又中又英 | Wag the dog | 褚简宁
Most dog owners know a dog wags its tail to communicate emotions such as happiness or excitement. To wag means to move something, such as your finger or a dog's tail, from side to side or up and down. But can the tail wag the dog? Of course not! The tail wagging the dog is an idiom which means a smaller part of something controlling the bigger part, such as a small unprofitable part of a company controlling the whole company. The 1997 movie Wag the Dog starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro shortened the expression and gave it a political meaning.
The movie is about a US president who started a fake war to divert attention from a sex scandal. The expression "wag the dog" now means US presidents starting wars to divert attention from political scandals. It was released one month before the media exposed former President Bill Clinton's 1998 sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a 22-year-old White House intern during Clinton’s presidency. But the movie drew comparisons with Clinton when he bombed Afghanistan after the media exposed the sex scandal.
Did US President Donald Trump wag the dog in attacking Iran? His critics are accusing him of wagging the dog to divert attention from the high cost of living, his low popularity, and his alleged cover-up of the so-called Epstein files involving child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein who was found dead in his prison cell in 2019. These issues are likely to hurt Trump and his Republican Party in November's mid-term Congressional elections. Latest polls show just a quarter of Americans support Trump’s decision to start a war with Iran.
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大部分的狗主都知道，一只狗摇（wags）尾巴是在表达快乐或兴奋等情绪。To wag的意思是左右或上下摇动或摆动某物，例如你的手指或狗的尾巴。但有没有可能调转过来，由尾巴摇动狗只（tail wag the dog）？当然不可！The tail wagging the dog是一个成语，意指本末倒置地由小事物控制大局，例如由一个小型不赚钱的部门控制整间公司。1997年由德斯汀．荷夫曼和罗拔迪尼路主演的电影《作大英雄》（Wag the Dog），就将习语缩短了，再给它赋予一个政治含意。
电影是关于一个美国总统打了一场虚拟的战争，以转移公众对其性丑闻的关注。习语wag the dog现在用来形容美国总统利用战争去转移公众对政治丑闻的关注。电影在1998年传媒揭露前总统比尔．克林顿与莫妮卡．莱温斯基之间有性关系前的一个月上映，当时22岁的莱温斯基是克林顿总统任期内的白宫实习生。然而，人们还是拿电影跟克林顿作对比，因为当传媒揭露克林顿的性丑闻后，他就下令轰炸阿富汗。
美国总统特朗普袭击伊朗时，又是否在转移视线（wag the dog）？他的批评者指控他在「尾巴摇狗」（wagging the dog），让公众不那么关注高涨的生活成本、自己的低民望，以及他被指控掩盖所谓的爱泼斯坦档案，事件涉及2019年在监房中身亡的儿童性罪犯爱泼斯坦。这些议题都很有可能在11月国会中期选举中损害特朗普和他的共和党。最新的民调显示，只有四分一美国人支持特朗普跟伊朗开战的决定。
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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻
