◎張沛元

Police say a man’s excuse for speeding through a small Connecticut town takes the cake.

警方指出，一名超速穿梭於康乃狄克州一處小鎮的男子，所提出的藉口實在有夠扯。

A state trooper who stopped the 1993 BMW last fall says its driver, 28-year-old Justin Vonkummer of Millerton, New York, blamed his driving problems on an errant Oreo.

一名在去年秋天攔下這輛1993年份BMW的州警說，該車駕駛─28歲、來自紐約州米勒頓的賈斯汀．馮庫莫，將他的駕駛問題怪罪於一塊不聽話的奧利奧餅乾。

Vonkummer told the trooper that an Oreo had just slipped from his fingers as he dunked it in a cup of milk, and that he was trying to fish it out when he lost control of his car.

馮庫莫告訴這名州警，當他把一塊奧利奧餅乾浸到一杯牛奶裡時，餅乾竟然從指間滑掉；他忙著把餅乾（從牛奶裡）撈出來，所以車子才會失控。

Prosecutors learned in court that Vonkummer had been charged with speeding and driving under a suspended license -- not driving under the influence, as a clerk had mistakenly noted in the court records.

檢方在法庭上獲悉，馮庫莫過去曾被控超速和使用已被吊扣的駕照駕車─而非書記在法庭紀錄中誤植的酒醉駕車。

新聞辭典

Oreo：奧利奧餅乾。美國口語中常以某特定品牌泛指該類商品。例如，「面紙」不說tissue paper，而說Kleenex（一種面紙品牌），「棉花棒」不說cotton swab，而說Q-tips；FedEx是「快遞」的代名詞，Xerox是「影印」的代名詞。由於是「泛指」，並不意味發話者指名採用該品牌，如Could you FedEx/Xerox this for me?是請求協助「快遞」或「影印」。本文中的Oreo，專指奧利奧餅乾，非泛指餅乾。

something/someone takes the cake：片語，意指某事或某人是最極端的範例，通常作負面使用。例句：I’ve spent a lot of money on shopping but you take the cake.（我已經花很多錢血拼了，但還是比不上你。）

來源：自由時報

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