英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

◎張沛元

The German city of Hamelin may be in need of another Pied Piper -- it seems the rats are back.

德國城市哈梅林可能需要另一名魔笛手，因為看似老鼠回來了。

City officials say a popular fountain has been put out of service after the rodents gnawed through a power cable, according to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

根據南德意志報，市府官員表示，在鼠輩咬穿了一條電纜線後，一座廣受歡迎的噴泉已停止運作。

The Lower Saxony city is where, legend has it, the Pied Piper led all the rats out in 1284 with his magic pipe into the Weser River, where they drowned.

這座位於下薩克森的城市，就是傳說中魔笛手在1284年利用他的魔笛，將所有老鼠引領出城，並溺死在威悉河之地。

But more than 700 years later, city officials say such drastic measures may not be necessary. The fountain was due to be permanently closed anyway because of the high upkeep costs.

但在700多年後，市府官員說，也許沒有必要採取這類（意指溺死老鼠）激烈手段。反正這座噴泉原本就因為維修經費太高而得永久關閉。

And the solution in the fictitious Piper story isn’t practical anyway：rats are actually pretty good swimmers.（AP）

◎陳成良

Restaurant owners and employees have staged a sit-in to protest a new smoking ban in closed public places.

餐廳業者與員工發起了一場靜坐示威，以抗議一項禁止在封閉公開場所吸菸的新禁令。

The ban on smoking in places like restaurants and pubs went into effect Monday.

在餐廳及酒館等場所實施的禁菸令，於週一生效。

The restaurant owners say the ban will harm their businesses, where many Lebanese are used to smoking cigarettes and puffing on water pipes. Dozens demonstrated in a restaurant district north of Beirut.

這些餐廳業者稱，該禁令將會損害他們的生意。許多黎巴嫩人習慣在餐廳吸菸和抽水菸。數十人在貝魯特北方一處餐廳區進行示威。

Lebanon’s parliament passed the law banning smoking in closed public places last year. Violators will be subject to fines of about $90 to the client and $900 to the offending owner. The law also bans cigarette advertising.

黎巴嫩國會去年通過這項禁止在封閉公開場所吸菸的法律。違反規定者，顧客將被處以約90美元罰款，違規業者罰900美元。該法律也禁止香菸廣告。

Smoking is common in Lebanon. A recent study showed about half of Lebanon’s adults are smokers.

◎管淑平

More than half of office affairs start with flirting colleagues putting an X at the end of a text or an email, a new survey has revealed.

一份新調查顯示，超過半數的辦公室偷腥，是在簡訊或電子郵件結尾放個X和同事調情開始的。

But in many cases the kisses used in electronic communications are misconstrued.

但是，許多例子中，這些用於電子通訊的吻被會錯意。

Both men and women wrongly assume that a message ending in an X is a come-on -- when, in fact, a work colleague is merely being friendly.

男人和女人都誤以為，一封訊息用X結尾是挑逗，而事實上，同事只不過是表示友善。

The results give a valuable insight into dating etiquette in the electronic age -- and how Xs are being used to instigate sex.

這項結果提供有用的洞察力，了解電子世紀的約會禮節以及X是如何被用於挑起性愛。

The dating website WhatsYourPrice.com polled 1000 British members on the significance of Xs in emails.

◎陳維真

Thousands of Chinese besieged the Japanese embassy in Beijing on Saturday, hurling rocks, eggs and bottles as protests broke out in other major cities in China amid growing tension between Asia’s two biggest economies over a group of disputed islands.

亞洲兩大經濟體因為主權有爭議的群島關係逐漸緊張之際，週六有數千名中國人圍攻日本駐北京大使館，投擲石頭、雞蛋、瓶子，中國其他主要城市也爆發抗議。

Paramilitary police with shields and batons barricaded the embassy, holding back and occasionally fighting with slogan-chanting, flag-waving protesters who at times appeared to be trying to storm the building.

軍警拿著盾牌與警棍擋在使館外，阻止高喊口號、揮舞旗幟的抗議民眾，甚至有時與其打鬥，抗議民眾時不時看似要闖入使館建築。

"Return our islands! Japanese devils get out!" some shouted. One of them held up a sign reading："For the respect of the motherland, we must go to war with Japan."

有些人大喊「還我釣魚台！日本鬼子滾回去！」其中一人舉著牌子寫著：「為了向祖國致敬，我們必須與日本開戰。」

Protester Liu Gang said："We hate Japan. We’ve always hated Japan. Japan invaded China and killed a lot of Chinese. We will never forget."

抗議者劉剛說：「我們恨日本。一直都恨日本。日本入侵中國，殺了很多中國人，我們永遠不會忘記。」

The long-standing territorial dispute escalated dramatically on Friday when China sent six surveillance ships to a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, raising tension between the two countries to its highest level since 2010.

◎魏國金

A charity for US Navy SEALs says it will refuse any proceeds from a book by an ex-commando who took part in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, after the Pentagon threatened legal action against the author.

一個為了美國海軍海豹部隊而設立的慈善組織指出，將拒絕一名參與殺害賓拉丹襲擊行動的前突擊隊員，出書所得的任何捐款；在五角大廈威脅對這名作者採取法律行動後，該組織做出這樣的舉措。

The former Navy SEAL who wrote "No Easy Day," Matt Bissonnette, has promised to donate a majority of his profits to charities, but one of the non-profit groups he touted -- the Navy SEAL Foundation -- has ruled out accepting his donations.

撰寫「艱困一日」的前海軍海豹部隊隊員畢桑奈特已承諾捐出大部分獲利給慈善團體，但他推薦的一個非營利組織─海軍海豹基金會已不考慮接受他的捐輸。

At the end of his book, the author appeals to readers to donate to charities that help veterans and their families, listing three that focus on the elite SEAL units, including the Navy SEAL Foundation based in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

該書作者在書末呼籲讀者捐款給協助退役軍人及其家庭的慈善團體，其中列舉3個專門針對海豹精銳單位的組織，包括總部設在維州維吉尼亞海灘市的海軍海豹基金會。

Bissonnette’s book has shot to the top of best-seller lists amid an avalanche of publicity, but his decision to publish his first-hand account has angered many fellow SEALs, including the commander of the elite units, who say he has betrayed the ethos of the special operators to be "quiet professionals."

畢桑奈特的書在鋪天蓋地的宣傳中，已登上暢銷書排行榜榜首，然而他決定公開他第一手的記述已觸怒許多海豹部隊同袍，包括此精銳單位的指揮官，他說他背叛了該特種作戰隊員應有的「靜默高手」的精神特質。