英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

◎國際新聞中心

If you’ve ever travelled to Seattle, you’ve likely visited the famous Gum Wall at Pike Place Market. And if you haven’t, you’d better hurry up, because it’s getting scrubbed down for the first time in 20 years.

如果你曾經到西雅圖旅遊，你可能參觀過「派克市場」知名的「口香糖牆」。如果你沒去過，最好快點，因為20年來，它即將首次被刷洗掉。

The wall, which was once named the second-germiest tourist attraction in the world, is cleaned regularly with a steamer. But this will be the first time all the gum—an estimated 1 million pieces—will be removed, the Seattle Times reports. Why? Because the chemicals, sugar and additives in the gum are starting to wear on the building’s brick exterior.

這面牆一度被稱為世界第二髒的旅遊景點，通常定期用蒸汽機清理。但「西雅圖時報」報導，這次將會是第一次所有口香糖被清除，大約100萬片。為甚麼？因為口香糖裡的化學物質、糖與添加物開始讓磚頭外牆耗蝕。

The gum will be removed with an industrial steam machine, which will melt it until it falls to the ground. Then a crew of two or three people will collect it in five-gallon buckets. The entire job is expected to cost $4,000 and will begin Tues., Nov. 10.

這些口香糖將以工業蒸汽機清除，蒸汽機將會融化口香糖，直到它們掉落地面。接著，2到3名工作人員會把口香糖收集到數個5加侖的水桶裡。整個工程從11月10日週二開始，預估花費4000美元。

After the cleaning is over, people will be allowed to keep the tradition going by adding more gum.

清除工作結束後，大家可以繼續讓傳統延續下去，在牆上黏上更多口香糖。

新聞辭典

scrub：動詞，刷洗。例句：He scrubbed the old saucepan clean, and it looked as good as new.（他把舊的平底鍋擦得光亮，看起來就像新的一樣。）

attraction：名詞，吸引力，吸引人的東西。例句：Life in London has so many attractions - nightclubs, good restaurants and so on.（倫敦生活有很多吸引人的地方，像是夜總會、不錯的餐廳等。）

wear：動詞，磨損。例句：I’m very fond of this shirt but it’s starting to wear at the collar.（我非常喜歡這件襯衫，但它的領口已開始磨損。）