石材裝修盛行 英盜石案頻發

Thieves are ripping up ancient pavements, slate roofs and even graveyards to feed a fashion for real stone in expensive home makeovers.
時下盛行用天然石材進行昂貴的家居翻新，爲滿足潮流需求，竊賊們從古道、石板瓦屋頂甚至墓地盜取石材。

The organised gangs have switched from stealing copper and other types of metal following new rules demanding tighter checks by scrap metal merchants.
政府發佈的新規要求廢金屬收購商對金屬進行更嚴格的檢查，這些有組織的盜竊團伙已經從偷竊銅和其他金屬轉向偷竊石材。

Schools, churches, memorial gardens, farm buildings, homes and even historic city pavements are being targeted by the criminals.
學校、教堂、紀念公園、農場建築、住宅、甚至歷史悠久的城市道路都正成爲這些犯罪分子的目標。

The stone is being sold on to unscrupulous builders who use it to create kitchen floors and work surfaces, fireplaces, patios, drives and walls.
偷來的石材被賣給不道德的建築商，他們用這些石材鋪就廚房地板、工作臺、壁爐、露臺、私人車道和牆體。

People with valuable stone on their property, such as Portland - which was used in the construction of St Paul's Cathedral - Yorkshire and Cotswold are most at risk.
那些房產上有珍貴石材的人最有可能被偷。珍貴石材包括曾用於建設聖保羅大教堂（St Paul's Cathedral）的波特蘭石、約克石和科茲沃爾德石。

Eric Bignell, editor of Natural Stone Specialist magazine, said the uses for stone in the home have increased massively in recent years.
《天然石材專家》（Natural Stone Specialist）雜誌的編輯埃裏克·比格內爾（Eric Bignell）說，近年來，石材用於家居裝修的比例有了大幅增長。

'People want something which is substantial in their home, from hard landscaping to housing interiors,' he said.
他說：“從硬質景觀到室內裝修，人們想要在自己家中添置一些堅固的材料。”

'It's very desirable to have a house built with stone walls, but we're also seeing stone floors, fireplaces, even kitchens all have granite worktops now and stone theft is a problem.
“擁有一座帶有石牆的房子是非常誘人的，但我們也看到有石頭地板、石頭壁爐，甚至廚房都擁有花崗岩工作臺。盜竊石材是一個問題。”

'People are stealing everything from stone walls and tiles to garden statues to reuse in the home.'
“人們現在偷竊各種石材重新用於家居裝修，從石牆石瓦到花園雕塑，都不放過。”

Recent cases include a Cotswold farmer, who was left with a £50,000 repair bill after thieves stole the stone roof from his stable block twice in three weeks.
最近發生的盜石案的受害者之一是科茨沃爾德（Cotswold）一位農民，他家馬廄的石頭屋頂三週內被竊賊偷了兩次，修繕費需要5萬英鎊。

Leeds City Council has had to replace £50,000 worth of York stone stolen from pavements across the city within a 12-month period.
利茲（Leeds）市議會需要更換全市路面在一年內被偷走的價值5萬英鎊的約克石。

Earlier this month, the Cowdray Estate, in Sussex, reported that a number of stone slabs were stolen from the centre of the ancient Cowdray Causeway.
本月早些時候，蘇塞克斯郡（Sussex）的考德雷莊園（Cowdray Estate）報告稱，考德雷古堤道中心的很多石板被偷了。

In Wales, heartless thieves stole stone slabs from a memorial garden in Aberbargoed, which was one of a spate of similar thefts in the area.
在威爾士（Wales），無情的竊賊偷走了阿貝巴格德（Aberbargoed）一座紀念花園裏的石板，這是該區域發生的一連串類似盜竊案之一。

Police have launched an appeal for information following a number of recent stone thefts from historic walls in the Breckland area of Norfolk.
最近諾福克郡（Norfolk）的布雷克蘭（ Breckland）發生了多起古建築牆體石材盜竊案，警方已經開始呼籲知情公衆提供 線索。

Kevin Thomas, risk management surveyor at Ecclesiastical Insurance, warned that people having stone features installed in their homes and gardens may be at risk of receiving stolen goods.
安立甘宗教會保險公司（Ecclesiastical Insurance）的風險管理鑑定人凱文·托馬斯（Kevin Thomas）警告稱，那些在家中或花園裏添置石頭建築的人可能有收到贓物的風險。

'The theft of stone is an increasing phenomenon, in both rural and urban areas,' he said.
“盜石現象日益增多，農村和城市地區都有。”他說。

'We're seeing things like paving slabs, blocks from walls and roof tiles stolen from heritage buildings and churches. Anything that has a marketable value that the thieves can sell on to the building trade.
“我們看到從遺產建築和教堂偷走的鋪路石板、牆體石塊以及屋頂瓦塊等東西，任何有市場價值、竊賊能賣給建築商的東西。”

'In places like Cumbria and Lancashire, whole bits of building are being taken.
“在像坎布里亞郡（Cumbria）和蘭開夏郡（Lancashire）這樣的地方，有人正將整個的建築都偷走。”

'The thieves stealing the stone are often removing items that have been in place for hundreds of years and are an important part of Britain's heritage and landscape.'
“偷石材的竊賊通常將完好存在了數百年的東西拿走，這些東西是英國遺產和景觀的重要組成部分。”

Mr Thomas said stone thieves are often very brazen, dressing in high visibility jackets so they look like official workmen.
托馬斯先生說，盜石賊通常是非常無所顧忌的，他們穿着高能見度的夾克衫，看起來像正式的工匠。

'It's so easy for them to take it. Often these places are in rural areas, they are unoccupied and isolated and thieves have all the time in the world to carry out the theft uninterrupted.'
“他們要拿走這些石材很容易，通常這些地方都位於農村，無人居住，與世隔絕。他們有大把時間不斷地偷竊。”

Heritage Watch schemes, similar to Neighbourhood Watch, have been set up in Cheshire, Hertfordshire and Essex to tackle the thefts.
柴郡（Cheshire）、赫特福德郡（Hertfordshire）和埃塞克斯郡（Essex）已經發起了與“鄰里守望”（Neighbourhood Watch）計劃相似的“文化遺產看守”（Heritage Watch）計劃，以解決盜竊問題。

And some places have started using SmartWater technology - a uniquely coded forensic liquid that shows up under an ultraviolet lamp - to make it easier to identify stolen stone and trace where it has been taken from.
有些地方已經開始使用SmartWater檢測技術——一種用於法庭科學取證的唯一編碼的液體，在紫外線燈下能夠顯現——以更容易地識別被盜的石材並追蹤它們是從哪裏被偷走的。

Vocabulary

slate：石板瓦

unscrupulous：不道德的

patio：露臺

granite：花崗岩

worktop：(廚房做飯用的)操作面

slab：厚板

brazen：無所顧忌的

forensic：法庭科學取證的

ultraviolet： 紫外線的