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進入《中英對照讀新聞》Campaign to crown Christie queen of crime 推舉克莉絲蒂為推理小說之后
◎ 俞智敏
Schoolchildren the world over are brought up on the twists and turns of Agatha Christie's crime novels. Except in her homeland, where critics assail her works as cliched and flimsy.
全球各地的學童都是看著阿嘉莎．克莉絲蒂錯綜複雜的推理小說長大，但在她的故鄉（英國），評論家卻抨擊克莉絲蒂的作品充滿陳腔濫調、情節薄弱。
So nearly 30 years after the whodunit queen died at the age of 85, a campaign has begun to win her recognition as a page-turner for kids.
因此在這位推理小說之后以85歲高齡去世將近30年後，英國目前正展開一項活動，希望讓兒童認識克莉絲蒂這位作品引人入勝的作家。
With over two billion books sold, she is listed in the Guinness World Records as the world's most successful fiction writer. “In France, Germany, the United States and Japan, she is studied in schools. Here in Britain, she is not a set text,” said Nicholas James, chief executive of Chorion which owns and manages the Christie copyright.
在賣出超過20億本書後，金氏世界紀錄已把克莉絲蒂列為全球最成功的小說家。但據擁有並負責管理克莉絲蒂作品版權的Chorion公司執行長詹姆斯表示，「在法國、德國、美國和日本，學生們都會研讀克莉絲蒂的作品。但在英國，克莉絲蒂的小說卻非學校的指定讀物。」
At a time when J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter sagas have been credited with winning young children over to the joys of reading, James felt Christie's mystery stories deserved a fairer hearing.
在J.K.羅琳所寫的「哈利波特」系列小說被視為成功讓兒童認識閱讀的喜悅之際，詹姆斯認為克莉絲蒂的推理小說應獲得更公平的待遇。
新聞辭典
crown：王冠，此處作動詞，指給某人加冕，或給予某種榮譽，如：We saw the archbishop crown the queen.（我們看見大主教為女王加冕。）
assail：在此指攻擊，如：The policemen were assailed by a shower of stones.（警察遭到一陣石塊的襲擊。）亦可指讓人困擾，如：He was assailed by doubts.（他為疑慮所困擾。）
flimsy：原指脆弱的、易損壞的、輕薄的，如：She felt cold in her flimsy dress.（她穿著單薄的衣服覺得很冷。）此文中則指小說情節薄弱的，不周密的，如：He made a flimsy excuse.（他編了一個站不住腳的藉口。）
whodunit：非正式用語，由who done it變化而來，指偵探、推理小說或影片。
page-turner：非正式用語，指引人入勝的書（小說），如：The book is a page-turner.（這本書引人入勝，讓人愛不釋手。）
