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One year on, British village remembers their wild days of looting 英國鄉民趁火打劫！
Monday, Feb 04, 2008,Page 15
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A group of looters are seen on Jan. 22, 2007, standing next to a brand new BMW motorbike that was washed ashore in a container that fell off the MSC Napoli off the coast of Branscombe, England.
一群趁火打劫的民眾去年一月二十二日站在一輛全新的BMW機車旁；裝載這部機車的貨櫃是從在英國布蘭斯科外海失事的「MSC拿坡里號」上掉落後被沖上岸的。照片：歐新社
PHOTO: EPA
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A year on since a shipwreck off the English south coast, locals are still talking about their wild days of pillaging. But they are keeping mum on who grabbed the best plunder.
The remains of the MSC Napoli cargo ship are still visible off the coast of Branscombe. Debris still occasionally washes up on the beach.
Damaged by storms in the English Channel, the 62,000-tonne container ship was deliberately beached in the bay on Jan. 20 last year.
About a hundred containers fell off the ship and washed up on shore.
Delighted local residents, followed by scavengers from all over the country, went to the beach and spent two days and nights looting booty.
Motorbikes, spare car parts, clothes and make-up were all taken in a crazed treasure hunt.
Plundering the washed-up booty was legal - as long as it was registered with the receiver of the wreck.
Tales about those hours of madness are plentiful. But Branscombe is keeping mum on what happened to the most precious plunder, including 17 BMW motorbikes.
The police have seized two of them, their finders having not reported them correctly, said Alison Kentuck, deputy receiver of the wreck.
Thirteen have been correctly reported and are still in the hands of the finders.
But the whereabouts of the other two remain a mystery.
In the neighboring village of Beer, The Dolphin Hotel's proprietor Darren Clinch has two barrels decorating the bar.
"We picked up the barrels from the beach," he said. "We had fantastic fun, until all those people came. There must have been 15,000 people."
Work to remove the remaining stern section is expected to begin in April. However, the Napoli's 14-tonne anchor will stay to form the centerpiece of a display marking the shipwreck. (AFP)
一年前，有艘船在英國南部外海失事，當地民眾至今仍對當時的瘋狂搶奪津津樂道，但對誰拿了最好的贓物卻三緘其口。
「MSC拿坡里號」貨船的船骸在布蘭斯科外海依然可見，偶爾還會有殘骸被沖上岸。
這艘重六萬兩千噸的貨櫃船在英吉利海峽因暴風雨受損，去年一月二十日被小心地拖上岸。
大約一百個貨櫃從船上掉落後被沖上岸。
開心的當地居民和全國各地的拾荒者蜂擁而至，花了兩天兩夜搶奪貨品。
機車、汽車備用零件、服飾和化妝品都在瘋狂尋寶中被搶光。
只要向失事船隻接管人報備，便可合法保留沖上岸的貨品。
關於當時狂亂的景象有許多傳聞，但當地民眾對那些最值錢贓物的去向卻絕口不提，其中包括十七輛BMW機車。
失事船隻接管人代表艾莉森:肯塔克說警方已查獲兩輛機車，但侵占者都沒正確地申報。
十三輛已申報的則仍在拾獲者手中。
另外兩輛則下落不明。
在鄰近的比爾村，海豚旅社老闆達倫:克林用兩個大桶子裝飾酒吧。
「我們在海灘撿到這些大桶子，」他說：「我們開心極了，直到其他人出現，那時應該有一萬五千人吧。」
清除殘餘船尾的工作預計四月展開，重達十四噸的船錨則會被留在原地，做為失事殘骸展示的重點。（法新社／翻譯：張愛弟）
| TODAY'S WORDS 今日單字 |
| 1. pillage v.t./v.i.
搶奪 (qiang3 duo2)
例: Our cruise ship was pillaged by pirates.
(我們的郵輪被海盜搶了。)
2. plunder n.
侵佔 (qin1 zhan4)
例: Look at all this wonderful plunder!
(看看這些美好的侵掠物！)
3. booty n.
贓物 (zang1 wu4)
例: The booty is in the trunk.
(贓物就在汽車行李箱裡。)
4. anchor n.
船錨 (chuan2 mao2)
例: It's time to lower anchor.
(下錨的時刻到了。) |
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| SAY WHAT? 說說看 |
keep mum 保持沉默
Mum is an adjective which means silent or not put into words. To keep mum means to keep silent about an issue. For example, "Billy was at the party, but he's keeping mum about who hit Tom that night."
Another phrase that has the word mum is mum's the word, which means that one will keep silent about a secret he or she knows. For example, "Don't worry, I won't tell Mom about how you got arrested. Mum's the word."
「mum」這個形容詞是指沉默無言或不作聲；「keep mum」是指對某事保持沉默。例如︰「比利也去了派對，卻絕口不提那晚誰打傷湯姆」。
另一個關於「mum」的片語是「mum's the word」，表示守密之意。例如︰「別擔心！我不會告訴老媽你是如何被逮捕的，我一定會守口如瓶」。 |
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| OUT LOUD 對話練習 |
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Horace: What's going on outside?
Gene: I don't know. I've never seen such a terrible storm.
Horace: Do you think we're safe in this small hut?
Gene: I guess. As long as the weather doesn't get any worse. What was that?
Horace: Shiver me timbers! That was the loudest thunderclap I've ever heard.
何瑞斯：外面怎麼啦？
金：不知道！從沒看過這麼恐怖的暴風雨。
何瑞斯：我們在這小屋裡安全嗎？
金：大概吧…只要天氣不惡化。那是什麼啊？
何瑞斯：天啊！這是我聽過最響的雷聲。
shiver me timbers （海盜們的咒罵聲）天啊！
Shiver me timbers, which can also be written as shiver my timbers, is a phrase that can be used to express shock and surprise. It's a phrase typically only uttered by pirates. The phrase originates from the way a boat's timbers shake when it's thrown about by huge waves in the sea.
「shiver me timbers」也可寫成「shiver my timbers」，這個用法表示震驚或意外之意，通常是海盜們使用的黑話，起源自船隻骨架因海上波濤洶湧浪而震動的情形。 |
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