《中英對照讀新聞》Bike-promoting Belgian minister finds own cycle stolen－推廣騎自行車的比利時部長發現自己的單車被偷了

◎蔡子岳

A Belgian minister arrived by bike to a news conference to promote cycling on Tuesday, only to find it had been stolen when he left half an hour later.

週二，比利時一位部長為了推廣騎自行車，騎單車至新聞發佈會現場，半小時後離開，卻發現自己的單車被偷了。

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Ben Weyts, minister of mobility for the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders, unveiled a plan to invest 300 million euros （$320 million） in cycle lanes until 2019, as part of a wider program to promote alternative modes of transport.

班．維茨，荷語法蘭德斯區的交通部長，推出一項斥資3億歐元（3億2000萬美元）在2019年前興建自行車專用道的計畫，作為範圍更廣泛的推廣替代性交通模式的一部分。

"We left the bike in racks at the station and locked it," a spokesman for the minister said. "When we got back half an hour later, it was gone."

「我們把單車停在停車架上，還上了鎖，」該位部長的發言人說。「當我們半小時後回來，車就沒了。」

While Belgium is a country obsessed with cycling as a sport, cars are the main method of commuting to work, leading to some of the worst road congestion in Europe.

比利時仍堅信騎自行車是一種運動，汽車還是通勤上班的主要工具，使得比國的交通壅塞情況在歐洲數一數二。

The minister had to call his driver to pick him up from the station in Halle, just south of Brussels, the spokesman said, and hoped police would discover the bicycle thief with the help of security camera footage.

發言人說，部長只好打電話給他的司機，要司機到位於布魯塞爾南部的哈勒自行車站接人，自行車只能指望警方透過監視器影像的協助找出小偷。

《新聞辭典》

promote：動詞，推銷、鼓勵。例句：Interior ministry held a public contest to find a slogan to promote population growth.（內政部舉辦公開比賽，徵選鼓勵人口成長的口號。 ）

unveil：動詞，展示、公開。例句：The government will unveil a tourism promotion package. （政府將推出觀光業促進方案。）

be obsessed with：片語，執著、著迷於...（想法）。例句：Obsessed with finding the best way to learn language.（務求尋得學習語言的最佳途徑。）