中英對照讀新聞》A surprising bullying battleground：Senior centers 令人意外的霸凌戰場：老人中心

◎張沛元

The unwanted were turned away from cafeteria tables. Fistfights broke out at karaoke. Dances became breeding grounds for gossip and cruelty.

不受歡迎的人在食堂餐桌遭拒入座，卡拉OK（室）爆發肢體衝突，舞蹈（課）淪為八卦與虐行的溫床。

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It became clear this place had a bullying problem on its hands. What many found surprising was that the perpetrators and victims alike were all senior citizens.

此處顯然有霸凌問題。令許多人驚訝的是，加害者與受害者一樣，都是高齡長者。

Nursing homes, senior centers and housing complexes for the elderly have introduced programs, training and policies aimed at curbing spates of bullying, an issue once thought the exclusive domain of the young.

安養之家、老人中心與長者專用的共居住宅已導入計畫、訓練與政策，目的在於遏止大量激增、過去認為專屬年輕人的霸凌。

"There’s the clique system just like everywhere else," said Betsy Gran, who until recently was assistant director at San Francisco’s 30th Street Senior Center. "It’s like ’Mean Girls,’ but everyone is 80."（AP）

「這裡就跟其他所有地方一樣，都有結黨拉派的小圈圈，」不久前還是舊金山30街老人中心助理主任的貝琪．葛蘭說。「就像（描述高中生搞小圈圈霸凌同學的電影）『辣妹過招』一樣，只是所有人都80歲了。」（美聯社）

新聞辭典

turn away：慣用語，拒絕讓某人進入某處；拒絕，斥退。例句：The loan officer had to turn the young couple away because they didn’t meet the bank’s lending criteria.（貸款人員以未達銀行融資標準為由回絕了這對年輕夫妻。）

break out：慣用語，突然發生；爆發。

have something on one’ hands：慣用語，手頭有（麻煩事）要處理；被指責要為…負責。例句：The death of the prominent political dissent is on the government’s hands.（政府要為這位知名政治異議人士之死負責。）