貝盧斯科尼:愛美女總好過同性戀

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi dismissed calls to resign on Tuesday over reports he helped a 17-year-old girl who attended parties at his house, saying it was "better to like beautiful girls than to be gay."

He refused to apologise for his fondness for young women and denied doing anything improper, after the case of the girl known as Ruby filled Italian newspapers last week and opposition lawmakers called for him to resign.

"As always, I work without interruption and if occasionally I happen to look a beautiful girl in the face, it's better to like beautiful girls than to be gay," he told a meeting at a motorcycle industry show in Milan.

"You should be completely reassured about the government and about the fact that it's a government that still has a majority that intends to govern until the end of its term," he said.

Berlusconi, 74, has brushed off scandals over women and parties in the past but has been under unusual pressure since newspapers last week carried reports about the teenager who attended parties at his sumptuous villa at Arcore near Milan.

The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported details of a phone call it said Berlusconi made to a Milan police chief on Ruby's behalf when she was detained over a separate theft in May, raising questions of whether he improperly intervened.

Berlusconi says he helped Ruby, whose real name is reported by Italian newspapers to be Karima El Mahroug, but he denies exerting any improper pressure on police officers.

The teenager, who has since turned 18, has told newspapers she received 7,000 euros ($9,760) from Berlusconi after attending two parties. She has denied having sex with him.

意大利總理西爾維奧•貝盧斯科尼本週二聲明拒絕辭職，並表示“喜歡美女總好過同性戀”。有報道稱他“幫助”過一位在他家參加派對的17歲女孩。

上週，意大利媒體對老貝與女孩魯比之間的這起桃色事件進行了集中報道，反對黨也要求他下臺。但老貝拒絕爲自己的好色道歉，還矢口否認自己有不當的行爲。

他在米蘭的一個摩托車工業博覽會上對與會者說：“我一直不間斷地工作，只是偶爾會碰巧欣賞一下美女，但喜歡美女總好過同性戀。”

他說：“大家應該完全信任這屆政府，相信政府依然擁有多數人的支持，並將完成任期。”

現年74歲的貝盧斯科尼已經對過去有關美女和派對的桃色醜聞不屑一顧，但自從上週報紙報道了這位嫩模參加老貝在其米蘭附近的阿爾科奢華別墅舉辦的派對一事後，他承受了不同以往的壓力。

據《晚郵報》報道，貝盧斯科尼曾在今年五月給米蘭一位警長打電話爲魯比求情，當時魯比正因一起單獨盜竊案件被捕。該報紙還報道了電話內容的細節，這使人們懷疑老貝是否干涉了此事。

貝盧斯科尼表示自己只是幫了魯比，但否認給警方施加了不當壓力。據意大利報紙報道，魯比真名爲卡莉瑪•埃爾•馬羅格。

即將年滿18歲的魯比向媒體爆料稱，老貝在她參加了的兩場派對後給了她七千歐元（合9760美元）。她否認與老貝發生了性關係。

Vocabulary:

brush off: to rebuff; send away（丟棄，漠視）

sumptuous: luxuriously fine or large; lavish; splendid（奢侈的，華麗的）