英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

A biographer of Jane Austen has accused the Bank of England of making the author look "dim-witted" in its choice of portrait for the new ￡10 note.

替英國知名作家珍．奧斯汀撰寫傳記的一位作家指控英格蘭銀行在替10英鎊新鈔選擇奧斯汀肖像時，讓她看起來很「愚蠢」。

"Jane Austen is the funniest writer to walk this planet, and she’s been made to look dim-witted," said Paula Byrne author of The Real Jane Austen. "I can’t believe they have gone for such a saccharine picture. Jane Austen was a supreme social satirist, and some of her writing was quite dark, but they’ve chosen a picture that makes her look a really cosy, middle-class writer."

「珍．奧斯汀是全世界最風趣的作家，而她卻被畫成一副蠢相，」「真正的珍．奧斯汀」一書作者伯恩表示。「我真不敢相信他們竟然會選出這幅遭到過度美化的畫像。珍．奧斯汀是一流的社會諷刺家，她有些作品甚至非常黑暗，但他們卻選了一張畫像，讓她看起來像是生活優渥的中產階級作家。」

Byrne said： "I think it is brilliant that she’s on the note, it’s just that it would have been better to show her as much more spiky, rather than suggest that she was a saccharine writer."

伯恩表示，「我認為把她的肖像印在鈔票上非常棒，但如果能讓她看起來更尖銳，而非暗示她是個粉飾太平的作家會更好。」

She said the Bank should have used an original sketch of the author, by her sister Cassandra. This is the only known picture done during her lifetime, and shows the author sitting arms folded and without a flicker of a smile.

她認為英格蘭銀行應當使用奧斯汀姊姊卡珊卓替她畫的肖像。這是奧斯汀生前留下唯一的一幅已知畫像，畫中奧斯汀雙臂交疊，臉上沒有一絲笑意。

The portrait used on the ￡10 was done in 1870, more than 50 years after Austen’s death, and is based on the earlier sketch. It was commissioned to illustrate a memoir by Austen’s nephew, James Edward Austen Leigh, but Byrne said even Austen’s remaining family said it was not a proper likeness.

被印製在10英鎊鈔票上的畫像則是完成於1870年，當時奧斯汀已過世逾50年，而且是以一幅較早的素描為藍本。這幅肖像是為奧斯汀外甥詹姆斯．艾德華．奧斯汀．李所撰寫的回憶錄所繪製，但伯恩說，就連奧斯汀當時仍在世的家人也認為這幅肖像並不像奧斯汀本人。

An amorous Italian couple’s love-making became so noisy that a neighbour spread the word locally and even invited his friends to listen in, it’s reported.

一對愛意正濃的義大利戀人做愛聲太大，以致一名鄰居在地方上四處宣揚，甚至邀請朋友來偷聽，報導指出。

The story came to light after police were forced to intervene in a row at an apartment block in the northern town of Reggio Emilia, local paper Gazzetta di Reggio reports.

這件事在警方被迫介入北部雷吉歐艾米利亞鎮一間公寓的一場爭執後曝光，當地報紙「雷吉歐公報」報導。

"Their moments of intimacy, perhaps a bit too noisy, aroused the interest of the ’classic’ nosy and meddling neighbour," the paper reports. "Not content with listening to the couple’s effusions, he spread the word in the local bar and even invited his friends around to eavesdrop," it says.

「他們的親密時刻，或許有點太吵了，引起這名『典型的』愛多管閒事鄰居的興趣」，這家報紙報導。「光偷聽這對戀人的情感宣洩不滿足，他還在當地酒吧散佈這個消息，甚至邀請朋友來偷聽。」報導說。

The story reached its climax when the couple got wind of what their neighbour was doing and confronted him. A heated row ensued and the police were called.

事態在這對戀人耳聞他們鄰居的所作所為，並且質問他時達到頂點。一場激烈的爭執隨之而來，警察也被找來。

The neighbour is being investigated for possible disorderly conduct. The paper describes the tale as like something out of Boccaccio’s Decameron, the classic medieval collection of love stories, many of them bawdy.

該名鄰居因可能涉及行為不檢正接受調查。這家報紙形容此事就像出自薄迦丘「十日談」，此書是中世紀經典愛情故事集，大多內容淫穢。

Police on Friday were looking for the driver of a convertible seen driving down the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps made famous in the movie "Rocky."

警方週五尋找被看到將敞篷車開下因電影「洛基」而聞名的費城美術館台階的駕駛人。

Several people posted online videos showing the car slowly making its way down the long, wide outdoor staircase in fits and starts at about midnight Thursday. The car then speeds off.

