Stamp Issued 4,545 Years Too Late
古代邮票

Red-faced Sri Lankan postal authorities ordered an inquiry after a printing error left an important Buddhist commemorative stamp 4,545 years out of date, officials said. The stamp, issued in honor of one of the country's premier Buddhist societies, was dated 2544 BC, for “before Christ”, instead of BE, for “Buddhist era”, which would have signified the year of 2001 according to the Buddhist calendar. An official of the Philatelic Bureau said an inquiry had been launched, but said it was too late to recall the stamps from hundreds of post offices across the country. “It was a terribly embarrassing mistake. The whole point of using a Buddhist era date is lost,” the official said. Buddhists, about 70 percent of Sri Lanka's population, prefer to use a calendar dating from death of the Buddha, about 500 years before the birth of Christ, particularly in matters of religious significance.

　　据有关官员说，印刷错误致使一张重要的佛教纪念邮票过时了4545年之久，倍感尴尬的斯里兰卡邮政当局下令就此展开调查。这张邮票为纪念该国一个重要佛教组织而发行，其上的日期印成了“公元前2544年”（2544 BC）而不是“佛历2544年”（2544 BE），后者按佛教历法表示公元2001年。一位集邮局官员说他们已经开始调查，但是要想从全国各地数百个邮局中回收这些邮票则为时已晚。这位官员说：“这是个令人非常难堪的错误，使用佛历纪年的意义完全没有得到体现。”佛历纪元始自佛祖逝世之年，大约是在基督诞生前500年。占斯里兰卡人口70%的佛教徒更愿意使用佛历，特别是在有宗教意义的事情上。