解读

　　Number One Tennis Player’s Donation
　　头号网球选手的捐赠
　　
　　 Austria’s number one tennis player Stefan Koubek is donating 1 000 euros ($1 171) to charity for each racquet he smashes so that some good may come from his outbursts on court. Koubek smashed three racquets to pieces during his qualification match for Paris Masters after squandering several match points when leading 5:2 in the final set. The set went to a tie-break, which the umpire then awarded to Koubek’s opponent after the Austrian wrecked his third racquet. Koubek will donate the money for each racquet destroyed in 2004 to a children’s home in Austria. “At least then trashing racquets will make some kind of sense,” Koubek said on his Web Site.
　　奥地利头号网球选手斯特凡·库贝克打算每摔碎一只球拍就向慈善机构捐款1 000欧元(1 171美元)，以此为自己在球场上的勃然怒气谋得些许善果。在巴黎大师杯资格赛决胜盘中，库贝克在5比2领先的形势下浪费了几个赛点，他因此把三只球拍摔成了碎片。这一盘最终打到了抢七，而裁判在库贝克摔碎第三只球拍之后把胜利判给了对手。库贝克将为自己在2004年摔碎的每一只拍子向奥地利的儿童之家捐钱，他在自己的网站上说：“这样一来，摔拍子至少还有点意义。”
　　我看受益的不仅是那些需要帮助的儿童，还有——球拍生产商。
　　
　　Q4U 雇人排队
　　
　　Some people will do anything to get into the record book—eat cock－roaches, catapult coins or just sit around and navel-gaze. Australian Graham Barker has extracted his own bellybutton fluff every day since1984, collecting a world record 0.54 ounces. His collection is just one of the weird and wonderful feats record－ed in the 2002 edition of Guinness World Records, published recently.
　　有些人为创纪录什么都肯干——吃蟑螂、弹硬币，或者干脆傻坐着看自己的肚脐眼儿。澳大利亚的格雷厄姆·巴克尔从1984年开始每天收集自己肚脐上的软毛，现已收集了创世界纪录的0．54盎司。他的收藏只是最近出版的《吉尼斯世界纪录大全》2002年版收载的各种稀奇古怪业绩中的一个。
　　只有你想不到的，没有人家做不到的。看来，有人为了扬名什么都肯干也就不足为怪了。
　　
　　It’sa New Record for Cockroach Eating!
　　吃蟑螂新纪录!
　　
　　The British have always been renowned for their stoic readiness to queue. Not anymore. For 20 pounds ($28.84) an hour, they can now hire someone from London company Q4U to stand in line for them. The compa－ny got the idea after television presen－ter John Fashanu, a former footballer, paid a tramp 300 pounds to queue for applications to buy a 1 million pound apartment.
　　 英国人一向以对排长队安之若素闻名，但是现在不这样了。只需每小时付费20英镑(28．84美元)，他们就可以去伦敦的Q4U(Queue for You)公司雇人来替自己排队。Q4U公司的灵感来自电视节目主持人约翰·法沙努，这位前足球运动员花了300英镑让一个流浪汉替自己排队申请购买一套价值100万英镑的公寓。
　　社会上又多了一种行业——排队族。对于穷人而言，日子照旧:该排队时还得排队。
　　
　　The Art of Not Being Stolen
　　拒盗之术
　　
　　A German construction worker fed up with burglars breaking into his mo－bile home decided to leave the door unlocked and put up a sign reading “Beer in fridge, please don’t damage anything,” police said. The 48-year-old told authorities in the western town of Oggersheim that six bottles of beer had been stolen from his fridge during the weekend but nothing else was missing and there was no damage.
　　据警方说，住在移动房屋中的一位德国建筑工人受不了一再破门而入的小偷们的骚扰，于是决定不再锁门，并在门上贴上告示：“啤酒在冰箱里，请不要毁坏东西。”这位48岁的工人居住在德国西部的奥格斯海姆镇。他对地方当局说，(告示贴出之后的)周末他冰箱里不见了六瓶啤酒，但没有遗失其他东西，也没有物品被损坏。
　　“此地无银三百两”，不知这样一来，是否会招来更多的小偷享用免费啤酒？