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Rudd to crack down on teens 澳洲總理嚴格取締青少年酗酒
Friday, Mar 21, 2008,Page 21
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Fancy a cold one? A salesperson reaches for a beer in Denver, Colorado, US, on Nov. 5, 2007.
想來瓶冰涼的啤酒嗎？去年十一月五日，在美國科羅拉多州丹佛市，一名業務員伸手拿啤酒。
照片：美聯社
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Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's new campaign against teenage binge drinking in Australia revived questions last week about his own drunken escapade in a New York strip club.
Reports of the night he spent at "Scores" in 2003 surfaced while he campaigned ahead of last November's election. The bookish and church-going Rudd apologized, and most Australians believed him when he said it was the second time in his life that he was drunk.
Still, the incident resurfaced last week when Rudd launched a 53 million Australian dollar (NT$1.5 billion) campaign to combat excessive drinking among Australians teens.
"It's a bit rich for a man who got famously stonkered at a lap-dancing club in New York five years ago to be lecturing the rest of us on binge drinking," columnist Miranda Devine wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Rudd admitted last Friday that he was no "paragon of moral virtue."
"I'll take any incoming flak about yours truly, but I've got one target in mind and that is to get that number down," he told Melbourne radio 3AW, referring to the 168,000 Australian teenagers under the legal drinking age of 18 who abuse alcohol.
The campaign includes television, radio and Internet spots to shock young people on the consequences of binge drinking, as well as grants to clubs and community groups to help change the drinking culture. Some sports stars have agreed to appear in the ads.
Australians are relatively tolerant of excessive drinking. Former prime minister Bob Hawke held a Guinness World Record for speed beer drinking during his days as a Rhodes Scholar.(AP)
上週，澳洲總理陸克文為改善青少年狂飲問題而推行的新計畫，讓他曾在紐約一間脫衣酒吧酒醉荒唐的事再度成為民眾質疑的話題。
他去年十一月參選澳洲總理前，曾被媒體揭露他二ＯＯ三年某夜光顧「Scores」脫衣舞俱樂部的往事；當時有書卷氣息且總是按時上教堂的陸克文就道歉說，那是他生平第二次喝醉酒，這說法說服了大部份澳洲民眾。
儘管如此，當上週陸克文提出一個五千三百萬澳幣（新台幣十五億元）的計畫，以導正澳洲青少年過量飲酒問題時，該事件又再度被拿來炒作。
專欄作家米蘭達．戴凡在《雪梨晨鋒報》中寫道：「被一個五年前在紐約脫衣舞夜總會喝得酩酊爛醉的人教訓『狂飲』，實在是讓我們感到有一點荒唐。」
陸克文上週五承認他自己「在道德上並非完人」。
他對墨爾本3AW廣播電台表示：「對於大眾的抨擊我都虛心接受，但是我心中有一個目標，就是要減少狂飲的青少年人數。」他提到，澳洲未達十八歲法定年齡就酗酒的青少年約有十六萬八千人。
這項計畫包括在電視、廣播和網路上安插廣告，以可能的後果來嚇阻年輕人酗酒，並補助俱樂部和社區團體，以期改善飲酒文化；已有若干體育明星同意參與廣告拍攝。
相對而言，澳洲人對過量飲酒相當寬容；前總理霍克在當「羅德學人」期間，還曾是金氏世界紀錄極速狂飲啤酒項目的紀錄保持人。（美聯社／翻譯：袁星塵）
Warning: Excessive consumption
of alcohol can damage your health.
警告：飲酒過量有害健康。
| TODAY'S WORDS 今日單字 |
1. binge drinking n.
狂飲 (kuang2 yin3)，酗酒 (xu4 jiu3)
例: South Korea also has a problem with binge drinking.
(南韓也有酗酒問題。)
2. resurface v.t./v.i.
重新露面 (chong2 xin1 lou4 mian4)，浮上水面 (fu2 shang4 shui3 mian4)
例: The diver resurfaced 100m away from the boat.
(那個潛水夫在離船一百公尺處浮上水面。)
3. stonkered adj.
喝醉的 (he1 zui4 de5)，精疲力竭的 (jing1 pi2 li4 jie2 de5)
例: We got stonkered last night.
(昨天晚上我們都喝醉了。)
4. tolerant adj.
寬容的 (kuan1 rong2 de5)
例: The school is pretty tolerant when it comes to minor infractions of the dress code.
(這所學校對於輕微違反服裝規定的行為頗為寬容。) |
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| SAY WHAT? 說說看 |
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flak 強烈抨擊
The term flak means strong or harsh criticism. The term is derived from anti-aircraft fire. A person or organization can either receive flak or come under flak. For example: "The school received a lot of flak after a quarter of the pupils failed their college entrance exam."
A similar expression is to come under fire, which is also drawn from the use of firearms. If someone does something which he or she knows will bring him or her trouble or critcism you can say that he or she put themselves in the line of fire.
「flak」這個字的意思是強烈或嚴厲的批評，該字原本指的是對付高空飛機的火砲。一個人或組織遭受嚴厲批評都可用「receive flak」或「come under flak」表示，例如：「這所學校因為有四分之一的學生沒有考上大學而受到許多嚴厲批評」。
另一個意思接近的說法是「come under fire」，這個片語也引用了武器用語。假如某人明知道做某件事會為
他或她招來麻煩或批評，你可以說他或她是「put himself/ herself in the line of fire」。
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| OUT LOUD 對話練習 |
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Sam: (sings) Oh, do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man Jake: Sam please!
Sam: What?
Jake: You've been singing the same three lines all day. It's driving me insane.
Sam: Hey mate. Calm down. There's no need to bite my head off just because you're in a bad mood.
Jake: I'm not in a bad mood! But all that singing about muffins is making me hungry!
山姆：（唱）噢，你認識鬆餅先生嗎，鬆餅先生，鬆餅先生
傑克：山姆，拜託！
山姆：幹嘛？
傑克：你一整天都在唱這三句，我快要被你逼瘋了。
山姆：嘿，老兄，冷靜點，不要因為你自己心情不好就拿我出氣啊。
傑克：我沒有心情不好！只是你一直唱鬆餅害我肚子好餓！
bite someone's head off 對某人大發雷霆
If one bites someone's head off then one reacts far too strongly to a relatively minor offence, action or comment.
如果說某人「bite someone's head off」，表示他／她對一個相當輕微的冒犯、動作或評論反應過大。 |
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