President Barack Obama has apologized for a gaffe¹ in which he described his bowling² skills as akin³ to participants in the Special Olympics, a sports program for people with intellectual disabilities.

Obama made the mistake during an interview on Thursday night on "The Tonight Show" with host Jay Leno, the first time a sitting U.S. president had been on the show.

Talking about living in the White House, Obama said he had been practicing his bowling in the home's bowling alley⁴ and had scored a 129 out of a possible 300.

It was an improvement on the embarrassing 37 he had rolled during a stop on the presidential campaign trail a year ago.

"It's like -- it was like Special Olympics or something," Obama said.

The Special Olympics is a global nonprofit organization serving some 200 million people with intellectual disabilities, with a presence in nearly 200 countries worldwide.

Soon after the Jay Leno interview, Obama telephoned Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver to apologize.

Shriver told ABC's "Good Morning America" television show that Obama had apologized "in a way that I think was very moving" and that he said "he did not intend to humiliate⁵ the population, didn't want to embarrass or give anybody any more reason for pain or kind of suffering."

Shriver said people should gain a lesson from the incident.

"I think it's important to see that words hurt. Words do matter. And these words in some respect, can be seen as humiliating or aput-down to people with special needs, do cause pain. And they do result in stereotypes," Shriver said.

White House spokesman Bill Burton said Obama "made an offhand⁶ remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage⁷ the Special Olympics."

"He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world," Burton said.

美国总统奥巴马日前（在接受采访时）自嘲保龄球技与特奥会运动员差不多，之后他为自己的这番言论道歉。特奥会是专门为智障人士举行的体育赛事。

奥巴马于上周四晚接受杰伊•莱诺主持的《今夜秀》节目的采访时犯了这个错误，这是美国历史上首位在任总统做客该节目。

在谈及白宫生活时，奥巴马说他一直在家中的保龄球场练习打保龄，有一次打出了129分（满分300分）的成绩。

这与一年前他在总统竞选期间只得到37分的糟糕成绩相比可谓进步不小。

奥巴马说：“我的保龄球技和特奥会（运动员）差不多。”

特奥会是一个国际性的非赢利组织，服务于全球近200个国家的约2亿名智障人士。

节目录制完不久，奥巴马就打电话给特奥会主席蒂姆•施立弗致歉。

施立弗在接受ABC电视台《早安美国》节目的采访时说，奥巴马“道歉的方式在我看来十分感人”，他说“他无意侮辱特奥会运动员，没想羞辱任何人或给任何人带来痛苦或伤害。”

施立弗说，人们应该从这件事中吸取教训。

他说：“我认为重要的是人们要意识到言语会伤人。遣词造句很重要。这些言语从某一角度看可以被视为是对特殊人群的侮辱或贬低，会对他们造成伤害，还会引起偏见。”

白宫发言人比尔•伯顿说，奥巴马是在“自嘲自己的保龄球技时即兴说出了这番话，绝对没有藐视特奥会的意思”。

伯顿说：“他认为特奥会是一个了不起的体育赛事，为世界各地的残障人士提供了一个展示自己的机会。”

Vocabulary:

akin:having a similar quality or character; analogous⁸（类似的；相似的）

put-down:贬低(或奚落)的行为

offhand: without preparation or forethought; extemporaneously⁹. （未经准备地：没有准备或事先思考；即席地）