A gas station worker reads a text message on his mobile phone, as a colleague looks on, in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Aug. 13, 2006. 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 city bereft of entertainment, text messaging and swapping ringtones are all the rage for 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 ringtones speak volumes about the 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. Iraqis fiddling with their 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)

嘟--嘟--嘟！短信來了：“布什總統擬訂將全體伊拉克人趕出伊拉克的時間表。” 這不是一條新聞，而是阿布杜勒·卡里姆收到的一條手機短信，卡里姆每天都會從朋友那里收到20條左右的搞笑短信，所以，他的手機總是嘟嘟嘟的響個不停。 在這個了無生趣的城市，發短信和互發手機鈴聲成了伊拉克年輕人用來調節生活的流行時尚。由于受到國內安全形勢的影響，伊拉克的大多數餐館、咖啡館和電影院都停止營業了。 手機短信和鈴聲的內容充分反映了國內局勢，其中包括自殺性爆炸、宗派主義、能源斷供、油價以及薩達姆和美國總統喬治·布什的一些笑話和歌曲。 眼下，手機商店成了伊拉克唯一生意興隆的商店，店里出售各種手機鈴音光盤，價格在每張2美元左右。那些專門為“短信族”編寫的短篇笑話集也十分暢銷。 伊拉克人擺弄著手機招搖過市就像紐約人身上掛著iPod一樣，是一種時尚。 阿布杜勒·卡里姆說：“這里沒有更多的事可做，手機可能是我們表達自己心聲的唯一場所。” 過去，卡里姆每個月要買60美元的充值卡，給女朋友發很多“我想你”的短信。 和女友分手后，卡里姆開始改發別的短信了。現在，他每天都給他的阿姨發很多搞笑短信，其中最多的是關于庫爾德族人的笑話。 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方面，甚至包括愛情短信。有一條流行短信是這樣寫的：“我為你送上愛的坦克，傾慕的子彈和一架思念的火箭。” 還有一段由庫里歐的《黑幫天堂》改編而成的手機鈴音頗為流行。而伊拉克的這個版本則是一段酷似薩達姆聲音的英文說唱：“我是薩達姆，我沒有炸彈/布什想要我下臺/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。” 這首搞笑歌曲的結尾是：“我沒多少日子了，我要完蛋了/現在我只想吃辣薯條”，這時，一群人集體喊道“永別了，上帝詛咒你！” (英語點津姍姍編輯)