◎張沛元

President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is having some fun -- and raising some money -- from a flap over whether Obama was born in the United States.

歐巴馬總統的連任競選陣營從他是否在美國出生的騷動中找樂子──與募款。

The Obama campaign is offering a "Made in the USA" T-shirt emblazoned with the president’s birth certificate in exchange for a $30 donation. There are coffee mugs as well.

歐巴馬競選陣營提供印有總統出生證明的「美國製造」T恤，以換取30美元的捐款。此外也有咖啡馬克杯。

Some Republicans have theorized Obama was born in Kenya, birthplace of his father, instead of Hawaii.

部分共和黨人一直推論，歐巴馬出生於他的父親的出生地肯亞，而非美國夏威夷州。

Obama ignored the accusations until wealthy real estate magnate Donald Trump made the "birther" issue a central part of his campaign to decide whether to challenge Obama in 2012. The U.S. Constitution requires the American president to be born in the United States.

歐巴馬對這些指控充耳不聞，直到口袋夠深的地產大亨唐納．川普以此出生地議題作為他是否在2012年挑戰歐巴馬的競選主軸。美國憲法規定，美國總統必須出生於美國。

With a sizable percentage of Americans expressing doubts about Obama’s birthplace, Obama later produced a longer version of his birth certificate that confirmed he was born at a Honolulu hospital in 1961.

有鑑於有極大比例的美國人質疑歐巴馬的出生地，歐巴馬稍後提出較長版本的出生證明，證實他在1961年生於檀香山的一家醫院。

新聞辭典

flap：名詞，拍打；騷動（非正式用法）。例句：There was a flap in Congress over the defense budget.（國會中發生國防預算騷動。）

have fun：慣用語，享受，找樂子。例句：Forget your failures and have fun.（忘了失敗，盡情享受吧。）

in exchange （for someone or something）：慣用語，交換。例句：The woman was convicted of allowing a lot of men to have sex with her grandchildren in exchange for money.（那個女人因為讓許多男人跟她的孫子們發生性行為以換取金錢而遭到定罪。）