又中又英 | Fast Friends | 褚簡寧

　　When US President Donald Trump appointed Elon Musk, the world's richest person, as head of an unofficial department to cut government waste, the two became fast friends. Musk had spent about US$300 million to help Trump’s election campaign. But many political commentators said the friendship wouldn't last long because Trump and Musk made strange bedfellows. The term "fast friends" is used to describe two people who became close friends very quickly. The idiom "strange bedfellows" means an unusual political alliance between two or more people who are very different from each other or have different values.

　　The friendship ended last month after Musk finished his role as head of the unofficial cost-cutting department. He attacked a tax and spending bill going through Congress that would add more than US$3 trillion to America’s debt over the next ten years. Trump’s Republican Party, which has slim majorities in both Houses of Congress, passed the bill last week and Trump signed it into law. An angry Musk said he would start a new political party called the America Party to challenge the Republican Party and Democratic Party, giving voters a third choice.

　　Trump responded by saying Musk had gone completely off the rails, becoming a train wreck. When a train driver loses control, the train can go off the railway track. But if someone has gone off the rails, it means that person has started to behave in a strange and abnormal way. A train wreck describes a train severely damaged in an accident. But a train wreck also means something that has failed or a person with many serious problems in life.

　　美國總統當勞．特朗普委任世界首富伊隆．馬斯克為非官方部門的領頭，去削減政府開支浪費時，2人很快成為可靠的朋友（fast friends）。馬斯克曾經花約3億美元幫助特朗普的競選活動。但許多政治評論員說，這段友誼不會長久，因為特朗普和馬斯克更似同床異夢（strange bedfellows）。Fast friends是用來形容兩個人很快便成為親密的朋友。成語strange bedfellows是指兩個或多於兩個南轅北轍，或抱持不同價值觀的人，建立了非一般的政治聯盟。

　　上個月，當馬斯克完成領導那削減成本的非官方部門之後，這段友誼亦隨之結束。他攻擊一個當時正在尋求國會通過的稅務及開支草案，該草案會在未來10年增加3兆美元的美國債務。特朗普那在美國國會兩院輕微佔大多數的共和黨，上星期通過了草案，特朗普亦已簽署將之成為法律。憤怒的馬斯克說，他將會開創一個新的政黨名美國黨，去挑戰共和黨和民主黨，給予選民第3個選項。

　　特朗普回應說，馬斯克已完全脫軌（off the rails），極其失敗，如火車般撞成一團（train wreck）。若一個火車車長未能控制列車，火車便會偏離軌道；但若某人已gone off the rails，意即那人開始舉止怪異、行為不軌。A train wreck是用來形容火車失事，嚴重損毁，但a train wreck也可以解作某事情失敗了，又或指一個人生活過得一團糟。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧  
中譯：七刻