mangled¹ English, followed closely by Arnold Schwarzenegger, seen here, and Donald Rumsfeld." width="490" border="0" src="/upimg/090912/4_055933_1.jpg" />
Former US president George W. Bush topped a poll of the worst examples of mangled English, followed closely by Arnold Schwarzenegger, seen here, and Donald Rumsfeld.

Former US president George W. Bush topped a poll of the worst examples of mangled English released Wednesday, followed closely by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Donald Rumsfeld.

French footballer-cum-philospher Eric Cantona and former US president Bill Clinton also produced prime examples of gobbledegook, according to the online poll of 4,000 people inspired by the Plain English Campaign.

Notoriously language-challenged Bushromped to the top accolade² for his: "Our enemies are innovative³ and resourceful and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

Second came to bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-California governor Schwarzenegger, who during an election campaign in 2003 minted the puzzling: "I think that gay marriage should be between a man and a woman."

The rest of the top 10 in the poll, commissioned by an insurance company after it won an award from the Plain English Campaign, were:

3. Rumsfeld, in February 2002: "Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns: the ones we don't know we don't know."

4. Murray Walker, motor racing⁴ commentator⁵: "The lead car is absolutely unique, except for the one behind it which is identical."

5. John Motson, football commentator: "For those of you watching in black and white, Spurs are playing in yellow."

6. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, explaining budget plans to lawmakers in July this year: "Total spending will continue to rise and it will be a zero percent rise in 2013-14."

7. Clinton, in 1998 grand jury testimony⁶ about Monica Lewinsky: "It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If 'is' means 'is and never has been' that's one thing -- if it means 'there is none', that was a completely true statement."

8. Cantona, 1995: "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines⁷ will be thrown into the sea."

9. Bush, July 2001: "I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe -- I believe what I believe is right."

10. London mayor Boris Johnson, on British satirical gameshow "Have I Got News for You" in 2003: "I could not fail to disagree with you less."

本周三公布的一项“不知所云语录”调查显示，美国前总统乔治•W•布什名列该榜首位，紧随其后的是阿诺德•施瓦辛格和（美国前国防部长）唐纳德•拉姆斯菲尔德。

这项在线调查的创意来自“简明英语运动组织” ，共有四千人参加。法国足球运动员、哲学爱好者埃瑞克•康冬纳和美国前总统比尔•克林顿也跻身该榜。

一直以“雷人”英语而著称的小布什“轻而易举”地夺得该榜冠军，他的夺冠语录是：“我们的敌人足智多谋，我们也是。他们从没停止过想办法来侵害我们的国家和人民，我们也没有。”（Video）

亚军得主是加利福尼亚州州长施瓦辛格，他在2003年的一次竞选活动中冒出了这么一句让人摸不着头脑的话：“我认为同性婚姻应该是一男一女的结合。”施瓦辛格曾是一名健身教练，在竞选成为加州州长之前曾做过演员。

这项民意调查由一家保险公司委托开展，之前该公司获得了“简明英语运动组织”颁发的一个奖项。该调查评选出的十大不知所云语录还包括：

第三名，拉姆斯菲尔德于2002年2月所说的一段话：“媒体报道说我总是对尚未发生的事情感兴趣，因为正如我们所知，世界上有一些已知的已知，有我们知道自己知道的事。我们也知道还有一些已知的未知，也就是说我们知道自己还有一些不知道的事情。但也有一些未知的未知，也就是那些我们不知道自己不知道的事物。”

第四名，赛道汽车赛评论员穆雷•沃尔克：“领头的车绝对是独一无二的，除了它后面的那辆和它一模一样的车。”

第五名，足球评论员约翰•莫森：“看黑白电视的观众请注意，‘马刺’队穿的是黄色赛服。”

第六名，英国首相戈登•布朗；他于今年七月向立法委员解释他的预算计划时说：“总支出会继续上升，到2013年至2014年将为零增长。”

第七名，克林顿；1998年他就莫妮卡•莱温斯基事件在大陪审团面前作证时说：“这一切都取决于‘是’这个字的意思。如果‘是’的意思是‘是且从未有过’，那是一种情况；如果‘是’意味着‘现在没有’，那么该陈述就完全真实。”

第八名，康冬纳，1995年语录：“如果海鸥跟着拖网渔船，那是因为它们认为沙丁鱼会被扔进海里。”

第九名，布什，2001年7月语录：“我知道我的信仰是什么。我会继续表明我的信仰，我的信仰就是——我相信我的信仰是正确的。”

第十名，伦敦市长波里斯•强森，2003年他在英国的讽刺性智力竞赛节目《我带来的新闻》中说：“我不能给你更少的反对意见了。”

Vocabulary:

mangled: spoiled through ineptitude or ignorance (字等因发错音等而）让人无法听懂的

gobbledegook: pretentious or unintelligible language 冗长费解的话

romp: to run or advance in a rapid or easy manner 轻易地取胜，不费力地完成（romp through one's examinations 轻而易举地通过考试）

accolade: a special acknowledgment 荣誉

resourceful: able to act effectively or imaginatively, especially in difficult situations 足智多谋的

mint: to fabricate 制造（词语等）（mint words and phrases 创造词语）