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Mothman looms over small US town 天蛾人出沒美國小鎮

A Mothman sculpture in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, US, seen on Dec. 11, 2007. PHOTO: AP 美國西維吉尼亞州歡樂鎮的「天蛾人」雕像，攝於去年十二月十一日。 照片：美聯社

A quick walk up Main Street is enough to learn who this US river town's most famous resident is: His name is on signs, and there's even a museum devoted to him.

And the sculpture in the middle of town shows his enormous wings and glowing red eyes.

More than 40 years after the first reported sighting of the mysterious creature later called "Mothman," residents in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, have embraced his legend. They've helped to turn this town into a destination for people in search of an offbeat tourism experience.

But while there's no local consensus on whether the stories are true, most agree that Mothman is good for business.

"It's helped the town," said Ruth Finley, who owns the 106-year-old Lowe Hotel on Main Street along with her husband. "People come because of Mothman and they stay at the hotel, they go to the restaurants."

Every September, Point Pleasant hosts the weekend-long Mothman Festival, which draws about 2,000 people a year to this town of about 4,500.

Walking along Main Street, conventioneers can have their picture taken near the statue, drink a "Mothman Frappachino" and drop into the Mothman Museum.

Inside, they can look over everything from accounts of Mothman sightings to props from the 2002 Richard Gere film The Mothman Prophecies, which helped boost interest in the creature.

The first sighting was reported on Nov. 15, 1966. Others later came forward to say they had seen a gray creature about 2.1m tall with bright red eyes and wings like a bird.

The sightings ended on Dec. 15, 1967, the day of the collapse of the Silver Bridge, which linked Point Pleasant to Ohio.

Forty-six people were killed, and ever since people have speculated on whether the sightings were connected to the tragedy. (AP)

沿著此河濱美國小鎮主要街道繞一圈就會發現誰是最有名的居民：他的名字被刻在牌誌上，甚至還為他成立了一間博物館。

鎮中心的雕像展示著他巨大的翅膀和發亮的紅眼睛。

距首次有人通報看見這個後來被稱做「天蛾人」的神秘生物已超過四十年了，維吉尼亞州「歡樂鎮」的居民已欣然接受這個傳說；他們協力將這個城鎮打造成追求另類旅遊經驗的遊客的目標。

儘管當地對於這些故事是否屬實沒有定論，但大多數人都同意「天蛾人」是個不錯的賣點。

「這有助於城鎮發展，」主要街道上已有一百零六年歷史的羅威飯店老闆娘茹絲．芬利說：「旅客為了天蛾人而來，他們投宿飯店，也到餐廳吃飯。」茹絲．芬利和先生一同經營飯店。

每年九月，歡樂鎮都會舉辦為期一個週末的「天蛾人節」，每年都吸引約兩千人到這個人口約四千五百人的小鎮參觀。

沿著主要大街走，參觀遊客可以和天蛾人雕像近距離拍照，來上一杯「天蛾人咖啡冰沙」，然後拜訪天蛾人博物館。

在博物館內，他們可以欣賞從天蛾人目擊報導到二ＯＯ二年李察:吉爾所主演的《天蛾人》電影道具等各種相關物品。《天蛾人》為天蛾人打響知名度。

一九六六年十一月十五日，首次有目擊者通報天蛾人出沒，後來其他目擊者也站出來說他們看到一個約兩百一十公分高，有著會發亮的紅色雙眼和像鳥一樣的翅膀的灰色生物。

最後一次有人目睹天蛾人是在一九六七年十二月十五日，這天也是連接歡樂鎮和俄亥俄州交通的「銀橋」倒塌的日子。

這場意外造成四十六人喪生，有人也猜測這場災難和天蛾人有關。（美聯社／翻譯：袁星塵）

TODAY'S WORDS 今日單字 1. glowing adj. 發光的 (fa1 guang1 de5) 例: Len's watch is glowing. (連恩的手錶閃閃發亮。) 2. consensus n. 共識 (gong4 shi4) 例: We weren't able to reach a consensus. (我們無法達成共識。) 3. prop n. 道具 (dao4 ju4) 例: We have props from Tom Cruise's latest film in our store. (我們店裡有賣湯姆．克魯斯最新電影的道具。) 4. speculate v.t/v.i. 思索 (si1 suo3) 例: I'm not able to speculate on this issue now. (我現在無法思索這個問題。)

SAY WHAT? 說說看 offbeat 非主流的 The term offbeat means not conforming to a conventional pattern. Offbeat is often used to describe things like news, humor, stories or places. For example, "I like offbeat news stories because they talk about strange events that I'm not used to hearing about." Some similar terms are eccentric and oddball. For example, "That museum has a lot of eccentric exhibits," or "Adaptation is an oddball movie that came out in 2002." 「offbeat」這個詞表示非主流的，常用來形容新聞、幽默感、故事或地點等，例如：「我喜歡非主流的新聞報導，因為那都是一些我不常聽到的事情」。 其他類似的詞有「eccentric」和「oddball」，例如：「那個博物館有很多奇奇怪怪的展覽」或「《蘭花賊》是二ＯＯ二年一部非主流的電影」。

OUT LOUD 對話練習 Ron : What are you up to? Bean : I'm looking for something interesting to take a picture of. Ron : Like what? Bean : Oh, a strange animal or a weird statue or something like that. Keep an eye out for me. Ron : Sure, but I think you should head farther into the countryside to find what you're looking for. 榮恩 ：你在忙些什麼啊？ 賓 ：我在找一些有趣的東西拍照。 榮恩 ：像什麼？ 賓 ：喔，某種奇怪的動物或奇異的雕像或類似的東西，幫我留意看看。 榮恩：沒問題，但我覺得你應該往更鄉下的地方去找你在找的東西。 keep an eye out for 　留意 The phrase keep an eye out for means to watch carefully for something. For example, "The farmer said to keep an eye out for crows ." 「keep an eye out for」是指仔細注意某事，如：「那個農夫說要留意烏鴉」。

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