英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

About a dozen four-legged practitioners of stand-up paddle boarding took to the waves with their human owners off Rio de Janeiro’s Barra Beach, practicing for a second annual competition next month in which canine-human teams race around buoys.

約12隻4隻腳的立式衝浪板參賽者被牠們的主人帶到里約熱內盧的巴拉海灘外，為了下個月的第二輪年度賽事練習，屆時人狗組成的隊伍將繞著浮標較勁。

"The idea started when I was on my board and my dog was tied up on the beach. I said to myself, ’Man he wants to come to the water!’ so I put him on the board and he loved it," said Marco Sarnelli, the event organizer.

「這個點子源自當我站在浪板上，而我的狗被繫在海灘。我告訴自己：『天哪！牠想來水裡！』因此我把牠放在浪板上，而牠也很愛，」活動發起人馬可．薩內利說。

The race on Feb. 16 is expected to draw as many as 50 dogs and their owners, from border collies to golden retrievers to mutts.

2月16日登場的比賽預料將吸引多達50隻狗與牠們的主人，從邊境牧羊犬、黃金獵犬到混種狗都有。

Brazilian paddle board enthusiasts aren’t the first to take their pets out on the water.

巴西衝浪板愛好者並非第一批將寵物帶到水上的人。

Canine paddle board races in California have served as fundraisers for local shelters, and several websites dedicated to the sport include forum sections with readers trading tricks on how to get their dogs hooked on the sport. （AP）

加州曾舉辦狗兒衝浪賽幫當地收容所募款，還有好幾個網站致力於這項運動，包括讓讀者交換訓練狗兒愛上衝浪運動的論壇討論區。（美聯社）

Thieves accused of stealing a religious relic stained with Polish pope John Paul II’s blood threw it away thinking it worthless, Italian media said on Thursday, reporting the police had detained three people.

被控竊取沾有波蘭籍教宗若望保祿二世血液的聖髑的小偷，以為它毫無價值便將其扔掉，義大利媒體週四表示，並報導警方已拘捕3人。

Police recovered the object’s metal frame but could not find the cloth, believed to be part of the robe the pontiff was wearing when he was shot in an assassination attempt in St Peter’s Square in 1981.

警方發現竊物的金屬框，但沒有找到這塊布，據信它是1981年教宗在聖伯多祿廣場一起暗殺未遂行動中，中槍時所穿長袍的局部衣料。

It was stolen on Saturday along with a cross, which has also been found, from the San Pietro della Ienca church in the mountainous Abruzzo region in central Italy where the late pope loved to go on skiing holidays.

它於週六連同一只現已尋獲的十字架，從義大利中部多山的阿布魯佐區聖彼得羅德拉延卡教會被竊，已故教宗生前喜愛到該處滑雪渡假。

The PrimaDaNoi.it Abruzzo news website said two of those arrested are 23 and 24 years old and are drug addicts known to the police for other petty crimes.

The PrimaDaNoi.it阿布魯佐新聞網站說，當中被捕的兩名竊賊分別為23、24歲，他們是因其他小犯行，而讓警察認識的吸毒者。

The relic is a framed, tiny square of cloth.

這件聖髑是一塊加框的小方布。

Doing the night shift throws the body "into chaos" and could cause long-term damage, warn researchers.

做夜班工作讓身體「陷入混亂」，可能造成長期傷害，研究人員警告。

Shift work has been linked to higher rates of type 2 diabetes, heart attacks and cancer. Now scientists at the Sleep Research Centre in Surrey have uncovered the disruption shift work causes at the deepest molecular level. Experts said the scale, speed and severity of damage caused by being awake at night was a surprise.

一直以來，夜班工作被指與第二型糖尿病、心臟病發與癌症罹患率較高有關。現在薩里的「睡眠研究中心」科學家發現，夜班工作造成分子層最深層的混亂。專家說，晚上醒著造成的傷害，在規模、速度與嚴重性上都讓人驚訝。

The human body has its own natural rhythm or body clock tuned to sleep at night and be active during the day. It has profound effects on the body, altering everything from hormones and body temperature to athletic ability, mood and brain function.

人體有自己的自然節奏，或稱生理時鐘，會在夜晚進入睡眠，白天保持活躍。這對身體有深層影響，會改變從荷爾蒙、體溫到運動能力、心情與大腦功能的所有東西。

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, followed 22 people as their body was shifted from a normal pattern to that of a night-shift worker.

這項刊登在「美國國家科學院院刊」的研究，追蹤身體從正常模式轉變為夜班工作人員模式的22人。

Blood tests showed that normally 6％ of genes were precisely timed to be more or less active at specific times of the day. Once the volunteers were working through the night, that genetic fine-tuning was lost.

血液檢測顯示，正常來說，6％基因一天內較活躍或較不活躍的時間都非常精確。一旦志願者整晚工作，這種基因的微調就會消失。

Municipalities hosting ancient castles around Japan are under siege as aging castle towers restored in the post-World War II economic boom are in desperate need of replacement or refurbishment.

隨著在二次世界大戰後的經濟繁榮之際所修復的老舊（日式城堡的）天守閣（譯註：日式城堡塔樓）如今亟需更新或整修，有古代城堡坐落於當地的日本各地城市當局，形同面臨危城困境。

While some localities are ready to renovate existing concrete castle towers, others are hoping to fund the much pricier recreation of the wooden structures that originally stood long ago.

儘管有部分地方政府準備翻新現有的混凝土天守閣，其他城市卻希望能把錢用在費用較高、讓多年前矗立於此的木造結構天守閣原地再現。

During his campaign for Nagoya mayor in 2009, Mayor Takashi Kawamura vowed to replace the concrete main tower of the city’s landmark Nagoya Castle with a more authentic wooden structure.

名古屋市長河村隆之在2009年競選時曾誓言，要以更具美感的木造結構，取代該市地標名古屋城的混凝土造天守閣。

"We should replace the tower with something we will be proud of," Kawamura said.

「我們應該以能讓我們引以為傲的東西來取代（現有的）天守閣，」河村隆之說。

Nagoya Castle, originally built in the early Edo Period （1603-1867）, was restored in 1959 after being destroyed by fire in an air raid by U.S. bombers in May 1945.

名古屋城原本建於江戶時代（1603-1867）早期，1945年5月在美軍轟炸機空襲引發的大火中被焚毀，1959年修復。

In Washington, some officials privately disdain Europe’s fury as overly theatrical.

在華盛頓，部分官員私下鄙視歐洲（針對美國監聽醜聞）的怒火，認為反應太過誇張。

The attitude that spying is rampant everywhere, and Europe should just get over it, is also widespread.

美國官員的態度是，監聽猖獗的情況無所不在，在歐洲也很普遍，它們應該忘掉這件事。

"Everyone spies on everybody," Republican Senator Marco Rubio told CNN.

「每個人都在監聽每個人」，共和黨參議員魯比歐告訴美國有線電視新聞網。

"These leaders are responding to domestic pressures. None of them are truly shocked about any of this."

「這些領袖是在回應國內壓力。他們沒人真的對此感到震驚」。

With Europe and the United States bound by cultural, political and military ties and common security vulnerabilities, it is unthinkable the alliance will buckle.

歐洲與美國在文化、政治與軍事關係上緊密連結，又有著共同的安全弱點，很難想像這個結盟會垮掉。