瑞士和瑞典，你能分清楚嗎？
這兩個歐洲國家——一個因巧克力、奶酪和鐘表而聞名;另一個則因宜家、沃爾沃集團和七十年代Abba流行樂隊而享譽，卻常常被中國人搞混淆了。
The problem largely stems from the fact that both nations' names are written similarly in Mandarin - Ruidian (Sweden) and Ruishi (Switzerland) – which begin with the same symbol, according to the Swedish Consul General Victoria Li in China.
瑞典駐中國領(lǐng)事館的維多利亞-李認為，問題很大程度上是因為這兩個國家的漢語名字很相似——瑞典和瑞士都以“瑞”字開頭。
In an effort to put an end to the mix-up, the Swedish and Swiss consulates in Shanghai have launched a competition on the Swedish Consulate website, asking Chinese people to come up with funny ways to help differentiate the two countries. Submissions can be accepted as a blog post, cartoon, photo, short film or in any other format.
為避免混淆，瑞典和瑞士的駐上海領(lǐng)事館在瑞典使館的網(wǎng)站上發(fā)起了一項比賽——邀請中國人想出有趣的辦法來區(qū)分這兩個國家。提交格式可以是博文、卡通、照片、短片或其他形式。
The winner with the best submission will receive a 12-day trip to Sweden and Switzerland and will be expected to report back on their impressions of both countries following the trip, the website states. Entries will be accepted until November 20.
網(wǎng)站上的比賽說明寫道，最佳作品優(yōu)勝者可享有瑞典與瑞士12日游，并在旅行歸來后反饋自己對這兩個國家的印象。報名截止日期是11月20日。
The organisers have also devised a humorous campaign logo portraying a montage of objects and people associated with Sweden and Switzerland on separate maps of each country.
主辦方還設(shè)計出了頗為詼諧的活動標識，分別在瑞典及瑞士地圖上形象地標出相應(yīng)的人與物。
Sweden’s map features meatballs, a Viking, Pippi Longstocking from Astrid Lindgren’s books, as well as two male cartoon figures with a heart between them symbolising gay marriage, which remains illegal in Switzerland. Switzerland's map features cheese, fondue, the Alps and a picture of Roger Federer.
瑞典的地圖上標有肉丸、維京玩具、兒童文學(xué)作家阿斯特里德-林格倫筆下的“長襪子皮皮”、還有象征同性婚姻的兩個卡通愛心男人形象(這在瑞士仍視為非法);瑞士的地圖上標有奶酪、奶酪火鍋、阿爾卑斯山以及一張網(wǎng)球運動員羅杰-費德勒的照片。
China may not be the only country struggling to tell Sweden and Switzerland apart. Residents of Spanish-speaking countries also fall victim to the confusion as Sweden is spelt ‘Suecia’ in Spanish while Switzerland is called ‘Suiza’.
其實不止中國人分不清瑞典和瑞士，西班牙語國家的人也常常搞混——在西班牙語里，瑞典拼為“Suecia”，瑞士則是“Suiza”。
Sweden and Switzerland aren't the only destinations that have caused confusion among travellers. Last month, a British holidaymaker hoped to explore the architecture of the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, but instead mistakenly caught a flight across the Atlantic to the tropical Caribbean island of Grenada following a confusing booking blunder. Earlier this summer, two US holidaymakers were flown to the wrong continent after an airline confused two airport codes.
對旅行者來說，也不只是瑞典和瑞士這兩個地方會讓他們犯糊涂。上個月，有個英國人想度假游覽位于西班牙格拉納達市的阿爾漢布拉宮，結(jié)果卻搭錯航班，飛越大西洋到了熱帶加勒比海的格林納達島，搞得各種預(yù)約亂翻了天。今年夏初，因為航空公司搞混了兩家機場代碼，導(dǎo)致兩個美國度假者完全換到了南轅北轍的目的地。
China was the biggest spender in international tourism last year, overtaking Italy, Japan, France and Britain, and is the world's fastest-growing tourism source market, according to the latest figures from the World Tourism Organization earlier this year.
今年年初根據(jù)世界旅游組織的統(tǒng)計，去年中國已超過意大利、日本、法國和英國，成為國際旅游的最大消費國，并且還是全球發(fā)展最快的旅游市場。
