爱华网昨天在电视上看奥巴马在首尔记者会，看到中国记者芮成钢与美国总统过招，当时虽然觉得这个插曲有趣，但主要还是关注芮成钢提出的问题和奥巴马的回答。今天看网上评论沸沸扬扬，几乎没有人关注芮成钢问了什么、奥巴马怎么回答，所有的议论都集中在奥巴马和芮成钢的那段“争执”，有些网友赞赏这位CCTV记者表现出了记者应有的韧劲，还有不少网友对又一次“被代表”感到十分不适。我觉得如果要对这件事做一个价值判断的话，不能脱离当时的context，所以今天的博文介绍一下奥巴马昨天记者会的大致情况，和芮成钢发问的前后过程及具体问答内容。
在G20峰会结束后，奥巴马在韩国时间下午4点43分举行记者会，花了近10多分钟介绍美国在重大国际问题上的立场和峰会的情况，其中提到了他和中国主席的会见涉及了汇率问题。由于时间有限，奥巴马说只能take a few questions。奥巴马首先指名道姓由Bloomberg的记者Julianna Goldman提问，问到了关于美韩之间贸易问题。
奥巴马和随行的美国记者很熟，接下来又直接点名由CNN的DanLothian 来提问，这位记者的问题是美国中期选举结果是否会影响到美国在国际舞台上发挥作用，奥巴马的回答也很干脆：Theanswer to the this question is no。接下来提问者是合众社（AP）的BenFeller，他的问题是关于美国国内经济和就业的严峻挑战。下一位提问是美国广播公司（ABC）的JakeTapper，他的问题涉及到了中国和汇率问题，而奥巴马的回答也反映了美国在这个问题上一贯的和明确的立场，我就不再赘述。然后奥巴马再点名纽约时报记者SherylStolberg提问，他的问题稍微有点刁，问奥巴马在国际上的形象是否如同在美国国内一样大起大落，奥巴马回答说，不管谁是美国总统，Weare a very large, very wealthy, very powerfulcountry，这个事实是改变不了的。下一个提问的是NBC的记者Savannah Guthrie、CBS记者ChipReid，关注的内容又回到了美国国内经济政策，特别是减税问题、量化宽松等。回答完这些问题后，奥巴马说Lastquestion，点名美国国家公共广播公司（NPR）的ScottHorsley来提问，他的问题听不大明白，似乎是说经济危机的高峰已经过去，世界领导人是不是会因此不再给力，奥巴马的回答也乏善可陈，且放下不表，因为精彩一幕就要开场了。
至此，得到机会向奥巴马提问的记者全部是美国各大新闻机构驻白宫的首席记者，与奥巴马熟到可以用firstname来被称呼的地步。但是，回答了这“最后一个问题”后，奥巴马觉得忽略地主有所不妥，所以说：
I feel obliged to take maybe onequestion from the Korean press -- since you guys have been suchexcellent hosts. Anybody? This gentleman right here -- he's got hishand up. He's the only one who took me up on it. Go ahead. And I'llprobably need a translation, though, if you're asking the questionin Korean. In fact, I definitely will need a translation.(我觉得也许必须给韩国媒体一个机会提问，因为你们这些家伙真是优秀的主人。谁来提问？那个先生——他举手了，他是唯一接受我的邀请的提问的，请提问吧。我可能需要翻译，如果你用韩语提问的话。对，我肯定需要翻译）
在笑声中，“那位先生”——中国记者芮成钢——说话了：
Unfortunately, I hate todisappoint you, President Obama, I'm actuallyChinese（不巧，我真不愿意让您失望，总统先生，可我其实是个中国人。）
奥巴马虽然略感诧异，但这时还很绅士，他回答：
Well, it's wonderful to seeyou（哦，很高兴见到你）。
如果这时中国记者本可以借势单刀直入立刻发问，但是他还是想解释他并非韩国记者这个事实，而且给出了个很给力的理由：
But I think I get to represent theentire Asia.（但我得代表整个亚洲）。
奥巴马虽然又被诧异了一下，但是还是很绅士，说了句Absolutely，意思是说：你就代表吧！
既然奥巴马说Absolutely，这时中国记者还是可以直接就问他的问题好了，但是unfortunately，他继续解释为什么一个中国记者要来提问，理由更具体了：
We're one family here in this partof the world（在世界的这个地方，我们是一家人）。
听中国记者说中韩一家，奥巴马才缓过神来，开始回应：
Well, your English is better thanmy Mandarin also. But -- now, in fairness,though, I did say that I was going to let the Korean press ask aquestion. So I think that you held up your hand anyway.（哎，你的英语比我的汉语要好。可是，公平地说，我确实说了要请韩国媒体提问，可是你还是举了手。）
中国记者依旧很强很执着：
How about will my Korean friendsallow me to ask a question on your behalf? Yes or no?（如果我的韩国朋友允许我代表他们提问，可不可以呢？）【这里on your behalf，似乎应该说en theirbehalf，否则连奥巴马咱都代表了】
这时奥巴马也开始较劲了：
Well, it depends on whetherthere's a Korean reporter who would rather have the question. No,no takers?（那得看是不是有韩国记者愿意问问题，有没有人愿意呢？）
如果这时候有一个韩国记者站起来，这个插曲就此结束了，但居然韩国记者全部在韬光养晦，也许是不好意思从中国同行手中抢过话筒，要么就是存心想看这场好戏怎么收场。奥巴马顿时陷入囧境，只能嘿嘿地自我解嘲：
This is getting more complicatedthan I expected（这件事比我预想的要复杂）。
