又中又英 | An itch you can’t scratch | 褚簡寧
It is extremely annoying to have an itch you can't scratch somewhere on your back because your hands can't reach it. When I was a young boy growing up in Hong Kong, my paternal grandmother, which means my father's mother, had a wooden stick with one end shaped like a hand which she used to scratch her back. It's called a back scratcher. I haven't seen a back scratcher in many years. But the expression "an itch you can't scratch" also has another meaning. It means a frustrating problem you can't solve or a desire you can't achieve.
US President Donald Trump has an itch he can't scratch. He wants to broker a peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war. The expression “broker a deal” means to negotiate or arrange an agreement as a middleman between two sides. But Putin, who ordered the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, has shown little interest in reaching a peace deal with Ukraine even though he has said he wants to end the war.
Trump claimed during the presidential campaign that he was friendly with Putin and could end the war in one day if elected. But he now admits Putin is an itch he can't scratch. He told the media he got a lot of bullshit from Putin. It’s not the first time Trump has used a swear word. He used the word “f..k” recently when he criticized Israel and Iran for breaking a ceasefire deal had he arranged.
要是你背部有某處發癢卻搔不着（an itch you can't scratch），因為兩隻手都碰觸不到，真是極度惱人啊！當我還是小男孩，在香港長大的時候，我的 paternal grandmother，就是我的祖母，會用一根頂部形狀像隻小手掌的木棒來搔背，那叫作 back scratcher。我已經許多年沒有見過不求人（back scratcher）了。但習語「an itch you can't scratch」還有另一個意思，它是指一個你解決不了，使人心煩懊惱的問題，又或是一個你達成不了的渴望。
美國總統特朗普就有一個「搔不着的癢處」（an itch he can't scratch）。他想做中間人，促成跟俄羅斯總統普京的一個和平協議（broker a peace deal），去結束烏克蘭戰爭。習語「broker a deal」是指去做兩邊的中間人，居中斡旋、談判或安排協議。但於2022年下令俄羅斯入侵烏克蘭的普京，對於達成與烏克蘭的和平協議興趣不大，雖然他曾說他想結束戰爭。
特朗普曾在競選期間聲言，他跟普京很友好，要是當選，就可以在一天內結束戰爭。但他現在承認，普京是那個搔不着的癢處（an itch he can't scratch），是非常棘手的問題。他跟傳媒說，普京對他說了許多屁話。這不是第一次特朗普用上粗言穢語了。他最近就用「f..k」一字去批評以色列與伊朗違反他所安排的一個停火協議。
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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻
