奇聞：世界各地聖誕怪事大PK

Christmas is coming!

Santa shot at in Rio. Electric eels light up Japanese Christmas tree. Singapore elephants get festive gift of boots for jumbo pain.

Around the globe, Christmas invariably offers tales of the wacky, wild and downright weird -- and the 2007 festivities are certainly no exception.

In a Rio de Janeiro slum, drug traffickers opened fire on a helicopter carrying Santa Claus to a Christmas party, apparently mistaking it for a police helicopter.

Poor Santa is also under fire for being too fat.

The acting US surgeon general said a thinner Santa would be a better role model for kids in a land battling obesity.

A British shopping centre ordered its Santas to attend a month-long boot campwith exercisesbefore greeting children.

In the season of mass consumption, going green can win brownie points.

In Hong Kong, environmentalists are not amused, arguing that all the glittering neon Santas and rainbows of flashy lights are devouring too much electricity.

But, in sharp contrast, a Japanese aquarium decided on a novel way to save energy -- it used electricity generated by an electric eel to light up its Christmas tree.

A Canadian man said he sold his son's video game, a prized Christmas gift, on eBay after catching him smoking marijuana.

In Singapore, vets gave Asian elephants Tun and Jamilah the perfect Christmas gift -- specially made waterproof boots to relieve chronic foot lesions.

And cheeky Australian thieves stole 16 tonnes of ham and bacon from a Sydney warehouse and then wrote "Thanks. Merry Christmas" on a wall.

But surely the prize for the most bizarre Christmas charity gift must go to the International Rhino Foundation -- an auction of rhino dung which could be presented as Christmas gift！

聖誕老人在里約熱內盧遭到槍擊。日本用電鰻點亮聖誕樹。新加坡的大象收到了聖誕禮物“止痛靴”……

每到聖誕節，世界各地總會上演千奇百怪的聖誕故事，今年的聖誕節當然也不例外。

在（巴西的）里約熱內盧的一個貧民窟附近，一架載有“聖誕老人”的直升飛機遭到販毒分子的槍擊。這架直升飛機送“聖誕老人”去參加聖誕晚會，顯然被販毒分子當作警察的直升機了。

不僅如此，可憐的聖誕老人還因體形過胖而遭到“炮轟”。

美國公共衛生署代理署長稱，在一個與肥胖進行“艱苦鬥爭”的國度，聖誕老人如果能變得更苗條一些，也許能成爲孩子們更爲理想的行動榜樣。

英國的一家購物中心要求其“聖誕老人”在聖誕節與小朋友們見面之前，必須參加爲期一個月的“身體集訓營”。

作爲一年中的消費旺季，聖誕期間更應該加強環保意識。

香港的環保主義者們可不會被五光十色的節日霓虹所迷惑，他們稱帶有霓虹燈的聖誕老人和七彩閃光燈消耗了大量電能。

與此相反，日本一家水族館則想出了一個新奇的節能辦法。它利用電鰻魚發的電來點亮聖誕樹彩燈。

在加拿大，一名男子由於發現兒子吸食大麻，因此他在eBay上賣掉了兒子心愛的聖誕禮物——一款電腦遊戲。

在新加坡，獸醫爲兩頭名爲圖恩和雅米拉的亞洲大象帶來了最合適的聖誕禮物——特製防水止痛靴。

澳大利亞的一羣厚顏無恥的小偷從悉尼的一家肉店倉庫偷走了16噸的火腿和燻肉，還在牆上留言說“謝謝。聖誕快樂！”。

而“最奇異的聖誕慈善禮物”大獎應該屬於“國際犀牛基金會”。近日，該組織舉辦了一個“犀牛糞”拍賣會，有興趣的人可以拿它作聖誕禮物哦！

under fire:指遭到抨擊

brownie points:指“印象加分”