在哄笑声中，中国记者继续无以伦比地坚持：
Take quick, one question from anAsian, President Obama.（奥巴马总统，请允许一个亚洲人提一个简短的问题吧）。
奥巴马迟疑地答应了——Well, the -- as I said,I was going to -- go ahead and ask your question, but I want tomake sure that the Korean press gets a question aswell.（我说过，我想….要不那你就问吧，但是我还是想给韩国媒体一个提问的机会）。这位中国记者的问题与奥巴马的回答附在后面，在这之后，奥巴马实现诺言，还是给了韩国记者一个机会提问（依然是韩国人最关心的美国牛肉问题）。
记者招待会在5点30分结束时，奥巴马最后一句话是：
All right, thank you very much,everybody. I'm late for my flight.(好了，非常感谢诸位。我要赶飞机快迟到了)。
附录：芮成钢的问题和奥巴马的回答：
RUI CHENGGANG: Okay. My questionis very simple. You mentioned interpretation. I know part of thedifficulty being the American President is that some of thedecisions that you take, actions you make will be interpreted in away that are not what you thought they would be or what you meantthey would be. For instance, some of the actions you've taken wereinterpreted as anti-business, domestically, in the United States.And as someone just mentioned, some of the actions taken by theU.S. government that you represent as well were interpreted assacrificing other countries' interests for America's own benefit.So you find yourself constantly being interpreted in a thousanddifferent ways. How do you address these interpretations?
THE PRESIDENT OBAMA: With a wonderful press conference like thisthat give me the opportunity hopefully to provide my owninterpretation. But, look, you make a valid point. We live in aconnected world. Everything I say, everything my administrationdoes, anything one of my aides does is interpreted in one fashionor another. In America we call it spin. And there's a spin cyclethat is going on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And I thinkthat in this media environment, it is in some ways more challengingto make sure that your message and your intentions are getting outin a consistent basis.
But I think that if I'm consistentwith my actions and I'm consistent with my goals, then over timehopefully people look at my overall trajectory and they can drawaccurate conclusions about what we're trying todo.
With respect to business, forexample, we've had in the United States some battles between myselfand some in the business community around issues like financialregulation or health care. At the same time, I've said repeatedlyand I said on this trip, we can't succeed unless Americanbusinesses succeed. And I'm going to do everything I can to promotetheir ability to grow and prosper and to sell their goods both inthe United States and abroad. And the fact that the economy is nowgrowing and trade is expanding and the stock market is up I thinkis an indication that I mean what I say. And hopefully by the endof my administration businesses will look back and say, you knowwhat, actually the guy was pretty good for business -- even if atany given point in the road they may befrustrated.
