November 27, 2009, 6:28 AM ET
White House Says Thanks To Diplomatic Beijing Cabbies
Three taxi drivers in Beijing got a special Thanksgiving gift from Washington, D.C.
Following U.S. President Barack Obama’s state visit to China, three cabbies received certificates of appreciation from the White House for providing safe and comfortable transportation services to members of the president’s delegation during their visit to the Chinese capital last week, according to Chinese media reports.
The three — Wang Decheng, Zhou Yong and Yang Bo — all work for the Shou Qi Group, a Beijing-based taxi company, and were selected to serve the White House communications team during their stay in the city on Nov. 16 to 18.
Excellent driving skills and service quality were the main reasons why they were chosen for the lofty duty, say the drivers, who all have more than a decade’s experience, according to the reports. They were notified of the task a few days before President Obama and his staff arrived in Beijing, but they kept it secret from everyone, including their families, for security reasons.
The drivers speak enough English to conduct simple conversations, though they didn’t have a chance to say much besides the names of destinations. “We’d rather not talk too much,” said Zhou, according to the Beijing Youth Daily (in Chinese here, along with a gallery of cabbie photos). “If we had said anything inappropriate, it could have had a bad influence on the nation’s image.”
The trio of model cabbies may be developing something of a specialty in serving foreign dignitaries. According to the Chinese media reports, they also provided transportation services for a group of Italian officials during last year’s Beijing Olympics.
–Juliet Ye
source: http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2009/11/27/white-house-says-thanks-to-diplomatic-beijing-cabbies/tab/print/
cabby: US english, taxi driver
lofty duty: providing safe and comfortable transportation services to members of the president’s delegation during their visit in China
conduct simple conversations: 进行简单的（英文）对话
If we had said anything inappropriate, it could have had a bad influence on the nation’s image.
该句为虚拟句，意思为：若我们说了什么不该说的，那就会对国家形象造成极坏影响。
trio of model cabbies: the three — Wang Decheng, Zhou Yong and Yang Bo
foreign dignitary: 此处指西方访华高级官员