http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2009/new/nov/11/today-int5.htm

◎魏國金

A 68-year-old woman in South Korea has passed the written test for her driving licence after 950 attempts.

南韓一名68歲婦女在950次的嘗試後，已通過駕照筆試。

Cha Sa-Soon finally scored the 60 percent required after sitting the exam nearly every day since April 2005, said officials at the drivers’ licensing agency in Jeonju.

自2005年4月以來幾乎每天應考的車七順（譯音），終於獲得及格所要求的60分，全州駕照監理處的官員指出。

Yonhap news agency said she had spent more than five million won in the process. But it’s not over yet for Cha, who has to take the road driving part of the test before she can be given a licence.

南韓聯合通訊社說，在此過程中，她已耗費逾500萬韓元。但對車女士而言，這尚未結束，在能獲發駕照前，她必須參加路考。

"I felt so ashamed of myself for failing so many times but I simply could not give it up," Cha told Yonhap. "My four children were overjoyed at the news that I finally passed it," she said.

「落榜這麼多次，我感到非常難為情，但我就是不能放棄，」車女士告訴聯合通訊社說。「我的4個孩子對於我終於通過筆試的消息欣喜若狂，」她說。

"I still have to pass the real driving test but I think it will be easier for me to pass than the paper test," she said, adding that she needed a driver’s licence for her vegetable-selling business.

她說：「我仍然必須通過真正的駕駛測驗，但我認為，這對我而言，將比通過筆試容易。」她補充說，為了賣菜生意，她需要一張駕照。

新聞辭典

sit the exam︰參加考試。英式英文中，sit有應考之意，例句︰He’s sitting his bar finals.（他正參加律師資格考的複試。）

ashamed︰形容詞，慚愧的、害臊的。I’m ashamed for you.（我為你感到慚愧。）

overjoyed︰形容詞，萬分高興的，例句︰She was overjoyed to see me.（她見到我非常高興。）字首over有超過、超越之意，例如overpressure（過大的壓力。）

http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2009/new/oct/10/today-int6.htm

◎ 陳成良

U.S. researchers said on Thursday they have found a way to make large-scale flexible display screens that can be stretched to fit the contours of a bus yet are transparent enough so riders can see out windows.

美國研究人員週四說，他們發現了一種製作大尺寸、可彎曲顯示螢幕的方法，讓螢幕可延展到符合一輛巴士的輪廓，且透明度足以讓乘客看透窗玻璃。

The thin, light screens might be used to make brake light indicators that follow the contours of a car, or health monitors or imaging devices that wrap around a patient like a blanket, said John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, whose study appears in the journal Science.

這種輕薄的螢幕可以依據車子的輪廓來製造煞車指示燈，或製作可像毯子一樣將病人裹起來的健康監控器或造影儀器，伊利諾大學香檳分校的約翰．羅傑斯說。他的研究成果公布在「科學」期刊上。

He said the large display screens combine the scale and durability of light-emitting diodes, or LED technology, used to make flat, lighted billboards, with the flexibility of screens made using organic — carbon-containing — materials.

他說，這種大型螢幕結合了用來製作平面薄型告示板的發光二極管（LED）技術的尺寸與耐用性，以及有機含碳材料所製螢幕的彈性特點。

Rogers said current technology using inorganic materials produces chunky individual LED lights that need to be arranged piecemeal with a robotic arm. Screens made using organic materials can be sprayed or painted onto a film surface, but they are not as bright or durable, he said.

羅傑斯說，目前利用無機材料的技術可製造大量單獨LED光束，這些光束需要通過機器手臂逐一排列。而有機材料做成的屏幕可噴灑或塗於膠片表面，但卻不夠明亮與耐久，他說。

新聞辭典

stretch：名詞，（口語）誇大；誇張；吹牛。另一個常見解釋是「伸長」，標題中的stretch是雙關語。

contour：名詞，輪廓、外形、結構，如contours of a building（建築的輪廓）。

piecemeal ：副詞，一件件地，逐個地；逐漸地；零碎地。例句：The reforms were implemented piecemeal. （改革在零零星星地進行。）

http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2009/new/oct/8/today-int6.htm

《中英對照讀新聞》’Booze therapy’ for brain injury 腦部創傷的酒精治療

◎鄭寺音

A dose of alcohol may be a good treatment for people with head injuries, emergency doctors suggest. Their basis for this is the discovery that people appear less likely to die following brain trauma if they have alcohol in their bloodstream.

急診醫師認為，一劑量的酒精，對有腦傷的人來說或許是好的治療。他們是根據如果人在腦部創傷之後血液中有酒精，似乎比較不會死亡的發現，來得出上述結果。

It could be that alcohol dampens the body’s inflammatory response to injury, the US team told Archives of Surgery. But they stressed that alcohol can cause medical complications and is contributory to many accidents.

這個美國團隊告訴外科文獻，這有可能是酒精抑制身體對受傷的發炎反應，但他們強調，酒精可能造成醫療併發症及許多意外。

Experts cautioned people should not interpret the findings as an excuse to drink more alcohol. The amount of alcohol consumed appears to be important – too little and there is no effect, too much and the beneficial effects are lost, studies on animals suggest.

