Print

Mail

Do not disturb eggs: MP reveals Britain's oddest laws 英議員揭露英國最古怪法令：不許翻動蛋盒

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attend the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords London, on Dec. 3, 2008. The Queen's speech sets out the government's plans for the next parliamentary session. 十二月三日，英女王伊麗莎白二世和菲利普親王赴倫敦上議院出席國會開幕大典。女王在致詞中闡述了政府下個國會會期的計畫。 照片：美聯社 PHOTO: AP

Britons are forbidden from disturbing packs of eggs and from selling game killed on a Sunday, it was revealed by a lawmaker who condemned ministers for introducing weird, off the wall laws.

The day after Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government laid out its agenda for the coming year, Liberal Democrat lawmaker Chris Huhne noted the stream of sometimes "completely bizarre" new offences it had created.

Since the Labour party took power in 1997 under then prime minister Tony Blair, it has created 3,600 new criminal offences, Huhne said, adding this was "massively complicating" the job of police and the criminal justice system.

"Some of these offences are completely bizarre - for example, the offence of causing a nuclear explosion," he told members of parliament (MPs)."

He said that if somebody causes a nuclear explosion, there would certainly be casualties. The culprit would be subject to a murder charge, so the new law is redundant.

Other new offences include "wilfully pretending to be a barrister," "disturbing a pack of eggs when instructed not to by an authorized officer" and "offering for sale a game bird killed on a Sunday or Christmas day," he said.

Huhne accused the government of doing nothing to repeal these laws. Justice minister Jack Straw asked for a full list of the ones the MP wanted removed from the statute books so that he could review them.

(AFP)

英國人被禁止翻動盒裝的蛋，以及販售星期日宰殺的野味。英國一名國會議員揭露這些古怪荒謬的法規，並譴責制定這些法令的內閣官員。

首相高登．布朗政府提出明年議程的隔天，自由民主黨議員克里斯．胡尼就特別提到政府之前制定的多項「荒誕至極」的新罪罰。

胡尼表示，自一九九七年以首相湯尼．布萊爾為首的工黨執政以來，政府共制定了三千六百條新的刑事法令。他說這讓警方和刑事司法體系的工作大大複雜化。

他告訴國會議員說：「其中部份法令實在讓人匪夷所思，例如：導致核子爆炸罪。」

他表示，如果某人引發核子爆炸，鐵定會造成傷亡，犯案者也會被控謀殺，因此這條新法根本是多餘的。

他說，其他新罪罰還包括「刻意假扮律師」、「違反授權人員指示翻動盒裝雞蛋」，以及「販賣星期日或耶誕節當天宰殺的野禽」。

胡尼控訴政府對於撤銷這些法令毫無動作。司法大臣傑克．史卓要求胡尼列出所有他想從法令全書中撤銷的法令，以便重新評估。

（法新社／翻譯：袁星塵）

VOCABULARY 今日單字 1. lawmaker n. 立法委員 (li4 fa2 wei3 yuan2) 例: The lawmakers discussed the idea of relaxing immigration policy. (立法委員討論了移民政策鬆綁計畫。) 2. bizarre / adj. 奇異的 (qi2 yi4 de5) 例: Wilson received a bizarre letter from an old friend last week. (威爾森上週收到一封老朋友寄來的怪信。) 3. nuclear adj. 核子的 (he2 zi3 de5) 例: The demonstrators protested against the new nuclear power station. (示威者抗議新核能發電廠的設置。) 4. barrister / n. 律師 (lü4 shi1) 例: Nigel hopes to complete his barrister training before January. (奈吉爾希望在一月前完成律師訓練。)

SAY WHAT? 說說看 off the wall 奇怪、不尋常 Something that is off the wall is strange or unusual. In the article, the lawmaker criticized the government for introducing weird laws. Examples: “Nobody was surprised that Joe became a successful comedian. At school he was always entertaining us with his off the wall antics,” or “Nobody knows what Simone will do next. She’s totally off the wall.” 若用「off the wall」來形容某事，就表示這件事情很奇怪或不尋常。文章中說，這位議員批評政府制定了怪誕的法令。 例如：「大家對喬成為一位出色的喜劇演員並不感到意外，他在學校時就常搞笑娛樂我們」，或是「大家都不知道席夢下一步會怎麼做，她完全異於常人」。

OUT LOUD 對話練習 Woody: Which party are you going to vote for at the next election? Harvey: I haven’t made my mind up yet, but I probably won’t vote. Woody: Really? Why not? Harvey: Because I don’t trust politicians. Woody: That’s interesting. Any other reasons? Harvey: Yes. They keep raising taxes. I’m not made of money you know. Woody: I see. But I still think you ought to vote. 伍迪：你下次選舉要投給哪個政黨？ 哈維：我還沒決定，但我大概不會投吧。 伍迪：真的嗎？為什麼不投？ 哈維：因為我不相信政客。 伍迪：很有趣的論點，還有別的原因嗎？ 哈維：有，他們不斷調漲稅率。你也知道我家又不是印鈔票的。 伍迪：原來如此，但我還是覺得你應該去投票。 not made of money　非腰纏萬貫 When somebody says they’re not made of money, they mean they have a limited amount of money. 若某人說他們「not made of money」，意思就是他們錢不多。

This story has been viewed 765 times.