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A writer's confessions embarrass Lonely Planet travel guides 背包客聖經寂寞星球遭爆料造假
Monday, Apr 21, 2008,Page 15
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A woman poses holding two Lonely Planet books in Neihu, Taipei, on April 16, 2008.
一位拿著兩本寂寞星球旅遊指南的女孩；四月十六日攝於台北內湖。照片：台北時報
PHOTO: MICHAEL KEARNEY, TAIPEI TIMES
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The language was hardly typical of the CEO of a respected travel guide publisher. “This is a shit,” Lonely Planet chief executive Judy Slatyer wrote to employees. “None of you deserve it, given the effort you put in.”
The problem for Slatyer and her colleagues was that a Lonely Planet author had published an exposé of the world of budget-travel writing.
Thomas Kohnstamm, co-author of a dozen Lonely Planet guides to Latin America and the Caribbean, has written his own book. In it he tells how the life of a travel writer is one of poor pay, dealing drugs to make ends meet and, in one case, failing to visit the country he was writing about.
The furor over Kohnstamm’s claims threatens to undermine the series’ most important asset: trustworthiness.
“I found out very quickly I was not able to go to all the places I needed to go to,” he told interviewers. “They didn’t pay me enough to go to Colombia. I wrote the book in San Francisco. I got the information from a chick I was dating.”
Lonely Planet moved swiftly to counter Kohnstamm’s charges. For example, the company said his claims that he did not travel to Colombia were “disingenuous” because he was hired to write about the history of the country, not to travel there.
But another Lonely Planet author, Jeanne Oliver, wrote back that the company should shoulder some responsibility: “Why did you [management] not understand that when you hire a constant stream of new, unvetted people, pay them poorly and set them loose, that someone, somehow was going to screw you?”
For now, Kohnstamm says his days of exotic adventure are behind him. He has moved back to his native Seattle and will soon concentrate on promoting his book, Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?
(THE GUARDIAN)
「這根本就是胡說八道，」對一個受人景仰的旅遊指南出版社執行長來說，說這樣的話並不常見；寂寞星球執行長茱蒂．史萊雅在寫給員工的信中說：「努力投入工作的你們，沒有人該承受這種污辱。」
史萊雅之所以會寫這封信給她的同事們，是因為有一位《寂寞星球》的作者出版了一本書，內容揭露旅遊作者在有限預算下寫作的弊端。
曾和其他作者合著寂寞星球拉丁美洲和加勒比海等旅遊指南的湯瑪士．康史達姆個人撰寫了一本新書；書中提到旅遊作者的稿費少得可憐，必須靠販毒才能糊口，而且他還介紹了一個他根本就沒去過的國家。
康史達姆的言論所引起的風波，可能會動搖該旅遊指南最重要的核心價值：可信度。
「我很快就發現我根本沒辦法去我需要去的地方，」他告訴記者：「因為他們付給我的錢根本不夠付我去哥倫比亞的旅費，我是在舊金山寫完哥倫比亞指南，裡面的資訊都是和我交往的女孩告訴我的。」
寂寞星球立刻針對康史達姆的指控作出回應；例如，出版社表示，康史達姆說他沒有造訪哥倫比亞這點「不坦誠」，因為他的工作是負責撰寫哥國的歷史，而不是遊記。
但是另一位寂寞星球作者珍妮．奧立弗回信表示，公司應該負擔部份責任；她說：「你們這些管理者為什麼不明白在你們不斷聘僱新進、未經審核的作者，支付他們微薄的報酬，又沒有控管制度的情況下，遲早會遭人惡整的道理呢？」
康史達姆則表示，他現在已經不再四處旅遊了，他已搬回家鄉西雅圖，而且他很快就會投入新書《旅遊作者該去死嗎？》的宣傳活動。（衛報／翻譯：袁星塵）
| SAY WHAT? 挲挲艘 |
make ends meet 辭��緇諳
The phrase make ends meet means to have enough money to pay for your basic living expenses. It's usually used to refer to someone who has just enough money to get by. For example, "I have a teaching job in the morning and sometimes act as a way of making ends meet."
Someone who is just making ends meet is scraping by, which means he or she only has enough money to pay for his or her basic necessities. For example, "Mark works a lot of odd jobs to scrape by, which is why he gets upset when his boss asks him to do overtime for no extra pay."
「make ends meet」這個片語的意思是有足夠的錢來支付日常生活的基本開銷，通常用來形容賺的錢僅夠糊口的人。例如：「我早上有在教書，但賺的錢有時也僅夠糊口而已」。
賺的錢僅夠糊口的人也可以說她或他是「scrape by」，表示這個人僅有足夠支付基本所需的錢。例如：「馬克靠打多份零工勉強糊口，這就是為什麼他的老闆要求他逾時加班時他會生氣的原因」。
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| OUT LOUD 對話練習 |
Todd: What are you doing?
Chris: I𠍿 just working on my cover letter.
Todd: Let me see. Here you say, "Have computer skills will travel." Does that mean you're prepared to move?
Chris: If I were offered a good enough job, I wouldn't mind a change of scenery.
Todd: Keep me posted on any offers you get.
陶德：你在做什麼啊？
克里斯：我在寫我的求職信。
陶德：我來看看，你寫說：「具備電腦專長，接受外派。」你的意思是你打算離開嗎？
克里斯：如果有夠好的工作，我不介意換個環境。
陶德：有什麼消息的話要通知我喔。
have something will travel 具...並願意接受外派
The phrase have something will travel means that you have a special skill or item and you're willing to go to a new place and use it. For example, "I𠍿 sick of living in Los Angeles. I have Spanish skills will travel," Rodrigo said.
「have something will travel」這個片語的意思就是你有某項專業技能或專長，而且你願意到另一個地方發揮所長。例如，羅追哥說：「我受夠洛杉磯的生活了，我會說西班牙文，願意接受外派到其他地方。」 |
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| TODAY'S WORDS 今日單字 |
| 1. expose n.
爆料 (bao4 liao4),揭發 (jie1 fa1)
例: Cindy put her expose on the Internet.
(辛蒂在網站上爆料。)
2. furor n.
轟動 (hong1 dong4)
例: Words cannot express the furor caused by the postman's latest comments.
(那個郵差最近發言所造成的轟動非言語所能形容。)
3. disingenuous adj.
虛偽的 (xu1 wei4 de5)，不坦白的 (bu4 tan3 bai2 de5)
例: "You mustn't think I'm disingenuous. Here, have some pie," the restaurant manager said.
(餐廳經理說：「我真的沒有別的意思。來，吃點派。」)
4. unvetted adj.
未經檢查的 (wei4 jing1 jian3 cha2 de5)
例: "They'll just find an unvetted person to replace Kate," the bank teller said.
(銀行出納員說：「他們會隨便找個未經過篩選的人來取代凱特。」)
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