与菲律宾前第一夫人伊梅尔达共进午餐

    科学家则频频否认这种看法，他们认为在人们游泳和捕鱼的海水中蕴含着同样充沛的氘化物。但她的儿子小费迪南德正在把挖掘氘化物作为自己的奋斗目标。就在圣诞节前夕，汽油价格和电费急剧上升。邦邦随即抓住并大肆利用这项议题，他建议募集大量资金，以推动海床氘化物挖掘。他的母亲恰好也在推动这项事业，同样将其奉为未来的能源来源。在这样一个极具未来主义风格、儒勒•凡尔纳般的场景（埋藏在海沟深处的氘化物既是可以触及的，也是异常充沛的）中，伊梅尔达看上去就像是一位富有创见的梦想家。她声称，40多年来，为了获得独家开采权，她已经支付了总计数亿美元的费用。她解释说：“我去年不得不借贷大约600万美元，以支付相关费用。”

    伊梅尔达毫无歉意。普通人或许认为，对于那段与鞋子相联系的历史，她肯定懊恼不已。但今天，不少于765双归她所有的鞋子正在马里卡纳鞋饰博物馆(Footwear Museum of Marikana，博物馆的名字源自当地一个以鞋匠闻名的城区)展出。为这家博物馆揭幕的正是伊梅尔达本人。在她看来，她收藏的迪奥(Dior)、菲拉格慕(Ferragamo)等奢华品牌和当地鞋饰是或者说应该是菲律宾人的一大骄傲。，伊梅尔达在2001年举行的博物馆开幕仪式上宣称：“这家博物馆正在把丑闻的靶子转变为美的化身。”她随后描述了1986年她和丈夫逃离后总统官邸被突袭的景象。“他们打开我的衣柜，试图寻找一些见不得人的东西。但感谢上帝，呈现在他们面前的全是漂亮的鞋子！”

    伊梅尔达•马科斯可以被嘲笑，被讥讽，被谩骂。但无论是过去，还是将来，她永远都不可能被其他人抢走风头。（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒   

    Scientists frequently disagree, stating that deuterium is just as plentiful in the sea water you swim and fish in. But her son Ferdinand is making hydrogen a crusade. Just before Christmas, prices for gasoline and electric bills rose steeply. Bongbong pounced on the issue, proposing major funding to promote ocean-bed hydrogen mining, which his mother just happens to be promoting, as the energy source of the future. In a highly futuristic, Jules Verne-like scenario where deep-trench deuterium is both reachable and plentiful, Imelda will look like a visionary. She's been paying fees, hundreds of millions in total, she claims, for more than 40 years to control the exclusive extraction rights. "I almost had to borrow $6 million last year to make the payment," she explains.

    Imelda is nothing if not unapologetic. You'd think she might be chagrined about her history with footwear. But today, no fewer than 765 pairs of her shoes are on display at the Footwear Museum of Marikana, named for a district famous for its cobblers -- and Imelda inaugurated the museum herself. For her, the Diors, Ferragamos, and local wares are, or should be, an immense source of pride for Filipinos. At the museum's opening ceremony in 2001, Imelda declared, "The museum is making a subject of notoriety into an object of beauty." She then described the palace raid that occurred after she and her husband fled in 1986: "They went into my closets looking for skeletons, but thank God, all they found were beautiful shoes!"

    Imelda Marcos can be mocked, ridiculed, and reviled. But she can never, ever be upstaged.