This trip wasn't the first time that Abobaker worked as a journalistic "fixer" -- or a jack-of-all-trades guide who does translations and arranges interviews.

求高手指點此處“fixer”正確翻譯

My comments:

A fixer is slang for someone who gets things fixed, i.e. solves problems for you.

Problems that, apparently, not everyone else can fix.

In prison, for example, the fixer is someone who’s been there for a long time and has established connections with the guards, someone who can buy cigarettes for fellow prisoners. Prisoners all want to have cigarettes to help kill time but don’t know where and how to get them.

The fixer knows where and how to get them.

Actually, the fixer knows where and how to get many things done for you, things that can only be done privately, sometimes dishonestly.

It’s a not an entirely honorable reputation to acquire but the fixer helps get things done and dealt with and that is, sometimes, what matters.

In our example, Abobaker being a journalistic “fixer” is able to arrange interviews for you, with someone whom you want to talk to but can’t. They won’t talk to you. But if you can get Abobaker to talk to them first, they’ll probably talk to you.

That way, for better or worse, you’ll get an interview.

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.