President Jose Mujica says he has received a million-dollar offer to buy his blue 1987 Volkswagen Beetle1, which has become a symbol of the Uruguayan leader's austere2 lifestyle.
乌拉圭总统穆吉卡日前称，已有人出一百万美元的高价购买其破旧的座驾。这辆1987年出厂的蓝色“甲壳虫”已经成为穆吉卡简朴作风的象征。
The man once nicknamed "the poorest president in the world" told the Uruguayan weekly Busqueda that an Arab sheik offered $1 million for the
humble3 car. When asked about the reported offer at a news conference, Mujica said: "That's what they said to me, but I didn't give it any importance."
In an informal chat, Mexico's ambassador to Uruguay recently suggested to Mujica that he
auction4 the Beetle in Mexico and predicted he could get 10 four-wheel-drive trucks for it, according to a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy who
spoke5 on condition of
anonymity6 because he was not authorised to talk with the press.
Mujica said that if got $1 million for the car, he would donate the money to a program he supports that gives housing to the homeless. If he got trucks for it, he said, they could go to Uruguay's public health office or his campaign workers.
The president said he would gladly auction the Beetle because he has "no commitment to cars" and he joked that he didn't sell it because of his dog Manuela, famous for only having three legs.
Asked why someone would pay a fortune for his little car, Mujica said: "Human beings have a bit of fetishism; we need certain material symbols." He
noted7 that he keeps a hammer and
shovel8 that belonged to his father. "They are little things to the world, but are worth a lot to you."
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