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US President George W. Bush (R) shows a typical, handmade "gaucho" belt given to him by his Uruguayan counterpart Tabare Vazquez March 2007.
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In 2006, gift-minded world leaders made sure that US President George W. Bush could listen to all of Mozart while smoking a cigar and reflecting on Gandhi's "Seven Social Sins," according to a US State Department list revealed on December 7th.
An Indian lawmaker, Nirmal Deshpande, gave the US president perhaps the least expensive present of his time in office: The yellow linen scroll with Gandhi's warnings, with an estimated worth of seven dollars-or one per sin.
At the other end of the spectrum, Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra gave Bush an 11,000-dollar Cartier Santos Dumont watch in April 2006. The Thai military toppled Thaksin's government in September 2006.
The Saudi king Abdullah gave Cheney the most expensive present on the list, which is required to make public under US law -- a 55,000-dollar, 18-karat white gold, ruby and diamond jewelry set.
As is common practice, Bush did not keep most of the gifts -- except for Gandhi's autobiography and a book about him, both from Nirmal Deshpande -- but passed most along to the US National Archives or other US government offices.
Bush received athletic equipment from several leaders, including a leather horse saddle from Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and black leather Huszar riding boots from Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.
Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt gave Bush, an avid bicyclist, two gray and navy blue cycling jerseys and tights, embossed with the president's name.
Junichiro Koizumi, the former Japanese prime minister numbered among Bush's closest friends on the world scene, gave the president an electric-power assisted bicycle, as well as a collection of Elvis Presley works.
In a more classical vein, Austrian President Heinz Fischer gave his US counterpart the "Mozart Complete Edition" -- a massive set valued at 1,276 dollars.
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(Agencies)
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美國國務院于本月7日公布了2006年白宮的“收禮清單”。布什總統收到的來自各國領導人的禮物可謂五花八門，有雪茄、《莫扎特音樂全集》和甘地的《社會七宗罪》等。布什總統可以一邊叼著雪茄、聽著莫扎特的音樂，一邊領會甘地的大作了。
印度立法委員娜瑪拉?迪什潘德送給布什總統的那本甘地的著作《社會七宗罪》可能是這份白宮“禮單”中最便宜的禮物，這本牛皮紙質的書估計僅值七美元，“一宗罪”差不多一美元吧！
而布什總統收到的最昂貴的禮物則是泰國前總理他信去年4月送給他的一塊價值1.1萬美元的卡迪亞?山度士?杜蒙特表。他信政府于去年九月在軍事政變中被推翻。
沙特阿拉伯國王阿卜杜拉送給副總統切尼的一套18克拉的白金、紅寶石和鉆石首飾是“收禮清單”中最名貴的禮物，按照美國法律規定，這套價值5.5萬美元的禮品得上交政府。
按照慣例，布什總統將大多數禮物都上交給了美國國家檔案館及其它政府機關，自己只留了娜瑪拉?迪什潘德送給他的兩本書——一本是甘地自傳，另一本也是關于甘地的書。
此外，布什總統還收到幾位國家領導人贈送的運動裝備，其中包括巴基斯坦總理阿濟茲送的一個皮馬鞍以及匈牙利總理胡扎送的一雙黑皮馬靴。
布什總統酷愛騎車，比利時首相伏思達的禮物是兩套藍灰相間的騎行服和運動緊身衣，上面鑲有布什的名字。
日本前首相小泉純一郎算得上是布什在國際范圍內為數不多的密友之一，他曾贈送給布什一輛電動自行車和一套“貓王”的歌曲精選集。
奧地利總統海因茨?菲舍爾的禮物則似乎顯得更有“品位”，他送給布什一套價值約1276美元的《莫扎特音樂全集》。
（英語點津姍姍編輯）
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