後臺回復 馬爾他 獲取本篇文章完整版PDF
微博：@考蟲Vivian老師
備註：加 * 的單詞是考研詞彙，原文中給出備註的詞彙不需要掌握哦。
說明：本篇文章選自《紐約時報》(The New York Times)。關於排版，我們把重點詞/難詞放在了英文原文後面，輔助大家理解原文。接著才是中文翻譯。避免原先有些同學在自己嘗試翻譯時眼睛老是瞄到中文翻譯的情況~
In 2002, the Archdiocese of Malta tried to reign in the unruliness of Maltese festas, fearing that they were damaging church decorum, but the attempt ultimately fell flat. Efforts to set up a censorship board to eliminate all provocative materials from the festas and other measures failed, and the church official that led the campaign became 「rather disliked」 on the islands, Cassar explained diplomatically.
decorum /diˈkɔ:rəm/ n. 禮貌得體；端莊穩重
fall flat（笑話、故事、事件等）完全失敗，根本未達到預期效果
2002年，馬爾他大主教轄區曾試圖控制馬爾他節日活動的失控現象，擔心它們破壞教會禮儀，但最終以失敗告終。當時成立了審查委員會來杜絕節日活動中一切有爭議的內容，但連同其他措施都失敗了，卡薩爾婉轉地表示，領導這場行動的教會官員在馬爾他變得「相當不受歡迎」。
This is nothing new in Malta. 「No bishop has ever really managed to control Maltese pika. It’s always the one against the many – and without its faithful the church is nothing,」 Cassar affirmed.
這在馬爾他並不是什麼新鮮事。卡薩爾斷言：「沒有哪個主教真的控制了馬爾他的皮卡。永遠是以少對多，而且沒了忠實的信徒，教會什麼都不是。」
Yet, although festa expense and showmanship seems to be ever increasing, the level of decorum seems to have improved in Malta in recent decades, with or without the exhortations of the church. Camilleri remembers much more vulgar festas in his youth. 「On one occasion, they painted chickens red (the colour of their band club) and threw them on their opponents to say that they were chickens,」 he chuckled. 「On another occasion, when a march of a rival band was passing by, someone threw urine over the people from the balcony.」
exhortation /ˌeɡzɔ:ˈteiʃn/ n. 敦促；告誡
*vulgar /ˈvʌlɡə(r)/ adj. 粗野的；粗魯的
chuckle /ˈtʃʌkl/ v. 輕聲地笑
然而，儘管節日花費和炫耀行為不斷增加，但近幾十年來，不管有沒有教會敦促，馬爾他的禮儀水平似乎都有所提高。卡米列裡還記得小時候的節日遠比現在粗俗。他笑著說：「有一次，他們把雞塗成紅色（對方樂隊俱樂部的顏色），然後把雞扔向對手，表示對方是膽小鬼。還有一次，當對方的樂隊經過時，有人從陽臺上向他們潑尿。」
Thank the saints those days are long gone.
感謝聖人，那些日子早已遠去。
—The End
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