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Gliding great-granny 活潑亂'跳'的超級阿嬤

A paraglider takes advantage of the beautiful fall day for a flight starting on the Niesen in the Bernese Mountains, Switzerland, at sunset, Oct. 26, 2007. 上個月二十六日，一位飛行傘愛好者在一個天氣晴朗的秋日傍晚，從瑞士伯恩高地的尼森山上跳下，倘佯在落日餘暉之中。 PHOTO: EPA

A British pensioner marked her 100th birthday by setting what is believed to be a new world record last week after paragliding from the top of a mountain range in Cyprus.

Peggy McAlpine, who has seen the reign of five British monarchs and 26 prime ministers, leapt from a 760m peak in the Five Finger Mountains in northern Cyprus for a 15-minute tandem flight.

The former accountant, who has two daughters, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, said she felt no nerves at her birthday stunt.

"I had a wonderful time and I would love to do it again but I will give it a few years and let someone else have a go at beating the record," she told the crowd of around 30 friends, family and press who gathered to watch the bid.

"If no one else wants a go, I'll do it again when I am 105," she said.

Strapped into a black and red flight suit with a white crash helmet, the pensioner from Stirling, Scotland, who bungee-jumped from scaffolding at age 70, was serenaded as she came into land by a bagpiper playing Scotland the Brave. She was handed a glass of champagne on touch-down just outside the village of Karaman by her cheering fans who toasted her success in her bid to enter the record books by become the oldest person to paraglide.(AFP)

英國有一位老奶奶上週以玩飛行傘的方式慶祝她的百歲生日，她從塞普勒斯一座高峰山頂上跳下，這位領老人年金的百歲奶奶此舉應該已創下新的世界紀錄。

這位百歲人瑞名叫佩姬．麥爾萍，她一生經歷了英國五位君主統治及二十六位首相任期。這次她從塞普勒斯北部的五指山群中一座高七百六十公尺的山頂上一躍而下，在前後縱排的雙人飛行傘上享受了十五分鐘的空中翱翔。

佩姬之前從事的工作是會計師，她有兩個女兒、四個孫子及兩個曾孫。她說她對這次過生日的驚人演出一點也不會感到緊張。

「這是一個很美妙的經驗，我希望下次可以再來玩，但是要過幾年再說，讓其他人試試打破我的紀錄，」她對同行見證約三十人左右的親友團及採訪媒體說。

「如果沒有人來挑戰這個紀錄，我一百零五歲的時候會再回來，」她說。

身著一套紅色配黑色的飛行裝、頭戴一頂白色安全帽的佩姬是英國蘇格蘭斯特林市人，她七十歲時就曾挑戰過高空彈跳 。這次她成功在卡拉曼村外降落時，還有一位風笛手現場演奏《蘇格蘭勇士》曲迎接她，在一旁守候的啦啦隊也遞上一杯香檳，慶祝她成功創下最年長的飛行玩家紀錄。（法新社／翻譯：袁星塵）

TODAY'S WORDS 今日單字 1. paragliding n. 飛行傘 (fei1 xing2 san3) 例: Sarah went paragliding last weekend. (莎拉上週末去體驗飛行傘。) 2. monarch n. 君主 (jun1 zhu3) 例: The monach's portrait can be found on banknotes. (你可以在鈔票上看到這個君主的肖像。) 3. bungee-jump v.t. 高空彈跳 (gao1 kong1 tan2 tiao4) 例: Harry went bungee-jumping off a bridge. (哈瑞跑去一座橋上玩高空彈跳。) 4. serenade v.t./v.i. 對…演奏 (dui4 ... yan3 zou4)，對…唱情歌 (dui4 ... chang4 qing2 ge1) 例: Fran serenaded Quentin as they strolled through the park. (法蘭和昆婷在公園散步時，對她唱起情歌。)

SAY WHAT? 說說看 touch-down 降落 Touch-down means to land. It is commonly used to describe planes and space ships landing. For example: "Houston, we have touch-down." A touchdown refers to scoring six points in American football. When a player carries the ball over the goal line it is called a touchdown. For example: "The game was pretty close, the Cowboys scored 16 to the Eagles' 13. It was pretty exciting, but there weren't many touchdowns." 「touch-down」代表著地、降落的意思，通常用在形容飛機和太空船降落。例如：「休士頓塔台，我們已經成功降落了」。 「touchdown」在美式足球中代表達陣得分，球員帶著球越過得分線就算達陣，可得六分。例如：「那場比賽勢均力敵，牛仔隊以十六分險勝老鷹隊三分。比賽頗為精采，但是達陣次數不多」。

Adon: Did you hear about that granny who went paragliding for her 100th bithday? Kate: No way! That's pretty gutsy. Adon: Isn't it just? Kate: I hope that I'm that full of life when I reach 100. Adon: Provided that you do, of course. Kate: Of course. 阿東：你聽說那個玩飛行傘慶祝自己一百歲生日的阿嬤了嗎？ 凱特：不可能吧！那也太大膽了！ 阿東：對啊，超大膽的吧！ 凱特：我希望我到了一百歲的時候也能那麼充滿活力。 阿東：假設你真的活到一百歲的話，當然囉！ 凱特：我當然會！ gutsy　大膽的 Gutsy means bold, brave and daring. A similar expression is plucky. For example: "Even though the fire was blazing away, the plucky boy went back to rescue his baby sister." 我們用「gutsy」來形容大膽的、英勇的、敢於冒險的。類似的說法可以用「plucky」，例如：「即使熊熊大火燒得猛烈，那個英勇的男孩還是衝進火場去救他的小妹」。

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