◎魏國金
A blind woman who did not realise the novel she was writing was blank after her pen ran out has been saved after a police force used forensic techniques to recover the words.
一名不知道正在撰寫的小說因筆沒水而空白一片的盲女，在警方利用鑑識技術恢復文字後已獲得補救。
Forensics experts agreed to use a special scientific process to recover what Trish Vickers had written by examining the dents she had made in the pages.
鑑識專家同意利用一種特別的科學過程，檢視崔希．維克斯在頁面上產生的筆跡凹痕，來恢復她已書寫的文字。
Mrs Vickers, 59, was left devastated when she learned that her pen had run out and there was nothing on the first 26 pages of the book. She lost her sight seven years ago through diabetes and decided to write a novel to pass the time and keep her mind active.
當59歲的維克斯女士知道筆沒水，她的作品前26頁空無一物時極度震驚。7年前她因糖尿病而失明，但為了消磨時間與保持心神靈活，她決定寫小說。
She quickly penned the opening chapters. She waited for her son Simon to visit so he could read it back to her. But when he arrived he had to tell her that the pages were blank.
她很快的寫完開頭章節。她等兒子西門造訪，如此他可以讀給她聽。然而當他到訪後，卻必須告訴她頁面上一片空白。
Incredibly, however, the manuscript was recovered after the family took it to their local police HQ and asked for help.
然而難以置信的，在家人將手稿拿到當地的警察總局尋求協助後，原稿復原了。
Forensic experts worked in their spare time to read the indentations left on the A4 pages using a system of lights. It took five months of painstaking work, but the forensic team was able to recover the whole text.
鑑識專家在閒暇時間，利用一個光線系統解讀留在A4紙張上的凹痕。經過5個月的費心工作，鑑識團隊終能恢復整個文本。
新聞辭典
run out︰片語，被用完、被耗盡。例句︰My patience has run out.（我已經失去耐性了。）
pass the time：片語，消磨時間、打發時間。例句︰While she was home with a broken leg, she passed the time reading and listening to music.（當她因一條腿骨折而待在家裡時，她以閱讀、聽音樂來消磨時間。）
painstaking︰形容詞，勤勉的、煞費苦心的。例句︰She is not very clever but she is painstaking.（她不是非常聰明，但她肯下苦功。）
文章出處：自由時報電子報中英對照新聞
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