◎張沛元

Two high school seniors in Scranton, Pennsylvania are paying a high price for their interest in politics.

賓州斯克藍頓的2名高三生，得為他們對政治感興趣而付出代價。

Colin Saltry and Joey Daniel say they skipped gym class on Monday to go to a diner where presidential contender Barack Obama was making an impromptu stop.

柯林．紹崔與裘伊．丹尼爾說，他們蹺掉週一的體育課，以便前往總統參選人巴拉克．奧巴馬突然蒞臨的一家小吃店。

The two met Obama, and they say he even signed excuse slips for them to show their teachers. That did not work. Saltry and Daniel got one-day suspensions for leaving school grounds, and Saltry has been ordered to resign as senior class president.

這2人見到了奧巴馬，並稱奧巴馬甚至幫他們的請假單簽名，好讓他們拿給老師。但這招無效。紹崔與丹尼爾2人因擅離校園而遭到停學一天，紹崔還被下令辭去高三班學生主席一職。

Saltry says it was worth being suspended to meet Obama, but he didn’t expect to be bounced from his class presidency.

紹崔說，為了見奧巴馬一面，就算被停學也值得；但他沒想到還得賠上他的學生主席職位。

Assistant Superintendent William King says the rules are clear, and adds that if the students had asked to leave campus, they probably could have gone.

助理督學威廉．金恩說，校規的規定很清楚，他並稱倘若這2名學生當初要求離校，或許能夠如願。

新聞辭典

pay the price：片語，付出代價。例句：He had paid the price for working too hard -- his wife left him.（他已為太過努力工作付出代價─他老婆離開他了。）

excuse slip：請假單。excuse，名詞，藉口，請假條；slip，名詞，紙條。

bounce：動詞，彈起，彈回；蹦跳；反射；解僱，攆走（俚語）。片語動詞，bounce back，（病後或受打擊後）迅速恢復元氣。例句：The older you get, the harder you bounce back.（愈老愈難東山再起。）

來源：自由時報

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