Bridge

Forth Bridge painting set the end

Daily quote: paint the Forth Bridge

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Guardian’s Hadley Freeman answers the question “Why do fashion models look so grumpy” from a male reader. (I must confess I have the same question but not sure whom to ask.)

Well, try being a model: you can’t eat, you barely get to sleep and you often have to wear really stupid clothes yet keep a straight face while the photographer shouts about how you should shag the camera, or something.

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Jeff Jarvis explains what’s the point of lifestreaming:

…For in those lines were people with small cameras hooked to laptops, which used mobile phones to transmit video to the internet, live. They are lifestreamers, who have been simulcasting their lives 24 hours a day. Why? Because it’s there. They’d already been blogging, Twittering, Facebooking, Flickring, podcasting and YouTubing their lives. Live video was merely their next frontier.

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Leo Lewis of the Times described the difference between Moutain Lady and Wall Lady, two leading characters of the popular Japanese TV series:

The show is based on one of the best-selling manga comic books of 2005 and follows the fortunes of the serious-minded, flat-chested Megumi Aoyagi and her sweet-natured, generously proportioned colleague, Marie Mariya.

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Guardian’s Hadley Freeman answers the question “Why do women carry such bloody great handbag?“

You want to know why we need such big bags? I’ll tell you why. Because we are the responsible gender. Oh sure, you guys think you are ever so nonchalant and spontaneous, stuffing your keys, wallet and phone into your back pocket and being good to go. Silly women, who can’t even pop to the local shop without stuffing the flipping kitchen sink into their handbags, right? But who do you turn to when you need a tissue? Or a compact for an emergency post-lunch teeth check? Or a pen, or a diary to check one’s availality for the next month? That’s right, to your good lady friend, standing there with her bloody great handbag, like a faithful courtier anticipating her prince regent’s every bloody great need.

Which does not exactly answer the question. Besides, there is ‘man bag’ which is growing its popularity. But I like her writing.

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Jane Godley is quoted on The Scotsman saying:

This terror attack (at Glasgow Airport) has confused Glaswegians. They’re asking if the attackers were Protestant Muslims or Catholic Muslims.

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英国首相交接的正式公告－－来自白金汉宫

Wednesday, 27th June 2007

BUCKINGHAM PALACE: Mr. Justice Griffith Williams was received by The Queen this morning upon his appointment as a Justice of the High Court when Her Majesty conferred upon him the honour of Knighthood and invested him with the Insignia of a Knight Bachelor.

Mr. Richard Stagg was received in audience by The Queen upon his appointment as British High Commissioner to the Republic of India.

Mrs. Stagg was also received by Her Majesty.

The Rt. Hon Tony Blair MP had an audience of The Queen this afternoon and tendered his resignation as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury which Her Majesty was graciously pleased to accept.

Mrs. Blair was also received by The Queen.

Her Majesty received in audience the Rt. Hon Gordon Brown MP and requested him to form a new Administration. The Rt. Hon Gordon Brown MP accepted The Queen’s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury.

Mrs. Brown was also received by Her Majesty.

看过 The Queen (2006) 都知道皇室礼仪(protocol)的重要性，还有一个谜团，到底有没有 kissed hands 呢？

Rt. Hon: Right honourable
MP: Member of Paliarment

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在星期二布莱尔最后一次记者招待会上，布莱尔被问道对他的继任者有没有什么建议？我们来看记者们是如何话外听音的：

Simon Hoggart on the Guardian:

Someone asked if he had any advice for his successor. “No”, he snapped. “He is perfectly capable of doing the job on his own.” The word “Not!” hovered unspoken in the air.

Andrew Gimson on the Daily Telegraph:

“Do you have any advice for your successor?” another correspondent ventured, to which Mr Blair replied with a brevity almost worthy of Clement Attlee: “No. He’s perfectly capable of doing the job on his own, thank you.”

Some of us took this to mean that Mr Blair will leave Gordon Brown to make a terrible mess of being Prime Minister and will then have a jolly good laugh at his expense.

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Lucy Mangan of the Guardian describes the voice of Margaret Thatcher:

As the child of parents who worked in the NHS and the National Theatre, I was brought up to think of her as a one-woman hell on earth, but I popped a few pills and did my best to follow Marr’s examination of the Thatcherite years despite the fact that her voice - that self-aggrandising, cloying, patronised and patronising voice oozing out of that vicious, dead-eyed face - still paralyses me with fear and loathing.

I’m always amazed to see Thatcher is hated so much by some people.

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Nick Roddick described the reaction of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days winning Palme d’Or in Guardian:

The film world’s collective jaw may have dropped on Sunday night when 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - a Romanian film about abortion with no stars and costing under half a million pounds - walked off with the Palme d’Or in Cannes.

如果翻译成中文：大约是“全世界的电影人都在满地找眼镜”。

BBC Newsnight Review 的三位嘉宾的预测也错了，但还不算太离谱。《潜水钟与蝴蝶》得了最佳导演奖。

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