專家警告，人們應該不要將這份發現，解讀為喝更多酒的藉口。動物研究顯示，喝酒的量顯得很重要，太少的話沒有效果，太多的話，好處就會流失。

Experts believe the right dose of alcohol, however, stops the cascade of swelling, inflammation and further destruction of brain cells, known as secondary brain injury.

但專家認為，喝酒的量對了，可阻止接連發生腫脹、發炎以及腦細胞進一步毀滅，也就是俗稱的腦部二次傷害。

The latest work, based on more than 38,000 moderate-to-severe head trauma patients, is the largest yet to look at the effects of alcohol on brain injury survival.

這份最新研究是根據3萬8千多名中度到重度頭部創傷病患的研究而來，是目前針對酒精對腦部創傷生還影響的最新研究。

新聞辭典

dampen：動詞，抑制，使沮喪。例句：The bad news dampened our spirits. （這個噩耗讓我們沮喪。）

complication ：名詞，併發症。例句：A hospital’s ability to rescue patients from postoperative complications may be a key factor in surgical mortality rates, researchers said. （研究人員說，一家醫院挽救病人手術後併發症的能力，可能是手術致死率的一個關鍵因素。）

contributory：形容詞，促成的。例句：Too little exercise is a contributory factor in heart disease.（太少運動是促成心臟病的因素。）

http://www.voafanti.com/gate/big5/www.freexinwen.com/chinese/eng/news_bilingual/news/news_100109.asp

美國和伊朗的外交官員在有關伊朗核項目的日內瓦會談期間舉行了罕見的雙邊會談。

美國一位發言人說，美國副國務卿伯恩斯星期四會晤了伊朗核談判代表賈利利。美國和伊朗沒有外交關係，會談的細節尚未公佈。

但是，據信這次會晤是華盛頓和德黑蘭多年來最高級別的會談。伊朗官員在同美國、俄羅斯、中國、英國、法國和德國的外交官員舉行多邊會談。

伊朗電視臺說，世界大國同意在10月底之前再次舉行會談。報導還說，賈利利闡明瞭伊朗建議的框架，並解釋了必須落實這些建議的理由。

U.S. and Iranian diplomats have held a rare bilateral meeting, on the sidelines of talks in Geneva about Iran’s nuclear program.

A U.S. spokesman (State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood) says Under Secretary of State William Burns met Thursday with top Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

The United States and Iran do not have diplomatic relations, and no details of the meeting were made public. However, the session is believed to be the highest-level meeting between Washington and Tehran in years.

Iranian officials have been holding multilateral talks with diplomats from the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

Iranian television says the world powers have agreed to hold more talks before the end of October. State television also says Jalili laid out the framework of Iran’s proposals and explained how he believed they should be implemented.

http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2009/new/sep/29/today-int7.htm

◎羅彥傑

An 11-year-old Huntsville boy gets high marks in storytelling after staging a hoax to cover up his bad grades.

一名11歲、住在亨茨維爾市的男孩在說故事方面拿了高分，因為他安排一場騙局來掩飾自己的難看分數。

Police say the boy faked his kidnapping Friday to avoid bringing home a bad report card, saying that a man with a pistol snatched him after he left Ed White Middle School.

警方表示，這名男孩週五捏造自己遭到綁架，以避免把難看的成績單帶回家。他宣稱一名持手槍男子在他離開愛德懷特中學時抓住他。

The boy said the man forced him into a "beat-up car" and threatened to kill him.

男孩表示，這名男子強迫他坐上1輛「破舊的汽車」，威脅要殺他。

The student said he escaped by jumping out of the car but wasn’t able to grab his bookbag, which contained the report card. He ran to his grandparents’ house and later confessed to lying. His grandfather called police to apologize.

學生說，他用跳車的方式逃走，但無法抓住自己的書包，而書包裡有成績單。他跑到祖父母的家中，後來坦承說謊。他的祖父打電話給警方道歉。

Sgt. Mark Roberts said police were suspicious that the boy was able to "escape" with his band instrument, but not his bookbag.

巡佐馬克羅伯特說，對這名男孩能夠帶著自己的樂隊樂器「逃走」，卻不是書包，警方早就起了疑心。

Roberts said the boy faces no charges at this time.

羅伯特說，這名男孩現在沒有面臨控罪。

新聞辭典

hoax：名詞，騙局、惡作劇，亦可當動詞用。例句：There was not a bomb in the hotel at all–it was just a hoax.（飯店裡根本沒有炸彈，這不過是一場騙局。）

beat-up：形容詞，破舊的、破爛的。例句：It is a little expensive for a beat-up book like that.（對於像這樣一本破書而言，這有點貴。）

at this time：片語，此時、現在。例句：Authorities say they do have more information concerning the deaths but would not elaborate at this time.（當局表示他們確實在這些命案方面掌握更多的情報，但此刻不會詳細說明。）