《中英對照讀新聞》 Man takes car on 3,200 km test drive 男子試車 一跑3200公里

◎ 魏國金

An Australian who took a new car on a 3,200 km six-day test drive from the city to the outback has been arrested, police said.

一名澳洲男子試駕新車，從所在城市到澳洲內陸，開了6天、3200公里後已被逮捕，警方指出。

The 30-year-old convinced a car dealer in the southeastern city of Melbourne to lend him a A$40,000 Honda Accord sedan and drove the equivalent of London to Istanbul before he was arrested near the town of Tennant Creek, deep in the outback of the Northern Territory.

這名30歲的男子說服澳洲東南部城市墨爾本的一位車商，借他一台價值4萬澳幣的本田Accord轎車。在深入北領地內陸的泰南特溪鎮附近被捕前，他馳騁了相當於倫敦到伊斯坦堡的距離。

Tennant Creek police Constable James Gray-Spence said the man was arrested without incident at a road block on his way north to Darwin after he failed to pay for fuel at a hamlet.

泰南特溪鎮警員葛雷—史班思說，此人向北開往達爾文市途中，在一個路障處束手就擒，因為他在一個小村加油不付錢。

The test drive was the longest known to Australian police and topped a 500km theft on New Zealand’s South Island in 2006.

這是澳洲警方已知路途最遠的試車，勝過2006年紐西蘭南島的一宗橫越500公里的竊車案。

Melbourne car yard owner Ian McKenzie said the man would have had to have been in the car all day, every day to reach Tennant Creek. "He seemed a legitimate gentleman. He stood at the desk right in front of a camera. He wasn’t afraid of being photographed or videoed," he said.

墨爾本汽車經銷場老闆麥肯濟表示，這個人一定是每天、鎮日置身車內，才能到達泰南特溪鎮。「他看起好像是名正人君子。他就站在攝影機正前方的櫃檯，他不怕被拍或被錄，」他說。

The man was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a motor vehicle and unlawful possession of property.

他被控嚴重非法使用汽車與非法佔有財產。

新聞辭典

outback︰澳洲內陸、邊疆地區。例句︰Most aborigines took refuge in the barren outback.（大部分的原住民避居於荒蕪的內陸地帶。）

convince︰使確信、說服。例句︰She convinced me of her sincerity.（她使我相信她的真誠。）a convincing argument（很有說服力的論點）。

legitimate ︰合法的、正當的、婚生的。例句︰ Iran regards the US as an occupation force in Iraq, and considers resistance to be legitimate.

（伊朗視美國為伊拉克的佔領軍，因此反抗是正當的。）

來源：自由時報

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