Memorable Quotes by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

　　美国国防部长拉姆斯.菲尔德的著名语录

      这是一个完美废话的集合，它展示了前美国国防部部长的智慧，虽然这些句子中的一些经常出现在各媒体选出的世界蠢话排行榜上，然而我们还是可以从中看出一些无奈的幽默，特别是考虑到他说这些话时错综复杂的情况，并且还有一个全世界公认的不那么聪明的上司时。

　　"I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started."

　　“我不认为未来一定比过去更难以预言，相反，我认为当过去开始时它也是不可预料的。”

　　"We do know of certain knowledge that he [Osama Bin Laden] is either in Afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead."

　　“我们有确信的消息知道他(奥萨马 本.拉灯)不是在阿富汗就是在其他国家或是死了。”

　　"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." –on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction

　　“我们知道他们在哪。他们在Tikrit附近及巴格达或是东部，西部，南部，北部也有可能。”——在谈到伊拉克大规模杀伤性武器。

　　"Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war."

　　“死亡会鼓励战争悲观情绪。”

　　"Freedom's untidy and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things." –on looting in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, adding "stuff happens"

　　“自由是杂乱无章的而且自由的人们可以随意犯错误，犯罪及做坏事。”——美国入侵伊拉克后对伊拉克出现抢劫暴动事件说的话

　　"As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

　　“如你所知，你是带着你已拥有的军队参加战争，而不是进入战争后决定可能带多少军队或想拥有多少军队。

　　"[Osama Bin Laden is] either alive and well or alive and not too well or not alive."

　　“[奥萨马 本.拉登]不是活着且活得很好就是活着但活得不很好或是死了。”

　　"I am not going to give you a number for it because it's not my business to do intelligent work." -asked to estimate the number of Iraqi insurgents while testifying before Congress

　　“我不会给你一个具体的数字因为做算术不是我的工作。”——当被问及估计伊拉克暴动的数目而在议会前此数字正在确认中。

　　"I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think, and, well, I assume it's what I said."

　　“我相信我昨天说的话。我不知道我说了什么，但是我知道我所想的，那么，我假设那是我说的吧。”

　　"Needless to say, the President is correct. Whatever it was he said."

　　“说是多余的，总统是正确的。不管他说什么。”

　　"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

　　“那些对还未发生的事做的报导，常常是我们感兴趣的，因为据我所知，有已知的已知，我们知道有些事我们知道。我们也知道有已知的未知，就是说我们知道有些事我们不知道。但也有未知的未知——那些我们不知道我们不知道的。

　　"If I said yes, that would then suggest that that might be the only place where it might be done which would not be accurate, necessarily accurate. It might also not be inaccurate, but I'm disinclined to mislead anyone."

　　“如果我说是，那就暗示那是唯一的地方，但是没必要那么准确的。这也不是不准确，但我是不愿意误导任何人的。

　　"There's another way to phrase that and that is that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. It is basically saying the same thing in a different way. Simply because you do not have evidence that something does exist does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist." -on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction

　　“也有另一种表达，那就是没有证据不能证明证据不存在。这是同一件事的用不同方式的表达。你没有证据证明一些东西的确存在并不意味着你就有证据证明它不存在。”——关于伊拉克大规模杀伤性武器

　　"It is unknowable how long that conflict [the war in Iraq] will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." -in Feb. 2003

　　“冲突[伊拉克战争]持续多久事不可知的。可能持续六天，六个星期。我猜可能是六个月。”——2003年2月

　　"Well, um, you know, something's neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so, I suppose, as Shakespeare said."

　　“好吧，你知道，按莎士比亚所说的，我认为，一些东西既不好也不坏那只能考虑把他们变成那样。”

　　"Learn to say 'I don't know.' If used when appropriate, it will be often."

　　“学会说不知道。若是在适当的时候使用，它会很常用。

　　"I don't know what the facts are but somebody's certainly going to sit down with him and find out what he knows that they may not know, and make sure he knows what they know that he may not know."

　　“我不知道事实，但一些人的确会和我一起坐在一起并发现他知道他们不知道，且确信他知道他们知道他也许不知道。”

　　"If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly."

　　“如果我知道答案我会告诉你答案，如果我不知道，我只会巧妙的回应。”