伦敦奥运再添囧事：市长玩空降被卡半空

London mayor Boris Johnson is known for his eccentric methods and publicity stunts, but even he couldn't have planned his latest moment of fame.

Johnson has been caught on video by a UK newspaper hanging 20 metres above the ground after getting stuck on a zip-wire in a park near the Olympic precinct.

After taking off to the sound of loud applause and cheers, Johnson was inevitably greeted with laughter when he came to a halt and dangled over a crowd of onlookers - which naturally grew rapidly when word spread that the man in charge of the Olympic city was stuck on a zip-wire.

Johnson was clearly uncomfortable as the safety harness pulled up the pants on his suit, but luckily the London mayor has experience in awkward situations and dealt with it in a lighthearted manner.

"Can you get me a rope?” Johnson asked the crowd of amused onlookers.

"I think they needed to test this on somebody going a bit faster."

British prime minister David Cameron commented later in the day that only Johnson could make such an embarrassing incident work in his favour.

"If any other politician anywhere in the world was stuck on a zip-wire it would be a disaster. For Boris, it’s an absolute triumph," Cameron said.

For the record, Johnson was eventually taken safely to the end of the line and strongly recommended the ride to anyone that would listen, although he did have one tip for the owners of the ride.

"I think possibly what had happened was that they left a brake on or something," he said.

Speaking later to London radio station LBC, he described himself as "the Yuri Gagarin of the zipwire", in reference to the Soviet cosmonaut who was the first person to venture into outer space.

A spokeswoman for Mr Johnson said: "Clearly the judges are likely to mark him down for artistic interpretation, and, unlike Team GB, he won't be bagging any gold medals today but he remains unbowed."

(Read by Rosie Tuck. Rosie Tuck is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

双语资讯

(Agencies)

伦敦市长鲍里斯-约翰逊因为行事奇特和爱作秀著称，但最近这次出洋相肯定不是他计划好的。

约翰逊近日在奥运会区域的一个公园玩起了高空飞索，但不幸被卡在了20米的高空，还被英国一家报纸拍了下来。

约翰逊在众人的欢呼喝彩声中升空，但等待他的却是人们的笑声，因为他当时在众目睽睽之下停了下来，被卡在半空中。奥运主办城市的市长被卡在高空飞索的消息传出后，围观人群迅速多了起来。

约翰逊显然不太舒服，因为安全带拽起了他的西装裤子。但幸运的是这位伦敦市长曾经经历过尴尬的场面，他用轻松幽默的方式化解了当时的局面。

他对开心的观望人群说：“能给我一根绳索吗？”

“我觉得他们该让其他人以更快的速度来测试一下。”

英国首相大卫-卡梅伦当天稍晚评论说，只有约翰逊能让这么尴尬的事故转变为对自己有利的局面。

卡梅伦说：“如果世界上其他地方的政治人物被卡在高空飞索上，那将是一场灾难。但对鲍里斯来说，绝对是一场胜利。”

鲍里斯最终安全滑完全程，还对众人强烈推荐高空飞索，但他对飞索的主人也有话要说。

他说：“我想大概是因为他们安装了制动装置什么的。”

他在随后接受伦敦广播公司采访时，将自己描述成“绳索上的加加林”。前苏联宇航员加加林是人类进入太空第一人。

约翰逊的一位发言人说：“从艺术表现来看，裁判不会给他打高分，他不会像英国奥运团队那样收获金牌，但他始终不肯屈服。”

Vocabulary:

publicity stunts: 炒作，作秀

zip-wire: 高空飞索

precinct: 区域，管辖区

for the record: 必须明确指出，郑重声明