英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)| 美國(guó)媒體思辨又升級(jí)：加菲貓到底是公還是母？

There are plenty of things you can feel positive knowing about Garfield - the cat who loves lasagna， hates Mondays and adores a teddy bear named Pooky. But last week， without warning， there rose a strange and sudden debate around a question about the famous feline that even creator Jim Davis needed to weigh in on： Is Garfield a boy， a girl， or no gender at all？

在加菲貓的身上你能夠看到不少優(yōu)秀的品質(zhì)，比如它喜歡意大利千層面，討厭星期一，還有它喜歡一只名叫“布奇”的泰迪熊。就在上周，毫無(wú)由來(lái)的，就有關(guān)這個(gè)出名的貓科動(dòng)物的性別，突如其來(lái)的爆發(fā)了一場(chǎng)爭(zhēng)論，連加菲貓的創(chuàng)作者吉姆戴維斯都要審慎對(duì)待：加菲貓到底是男生還是女生，或者說(shuō)沒(méi)有性別？

The argument appears to have begun when writer Virgil Texas came across a 2014 Mental Floss interview with Davis where he described his tabby creation as ‘not really male or female or any particular race or nationality， young or old.

這場(chǎng)爭(zhēng)論的源頭還要從2014年的心理牙線詼諧雜志，筆者維吉爾德克薩斯，采訪戴維斯時(shí)，他把自己創(chuàng)作這只斑紋貓形容成，不確定打底施工實(shí)木，沒(méi)有確切的種族、國(guó)籍、也不分老幼。

In response to the quote， Virgil wrote on Twitter： ‘FACT： Garfield has no gender. This. Is. Canon.’ So sure was he of Garfield‘s true gender status that Virgil even took it upon himself to update the Garfield character Wikipedia page with the information.

根據(jù)這一內(nèi)容，維吉爾就在推特上寫(xiě)，真實(shí)爆料：加菲貓沒(méi)有性別，這就是公認(rèn)。為此他還登陸了維基百科，更新了加菲貓的性別那一欄。（PS：好軸的歪果仁）

But it was quickly clear that not everyone agreed with Virgil‘s hasty edits， and thus began a war over the Wikipedia entry edits. The Washington Post reported that the battle took place over 60 hours and eventually ended when Wikipedia shut things down by locking the page.

很顯然不是所有人都認(rèn)同維吉爾的編輯，沒(méi)過(guò)多久在維基百科的編輯詞條上就引發(fā)了一場(chǎng)大戰(zhàn)。據(jù)華盛頓郵報(bào)報(bào)道，該戰(zhàn)斗持續(xù)了60小時(shí)，最終以維基百科鎖定該頁(yè)的編輯功能告終。

One editor cited multiple moments when Garfield is referred to as ‘he’ or ‘him’ or even ‘good boy’ by other characters in the comic strip.Another user wrote： ‘Garfield is male. Any other view is Fringe.’Others rooting for the genderless option added that it shouldn‘t matter at all whether Garfield is male or female and the gender classification from the Wikipedia entry should be removed entirely.

一位編輯人員曾引用加菲貓連環(huán)畫(huà)上，被稱作“他”，“他（賓格）”“好小伙”的用詞。另一位編輯人員寫(xiě)道：加菲貓是男性，其他觀點(diǎn)都不重要。更有甚者認(rèn)為，因?yàn)榧臃曝埵悄惺桥紱](méi)有關(guān)系，性別這個(gè)詞條不應(yīng)該加在里面，應(yīng)該整個(gè)把它移除。

The war became so overblown that even Capitol Hill appeared to jump in the fray， with Twitter boy chronicling Wikipedia entries made from U.S. Congress IP addresses reporting that someone in the House of Representatives did some editing of their own.

這件事情鬧得不可開(kāi)交，還因?yàn)閲?guó)會(huì)中有人，和之前發(fā)推特的戴維斯一樣也參與了詞條的編輯，國(guó)會(huì)的IP地址顯示，國(guó)會(huì)中有議員也按照自己的意愿編輯過(guò)詞條。

It was a statement that soon appeared to have been made in haste as Jim Davis indeed soon joined the debate， shutting everything down in one line to Washington Post： ‘Garfield is male.’The 71-year-old cartoonist also pointed out that Garfield has a girlfriend， Arlene， and claimed that his 2014 quotes had been ‘taken out of context. ‘I’ve always said that I wanted to work with animals because they’re not perceived as being any particular gender， race， age or ethnicity，‘ he said. ’In that sense， the humor could be enjoyed by a broader demographic.‘

沒(méi)過(guò)多久吉姆戴維斯也坐不住了參與了爭(zhēng)論，一句話平息爭(zhēng)論，發(fā)表在華盛頓郵報(bào)上：“加菲貓是男生（公的）?！边@位71歲的卡通創(chuàng)作者指出，加菲貓有女朋友叫阿琳，而且稱2014年的話是被人斷章取義了。他說(shuō)：“我喜歡和動(dòng)物有關(guān)的工作，因?yàn)樗麄儧](méi)有所謂的性別、人種、年齡或是種族，這樣幽默就能不受地域限制傳播的更廣?！?/p>