英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

The US singer Kelly Clarkson has been barred from taking a ring that once belonged to Jane Austen out of Britain on the grounds it is too precious a part of literary history to leave the country.

美國歌星凱莉．克萊森最近被阻止把一只曾為英國小說家珍．奧斯汀所擁有的戒指帶出英國，理由是這只戒指是英國文學史的一部份，珍貴到不應離開英國。

The gold and turquoise ring is one of only three surviving pieces of jewellery known to have belonged to the writer. It was given to her sister Cassandra and then passed down through the family.

這只鑲有黃金和綠松石的戒指是目前已知奧斯汀曾擁有三件僅存的珠寶之一。奧斯汀把戒指送給了姊姊卡珊卓後，這只戒指就在奧斯汀家族間代代相傳。

Clarkson, who shot to fame when she won the American Idol TV talent show, bought the ring at auction last year for more than ￡150,000.

贏得電視選秀節目「美國偶像」冠軍後一炮而紅的克萊森，去年在一場拍賣會中以逾15萬英鎊的價格買下這只戒指。

But the culture minister, Ed Vaizey, has put a temporary export ban on it to try to keep it in the UK.

但英國文化部長維濟對此交易宣布了暫時出口禁令，試圖讓戒指留在英國。

"Jane Austen’s modest lifestyle and her early death mean that objects associated with her of any kind are extremely rare," he said, "So I hope that a UK buyer comes forward so this simple but elegant ring can be saved for the nation."

「珍．奧斯汀的生活簡樸加上英年早逝，表示與她有關的任何物品都極為稀有。」他說，「所以我希望有英國的買家願意出面，替國家留下這只樣式簡單卻優雅的戒指。」

The New York City is putting the heat on rogue delivery bicyclists, who have been shirking the new commercial cycling rules — issuing nearly 3,000 violations in less than four months, authorities said.

紐約市對一直逃避新商業用自行車規範的不守法自行車快遞員採取強硬措施。當局說，不到4個月，已開出近3000張罰單。

The legislation went into effect at the end of April and since then the Department of Transportation has issued nearly $300,000 in violations to city businesses.

這項立法自4月底生效後，交通運輸局已對該市商家開出將近30萬美元的違規罰款。

The new guidelines require delivery people to wear reflective vests, helmets, and have their bikes outfitted with a red taillight, white headlight and a bell. Bikes also need to have a sign displaying the restaurant’s name.

新的規範要求快遞員穿著反光背心、安全帽，並且為他們騎乘的自行車配備紅色尾燈、白色車頭燈和車鈴，也必須有顯示餐廳名稱的標示。

The first violation is a $100 summons, and repeat offenders face $250 fines.

初犯是一張100美元的罰單，再犯則面臨250美元罰款。

DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said that safety couldn’t be compromised so that deliveries could be made faster.

交通運輸局局長柯沈捷說，不能為了更快速運送貨件而危害安全。

Two stone sculptures believed to date back to 1200-1500 B.C. were discovered at the Chavin de Huantar archeological site in Huaraz, according to the team led by Dr. John Rick, an archeologist from the United States.

美國瑞克博士率領的考古團隊表示，兩尊據信是公元前1500至1200年的石像，在秘魯利馬宏拉茲的夏文德萬塔爾考古遺址出土。

These were not the first such heads discovered in the Chavin Huantar site. In 1920 an archeologist named Julio C. Tello found a large number of “cabezas clavas” that were buried inside the façade of the temples. Many of them were swept away and lost in a flood that covered the site in 1940.

在此之前，夏文遺址就曾發現類似頭像。1920年考古學家泰羅在寺廟外牆裡發現埋有大量的獸形裝飾頭像，他們被1940年的一場洪水沖毀。

Dr. Rick believes these heads may have fallen from their original location, atop a wall, after a powerful earthquake in the year 500 B.C. The wall may have collapsed in 200 A.D.

瑞克博士相信頭像原本的位置是在牆上，在經歷西元500年前的一場大地震後掉了下來，那座牆後來在西元200年時傾頹。

Dr. Rick points out that it is difficult to explain the real significance of the snakes and figures around the heads. But the very open eyes indicate a trance, apparently induced by drugs, possibly San Pedro.

瑞克博士指出，頭像上的蛇與其他紋樣的意義很難斷定；但圓睜的雙眼應是藥物引發的恍惚狀態，也許是來自一種刺激神經的仙人掌迷藥。

The snakes and wrinkles support this hypothesis. “Wrinkles in one of them reveal the pain produced in the process of ingesting the drugs,” the archaeologist explains. “The snakes could reveal the hallucinations.”

頭像上的蛇紋與皺眉支持這樣的假設。考古學家解釋，皺紋來自吞藥過程產生的痛苦，而蛇代表幻覺。

The mass extinction of large animals in the Pleistocene era caused today’s dearth of soil nutrients, scientists said, and warned of further damage if modern giants like the elephant disappear.

科學家指出，更新世時期大型動物的大滅絕導致現今土壤養分不足，並警告一旦大象之類的現代巨大動物消失，將進一步損及地力。

The Pleistocene epoch, which dated from about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago, saw large animals dubbed megafauna take over domination of the planet from extinct dinosaurs, only to die out en masse themselves.

距今260萬至1萬1700年前的更新世時期，經歷了稱為「巨型動物」的大型動物在恐龍滅絕後接管地球，卻集體絕跡的現象。

During their peak, much of the world resembled a modern-day African savannah.

在牠們最活躍的時期，世界許多地區類似現代的非洲大草原。

South America, for example, was teeming with 5-tonne ground sloths, armadillo-like glyptodonts the size of a small car, and herds of elephant-like cuvieronius and stegomastodonts.

例如，5公噸重的巨爪地懶，約一輛小車大、類似犰狳的雕齒獸，以及類似大象的成群居維象與劍乳齒象等，在南美各地四處橫行。

These megafauna, animals weighing more than 44 kilograms, played a key role in fertilizing soil far away from the areas near rivers where they fed — plowing the nutrients they consumed back into circulation through their dung or their decomposing bodies when they died.

這些重逾44公斤的巨型動物，在使遠離其覓食的濱河地區土壤肥沃上扮演重要角色──經由牠們的糞便與其死後分解的屍體，將牠們消耗的養分進入地力的循環中。

Chemists have found a new way to halve the fat of chocolate using liquids which does not change the "mouthfeel". Low-fat preparations of chocolate are well known, but their textures tend not to match the real thing.

化學家發現使用液體減半巧克力脂肪，也不會改變「口感」的新方法。低脂巧克力已經很普遍，但口感往往比不上貨真價實的巧克力。

A report at an American Chemical Society meeting described a method using the popular gelling agent agar to make tiny "sponges" that displace fat.

一份在「美國化學學會」會議上發表的報告，描述利用頗受歡迎的凝膠劑石花，製造微小「海綿」取代脂肪的方法。

Normal chocolate gets much of its velvety feel from an emulsion of fat globules suspended within the solid.

正常巧克力的絲滑口感，大部分是從懸浮在固體狀巧克力中的脂肪球凝膠而來。

Replacing those is tricky - any substitutes have to remain dispersed throughout the chocolate as it is heated and cooled to a solid, and they have to remain small.

要取代那種口感很難，替代品必須在巧克力加熱及冷卻成固體時，都能維持散布在巧克力中，也必須要小。

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