《中英對照讀新聞》Cross-eyed opossum capturing hearts 鬥雞眼負鼠擄獲人心
◎管淑平
She’s middle-aged, gray-haired and stays up all night. Still, Heidi the cross-eyed opossum is Germany’s biggest media sensation, and she has not even made her debut at the Leipzig Zoo.
牠中年、灰髮而且整夜不睡,不過,海蒂這隻鬥雞眼負鼠,是現在德國媒體上最紅的,而且牠甚至還沒在萊比錫動物園公開亮相。
Heidi first appeared in Germany’s mass-circulation newspaper Bild last month. Now the 2-1/2-year-old opossum has a growing Facebook fans, and will soon star as a plush toy. However, the public will not get their first glimpse of the opossum until July, when the zoo opens its tropical wildlife exhibit.
海蒂上個月首度出現在德國發行量極大的報紙「畫報」上。現在這隻2歲半的負鼠,在臉書上已經有越來越多粉絲,而且很快就要成為絨毛玩具主角。不過,民眾必須等到7月該動物園熱帶野生動物展開展時,才能首度親眼見到這隻負鼠。
The zoo had no inkling of what a cause-celebre the cross-eyed opossum would become when Heidi along with her sister, Naira, and a male opossum arrived from a zoo in Denmark in May.
當海蒂5月與牠的姊妹奈拉,以及一隻公負鼠一起從丹麥的動物園來到這裡時,動物園並不知道這隻鬥雞眼負鼠會變得這麼紅。
"The Heidi sensation was surprising and unplanned," said Leipzig zoo spokeswoman Maria Saegebarth, "we had nothing to do with the media hype."
「海蒂熱潮令人意外、不在計畫中」,萊比錫動物園發言人賽格巴斯說,「我們與媒體炒作無關。」
The zoo has no plans to change its plan of upcoming exhibit. "We understand that Heidi has become so popular and that people will want to see her," said Saegebarth, "but that will not change the zoo’s strategy with the exhibit -- she’s one animal of many."
該動物園並不打算改變即將登場的展覽計畫。「我們了解海蒂已經如此受歡迎,人們會想看牠」,賽格巴斯說,「但這不會改變動物園的展覽規劃,牠是許多動物裡的其中一隻。」
新聞辭典
cross-eyed:形容詞,鬥雞眼的;名詞:cross-eye,常用複數eyes;動詞:cross one’s eye,做出鬥雞眼的樣子。
have an/no inkling of:片語,對某事略知/不知。例句:I have no inkling of his intention.(我不知道他的意圖。)
media hype:名詞,媒體誇大、過度的報導或宣傳。例句:The health minister blamed the media hype for the H1N1 flu fears.(衛生部長將這股對H1N1新型流感的害怕怪罪於媒體炒作。)