An assistant shows the block with a red button marked "reset¹" in English and "overload²" in Russian that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting on March 6, in Geneva. Russian media has been poking³ fun at Clinton after she gave her Russian counterpart a "reset" button with an ironic⁴ misspelling.

Russian media has been poking fun at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after she gave her Russian counterpart a "reset" button with an ironic misspelling.

Clinton's “reset” gift to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at their meeting in Geneva on Friday evening was meant to underscore the Obama administration's readiness to "to press the reset button" in ties with Moscow.

But instead of the Russian word for "reset" (perezagruzka) it featured a slightly different word meaning "overload" or "overcharged" (peregruzka).

Daily newspaper Kommersant put a prominent picture of the fake red button on its front page and declared: "Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton pushed the wrong button."

A correspondent for NTV television called it a "symbolic⁵ mistake," pointing out that US-Russian ties had become overcharged in recent years due to discord⁶ over such issues as missile defence and last summer's war in Georgia.

"The friendly US gesture was upturned by a small amusing incident," the news website RBC.ru wrote in an article posted late Friday evening.

"Yet this curious episode did not stop Clinton and Lavrov from pushing the button in front of television cameras."

US Vice-President Joe Biden spoke⁷ of pressing the "reset button" on relations between Moscow and Washington during a speech in Germany last month. It has since been repeated in various forms by both US and Russian officials.

日前，美国国务卿希拉里赠送给俄罗斯外长一个带有“重启”按钮的礼物，但按钮上的俄文单词却拼错了，俄罗斯媒体对此事大加取笑。

希拉里与俄罗斯外长拉夫罗夫于上周五晚在日内瓦举行了会晤，其间，希拉里赠送给拉夫莫夫一个带有“reset”英文字样的礼物，旨在传达奥巴马政府将“重启”美国与俄罗斯关系的意图。

但是与“reset”对应的俄文（本应是perezagruzka）被写成了与其拼写相近的peregruzka，这个词的意思为“超负荷”。

《俄罗斯日报》（Kommersant）在其头版赫然刊登了一张拼错单词的红色按钮的照片，并称：“拉夫罗夫和希拉里•克林顿按错了按钮。”

俄罗斯NTV电视台的一位记者则称其为一个“具有象征意义的错误”，由于在导弹防御和去年夏天的格鲁吉亚战争等问题上存在分歧，近年来美俄关系一直处于“超负荷”状态。

RBC.ru新闻网站在上周五晚晚些时候发表的一篇文章中写道：“美国示好的姿态被一个有趣的小插曲给搅了。”

“但这个小插曲不会阻止克林顿和拉夫罗夫在电视机镜头前按下重启的按钮。”

美国副总统乔•拜登上月在德国发表演讲时提及“重启”美俄关系的问题。此后这一说法多次被美国和俄罗斯官员以不同的形式引用。

Vocabulary:

poke fun at:取笑