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A gas station worker reads a text message on his mobile phone, as a colleague looks on, in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Aug. 13, 2006.
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Beep, beep, beep. Then the text comes: " President Bush calls for a timetable for the withdrawal of the Iraqi people from Iraq."
It's not a news update. It's Omar Abdul Kareem's relentlessly beeping cell phone - and one of the 20 or so humorous text messages he gets every day from his friends.
In a citybereft ofentertainment, text messaging and swapping ringtones areall the ragefor young Iraqis trying to lighten their lives. Most restaurants, cafes and movies have closed due to the country's security situation.
The content of the text messages and ringtonesspeak volumes aboutthe state of affairs here: jokes and songs about suicide bombings, sectarianism, power outages, gas prices, Saddam Hussein and George Bush.
Cell phone shops, the only crowded stores these days, sell special CDs with ringtones at about $2 apiece. Collections of short jokes especially written for texters are best-sellers.
Iraqisfiddling withtheir cell phones on the streets look like New Yorkers hooked on iPods.
"It's not like there's much to do around here," Abdul Kareem said. "It's perhaps the only venue to express ourselves."
He used to buy $60 worth of prepaid phone cards a month to text to his girlfriend - until they broke up.
After sending her a lot of "I miss you" texts, he's moved on. Now he sends his aunt dozens of jokes, most of them at the expense of ethnic Kurds.
The daily reality of violence and explosions has influenced every aspect of Iraqi life - including love notes. "I send you the tanks of my love, bullets of my admiration and a rocket of my yearning," one popular message reads.
A popular ringtone features the music from Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise." But the local version includes a voice similar to Saddam's rapping in English: "I'm Saddam, I don't have a bomb/Bush wants to kick me/I don't know why/smoking weed and getting high/I know the devil's by my side."
The song concludes with: "My days are over and I'm gonna die/all I need is chili fries" as a crowd yells "Goodbye forever, may God curse you."
(Agencies)
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嘟--嘟--嘟！短信來(lái)了：“布什總統(tǒng)擬訂將全體伊拉克人趕出伊拉克的時(shí)間表。”
這不是一條新聞，而是阿布杜勒·卡里姆收到的一條手機(jī)短信，卡里姆每天都會(huì)從朋友那里收到20條左右的搞笑短信，所以，他的手機(jī)總是嘟嘟嘟的響個(gè)不停。
在這個(gè)了無(wú)生趣的城市，發(fā)短信和互發(fā)手機(jī)鈴聲成了伊拉克年輕人用來(lái)調(diào)節(jié)生活的流行時(shí)尚。由于受到國(guó)內(nèi)安全形勢(shì)的影響，伊拉克的大多數(shù)餐館、咖啡館和電影院都停止?fàn)I業(yè)了。
手機(jī)短信和鈴聲的內(nèi)容充分反映了國(guó)內(nèi)局勢(shì)，其中包括自殺性爆炸、宗派主義、能源斷供、油價(jià)以及薩達(dá)姆和美國(guó)總統(tǒng)喬治·布什的一些笑話和歌曲。
眼下，手機(jī)商店成了伊拉克唯一生意興隆的商店，店里出售各種手機(jī)鈴音光盤(pán)，價(jià)格在每張2美元左右。那些專門(mén)為“短信族”編寫(xiě)的短篇笑話集也十分暢銷。
伊拉克人擺弄著手機(jī)招搖過(guò)市就像紐約人身上掛著iPod一樣，是一種時(shí)尚。
阿布杜勒·卡里姆說(shuō)：“這里沒(méi)有更多的事可做，手機(jī)可能是我們表達(dá)自己心聲的唯一場(chǎng)所。”
過(guò)去，卡里姆每個(gè)月要買(mǎi)60美元的充值卡，給女朋友發(fā)很多“我想你”的短信。
和女友分手后，卡里姆開(kāi)始改發(fā)別的短信了。現(xiàn)在，他每天都給他的阿姨發(fā)很多搞笑短信，其中最多的是關(guān)于庫(kù)爾德族人的笑話。
在伊拉克，暴力和爆炸事件成為家常便飯，影響到人民生活的各個(gè)方面，甚至包括愛(ài)情短信。有一條流行短信是這樣寫(xiě)的：“我為你送上愛(ài)的坦克，傾慕的子彈和一架思念的火箭。”
還有一段由庫(kù)里歐的《黑幫天堂》改編而成的手機(jī)鈴音頗為流行。而伊拉克的這個(gè)版本則是一段酷似薩達(dá)姆聲音的英文說(shuō)唱：“我是薩達(dá)姆，我沒(méi)有炸彈/布什想要我下臺(tái)/但我不知道為什么/吸口大麻爽到家/我知道魔鬼就在我身邊。”
這首搞笑歌曲的結(jié)尾是：“我沒(méi)多少日子了，我要完蛋了/現(xiàn)在我只想吃辣薯?xiàng)l”，這時(shí)，一群人集體喊道“永別了，上帝詛咒你！”
(英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯)
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