BBC初級口語:鬼魂出賣Ghosts for Sale
Background: 互聯網給人們生活帶來的巨大影響力之一是它爲我們提供了網上交易的所有可能。新西蘭的一名女子就剛剛在網上拍賣了兩個鬼魂.
【文本】
As ghost stories go, it's frankly a bit weak. Not very frightening and with a happy ending, it doesn't really prove the existence of the supernatural either.
But it does show beautifully the enduring popularity of the offbeat and wacky on the internet.
Our tale begins in the home of Avie Woodbury in Christchurch, on New Zealand's South Island. Last year, she says, things started to go bump in the night:
"We had a lot of activity. Mainly it was banging, banging in the house. And also I think the biggest thing for us was that our dog would sort of stop in its tracks and it would just look into nothing and then start barking. And this happened several times and we just got a real weird feeling over us. Just so odd that you just can't explain it."
The novelty soon wore off and Miss Woodbury hired an exorcist to rid her of the spooky interlopers.
A paranormal specialist from the local spiritualist church duly came and captured two ghosts, which he claimed to have trapped in a pair of small glass vials.
The funny goings on promptly stopped, leaving a greatly relieved Miss Woodbury with just one problem - what to do with the spirits and their tiny prisons. Rather than throw them in the bin she decided to sell them online to the highest bidder.
"Early on in the auction it got a bid for $1.50 and I said to my partner, 'Oh how wonderful, we've got rid of the spirits', you know, and we were quite happy to have $1.50 for them. And we never thought it would get so much publicity and so many people viewing the auction, so just incredible."
With its obvious parallels to the 1980s film Ghostbusters, news of the sale quickly spread - and the online auction was viewed 214,000 times. The ghosts were finally sold for nearly $2000 US dollars, which Miss Woodbury intends to donate to an animal charity.
【口語突破】
frankly
坦誠地
supernatural
超自然的
enduring popularity
持久的紅火
offbeat
非主流
wacky
奇異的/奇怪的
go bump in the night
夜裏（開始）有鬼了
banging
咚咚的響聲
stop in its tracks
停在路上不走了
barking
狗叫
novelty
新穎的事務
wore off
逐漸淡化
exorcist
驅魔人人/昭魂者
spooky interlopers
令人害怕的干涉他人事務的人
paranormal
超自然的
duly
預期地
vials
小玻璃瓶
parallels
與…相類似的東西
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重點單詞查看全部解釋partner['pɑ:tnə]想一想再看
n. 搭檔，夥伴，合夥人
v. 同 ... 合
part部分+ner人→合作伙伴 publicity[pʌb'lisiti]
想一想再看
n. 公衆的注意，宣傳，宣揚，宣傳品，廣告
聯想記憶X單詞publicity聯想記憶：public人民+ity→公開；宣傳 donate['dəuneit]
想一想再看
vt. 捐贈，轉移(電子)
vi. 捐款
don給予+ate→給出去→捐贈 obvious['ɔbviəs]
想一想再看
adj. 明顯的，顯然的
聯想記憶X單詞obvious聯想記憶：ob加強狀態+vi道路+ous→就在路上→明顯的 popularity[.pɔpju'læriti]
想一想再看
n. 普及，流行，名望，受歡迎
聯想記憶X單詞popularity聯想記憶：popular流行+ity→大衆性；流行 charity['tʃæriti]
想一想再看
n. 慈善，慈善機關(團體), 仁慈，寬厚
聯想記憶X單詞charity聯想記憶：char茶，ity狀態－請喝茶的狀態－施捨－仁慈 supernatural[:pə'nætʃərəl]
想一想再看
adj. 超自然的，神奇的
聯想記憶X單詞supernatural聯想記憶：super超級，超過，過度+natural自然的→超自然的 bin[bin]
想一想再看
n. 箱櫃，[計] DOS文件名， 二進制目標文件
bin讀：殯。出殯－需要一個大箱子－裝死人。
想一想再看
v. 伸展，展開，傳播，散佈，鋪開，塗撒
n.
想一想再看
n. 新奇，新奇的事物，小裝飾
聯想記憶X單詞novelty聯想記憶：novel新的+ty表名詞，用在形容詞後，把形容詞變成名詞→新奇
