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，當時的美國總統吉米·卡特在訪問伊朗時曾與巴列維國王舉行過一次正式會談。伊朗國王的英語水平是相當高的。因此，他與卡特總統的會談無需經過翻譯。但巴列維國王講英文時有的音發不準。這曾導致雙方就一個重大問題產生了誤會。有趣的是，卡特總統的英語也帶有南方口音，所以導致了雙重誤會。事情的經過是這樣的：會談中，卡特總統提到某一非洲組織的問題。他請巴列維國王對它作一概括的評價。國王認爲這個組織是軟弱無力的。不過，在表達時，國王把"軟弱無力的(impotent)"一詞的重音讀錯，放在了第二個音節，結果，卡特總統聽起來，"軟弱無力的"變成了"重要的(important)"。而總統心目中的這一組織正好是"重要的"，於是，他認爲雙方對此問題的看法一致。總統很高興，便重複了一句說，"是的，這個組織的確是重要的。"碰巧的是，卡特總統用美國南方口音，重複"重要的"一詞時，聽起來很像是"軟弱無力的"一詞。這樣，國王也以爲雙方的觀點是一致的。在場的，只有當時美國駐伊朗的大使沙利文了解其間的奧妙，因爲他清楚兩位領導人對該非洲組織的真正觀點，同時也知道他們語言方面的缺欠和特點。當然，在這樣的場合，大使是不便說什麼的，他掃了在場的人員一眼，看看是否還有人像他一樣瞭解其中的奧妙，事情也就這樣過去了。