◎陳成良

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte has found an out-of-this-world way to celebrate his 50th birthday -- blasting off into space.

太陽馬戲團創辦人蓋．拉利伯特已找出極其美妙的方法來慶祝50歲生日——發射進入太空。

The former fire-eater is on the countdown to become the world’s seventh, and Canada’s first, space tourist, slated to travel on a Russian Soyuz space craft to the International Space Station （ISS） in September.

這位前吞火藝人已進入倒數計時，將成為全球第7，也是加拿大第一位太空觀光客，預定9月乘坐俄羅斯「聯合號」太空船前往國際太空站。

Laliberte, 49, a Quebec billionaire who was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2004, will be the seventh tourist to visit the multi-national orbiting space station since April 2001.

49歲的拉利伯特是魁北克省的億萬富豪，2004年被時代週刊列為全球百大最具影響力人物之一。他將成為自2001年4月以來，第7位造訪這座多國軌道運行太空站的觀光客。

He founded Cirque du Soleil 25 years ago and currently owns 95 percent of the company, and is also a professional poker player. Laliberte turns 50 on September 2.

他25年前創立太陽馬戲團，目前擁有該公司95%股份，他也是位職業撲克玩家。拉利伯特9月2日將滿50歲。

He paid a total of $60 million for his two space journeys but tourists have paid up to $35 million for the trip, arranged by U.S. company Space Adventures.

在美國「太空冒險」公司安排下，他總共支付6000萬美元進行兩趟太空旅行，不過觀光客一趟要付3500萬美元。

新聞辭典

blast off ：片語，（火箭、飛彈等的）發射升空，例句：The rockets were blasted off.（火箭發射升空了。）

out of this world：（口語）極好的。例句： This restaurant is absolutely out of this world. （這家餐廳實在太棒了。）

slate：動詞，預定；選定。例句：The delegation is slated to arrive next week. （代表團預定下週到達。）

自由時報-980613

++++++++++++++++++++++++