好幾個人張貼的網路影片顯示，那輛車在週四午夜斷斷續續、緩緩地開下那條又長又寬敞的戶外台階。然後那輛車加速開走。

A photographer who calls himself Hugh E Dillon and who runs the local entertainment website PhillyChitChat.com posted one of the videos. Dillon said he lives nearby and happened upon the stunt.

一名自稱休斯．E．狄倫、經營當地娛樂網站PhillyChitChat.com的拍攝者，張貼其中一段影片。狄倫說，他就住在附近，碰巧看到此一特技。

Officer Christine O’Brien, a police spokeswoman, said no officer witnessed the episode, but added that the recording appears to be legitimate and investigators were "watching the video on YouTube that everyone has seen."

警方發言人、警官克莉絲汀．歐布萊恩表示，沒有任何一名員警目睹此一事件；但補充說，這些影片看似合法正當，調查人員「正在觀看大家都看過的YouTube影片。」

Police earlier told reporters they also planned to review surveillance video to try to find the car and its driver, who could face citations for reckless driving and driving on the sidewalk, among others. （AP）

警方稍早向媒體透露，他們也打算調閱監視錄影畫面，以找出這輛車及其駕駛人，該名駕駛人恐將因危險駕駛、將車開上人行道等犯行被傳訊。（美聯社）

Rival Dutch- and French-speaking communities in Belgium are at each others’ throats again -- this time over the loan of two giant pandas by China to the linguistically divided nation.

彼此敵對的比利時荷蘭語區與法語區又槓上了——這回是為了比利時這個語系分裂的國家向中國租借的兩隻大貓熊。

"Pandas, a question of national interest," said La Libre Belgique as the country worried over the long-negotiated and now contentious deal.

「貓熊，是攸關國家利益的問題。」就在比利時全國對此協商已久、如今又起爭議的貓熊租借協議感到憂心之際，法文報「自由比利時報」如是說。

The problem is that the rare bears, a reliable draw for visitors, are to be housed in a zoo in French-speaking southern Wallonia, not far from the city of Mons whose last mayor is none other than Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo.

問題關鍵在於，肯定能吸引遊客蒞臨的罕見貓熊，將進駐南部瓦隆法語區的一家動物園，該園與上任市長正是當今比利時總理迪賀波的芒斯市相距不遠。

And Belgium’s oldest and most well-known zoo, the Antwerp Zoo set up in 1843, located in the heart of the port city of Antwerp in northern Flanders, is indignant to have lost out to the Pairi Daiza animal park set up a couple of decades ago. （AFP）

而比利時歷史最悠久、最名聞遐邇的動物園，也就是成立於1843年、坐落於北部佛拉芒荷語區港都安特衛普市中心的安特衛普動物園，對於（在爭取貓熊進駐上）輸給前述20年前成立的帕利狄薩動物園，大為憤慨。（法新社）

新聞辭典

at each others’ throats：慣用語，相互爭執或拳腳相向。例句：My cat and my dog are always at each other’s throats.（我的貓跟我的狗總是打來打去。）

Years of training cause structural changes in a ballerina’s brain that help her stay balanced in the pirouette, said a report Friday that may aid the treatment of chronic dizziness.

週五一份報告指出，女芭蕾舞者的大腦因多年的訓練產生結構性改變，幫助她在急速旋轉時可以保持平衡，並稱這可以幫助慢性頭昏的治療。

Brain scans of professional ballerinas revealed differences from other people in two parts of the brain： one that processes input from the balancing organs in the inner ear, and another responsible for the perception of dizziness.

專業女芭蕾舞者的大腦掃描顯示，大腦有兩處與其他人不同：一處是處理來自內耳中平衡器官的輸入指令，另一處則是負責頭暈覺知。

Most people, after turning around rapidly, feel dizzy for a period thereafter.

大多數人，在迅速轉圈之後，會有一段時間感到頭暈。

This is because of the fluid-filled chambers of the ear’s balance organs, which sense the rotation of the head through tiny hairs that perceive the fluid swishing about. The fluid continues to move for a while after the spin -- which creates the perception that one is moving when still -- hence the dizziness.

這是因為耳朵平衡器官中充滿液體的腔室，透過細毛感知液體流動進而感覺到頭部旋轉。在旋轉過後液體會繼續流動一陣子—在人靜止時創造出持續移動的感覺—因此感到頭暈。

Ballet dancers can perform multiple pirouettes with little or no feeling of dizziness -- a feat that has long puzzled researchers.

芭蕾舞者可以表演多次豎趾旋轉且鮮少或根本不會覺得頭暈—這是個讓研究者一直困惑的技藝。