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Botched pest extermination has envoy up in arms 除蟲失當 大使發昏

People look at sculptures of cockroaches with human faces attached to the facade of the Museo de Bellas Artes in Havana on March 27, 2009. 三月二十七日，民眾觀看吸附在哈瓦那美術館外牆的人臉蟑螂雕塑。照片：路透 PHOTO: REUTERS

A cockroach extermination gone wrong not only had Israel’s diplomat in Kazakhstan spend a day in hospital but also caused tension at the embassy, a report said.

A foreign ministry inspector was heading to the Kazakh capital Astana to look into the affair, the Ynet news Web site reported.

The story began when ambassador Yisrael Mei-Ami complained that his apartment was infested with cockroaches. A local pest control company came, but the bugs remained.

Mei-Ami’s deputy, Ziv Bilous, had a handyman spray the apartment, but the locally bought pest control products proved a bit too strong.

When the ambassador returned to his apartment, he felt ill and was rushed to hospital where he remained for a day with poisoning symptoms.

When he was released he sent the foreign ministry a furious telegram entitled “The ambassador’s poisoning,” in which he demanded that his deputy be investigated for “negligence bordering on criminal action,” it said.

Foreign ministry officials requested that the ambassador change the undiplomatic language in his complaint, calling it “inappropriate.”

“I can assure you that foreign ministry delegates are not in the habit of poisoning each other,” Ynet quoted ministry spokesman Yossi Levy as saying.

報導指出，一場「凸槌」的滅蟑工程不僅讓以色列駐哈薩克外交官住院一天，也讓大使館上下陷入緊張。

Ynet新聞網站上報導，一名以色列外交部督察正前往哈薩克首都阿斯塔那進行了解。

這起事件起源於以色列大使伊色列．梅艾米抱怨他的寓所有蟑螂入侵。一家當地除蟲公司來過之後，蟑螂問題還是沒有解決。

梅艾米的副手茲夫．畢勒斯請了一位雜役到大使寓所去噴灑除蟲劑，結果在當地購買的殺蟲劑毒性過強。

當大使回到寓所時，感到噁心不適，於是被緊急送往醫院，他被診斷出有中毒症狀，並留院觀察了一天。

報導指出，他出院後，給以色列外交部發了一封標題為《大使中毒》的電報，文中要求以國調查他副手「這種近似犯罪行為的疏失」。

外交部官員要求這位大使更正他控訴中這種缺乏外交風範的言詞，並稱這種說法「非常不恰當」。

Ynet新聞網中引述了外交部發言人佑希．賴維的說法：「我可以向你擔保，我國外交使團代表並沒有毒害彼此的習慣。」

（法新社╱翻譯：袁星塵）

TODAY’S WORDS 今日單字 1. diplomat n. 外交官 (wai4 jiao1 guan1) 例: Despite being a diplomat, Isaac is terrible with foreign languages. (雖然以薩貴為外交官，不過他的外語卻破得可憐。) 2. tension n. 緊張局勢 (jin3 zhang1 ju2 shi4) 例: There was a lot of tension in the meeting. I was happy when it finished. (會議上氣氛非常緊張，我很高興會開完了。) 3. pest n. 害蟲 (hai4 chong2) 例: Sherry told me that her apartment has a pest problem. (雪莉跟我說她的公寓有蟲害問題。) 4. entitle v.t. 定名為 (ding4 ming2 wei2) 例: The presentation was entitled"Motorcycle maintenance for beginners." (這場說明會名為「摩托車入門維修」。)

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