離開
進入《中英對照讀新聞》U.S. weather watchers turn to furry forecasters 美國氣象觀察者轉向動物預測專家求助
◎俞智敏
With confidence in private weather forecasters slipping in the wake of some prediction gaffes during the past couple of years, perhaps woolly worms can take up the slack.
在過去數年間，不少氣象預測鬧出笑話後，民眾對民間氣象預測專家的信心也隨之下降，現在或許可讓毛毛蟲來接手預報。
For instance, predictions for a severe winter didn’t pan out the last time around, nor did projections for a brutal 2006 hurricane season.
例如上次有關冬季氣候酷寒的預測並未實現，另外所謂2006年颶風季威力驚人的預測也一樣落空。
So some analysts are eyeing this year’s predictions with a bit more scepticism than usual. Natural gas broker Jay Levine said he takes any weather prediction with a grain of salt, whether it comes from a meteorologist or a woolly worm. "People will believe what they want to believe," he said.
因此有些分析家難免要用比平常更加懷疑的眼光，來看待今年的天氣預報。天然氣交易員勒凡說，他對任何天氣預測都抱持保留態度，不論是來自氣象學家或毛毛蟲的預測。「人們總會相信任何他們想要相信的事，」他說。
Some energy traders look instead to woolly worms, small fuzzy caterpillars that are the larva of the Isabella tiger moth, as predictors of winter weather.
有些能源交易商現在轉向毛毛蟲求助，將其視為冬季氣候的預測者，這種毛茸茸的昆蟲其實是伊莎貝拉虎蛾的幼蟲。
According to Roy Krege, the coordinator of the annual Woolly Worm Festival held in North Carolina, a woolly worm can tell the winter with 87 percent accuracy. As a rule, the blacker the caterpillar, the harsher the winter," said Krege.
根據在北卡羅萊納州舉行的毛毛蟲節策畫人克瑞格表示，毛毛蟲對冬季氣候的預測正確率高達87% 。「一般而言，毛毛蟲的顏色愈深，冬季氣候就愈嚴寒，」克瑞格說。
新聞辭典
take／pick up the slack：片語，指接手他人做到一半的事、完成或補足未完成的部份，如New sources of oil will take up the slack resulting from the embargo.（新油源將補足石油禁運所造成的油源空缺。）
pan out：動詞片語，指事情的發展，尤指結果成功，如We’ll have to see how things pan out.（我們得靜候情勢發展是否成功。）
take sth with a grain／pinch of salt：片語，指對某人或某事持謹慎保留態度、不完全相信。如It’s interesting to read the reports in the newspapers, but I tend to take them with a grain of salt.（報上的報導讀來很有趣，但我傾向對其持保留態度。）
