近日，澳大利亚皇家墨尔本理工大学(RMIT University)的图书馆内，因有学生称闻到一股令人窒息和作呕的味道，以为是毒气或煤气泄漏，警铃大响紧急疏散馆内的600人，大批澳洲警方和消防人员到场进行搜索，…最终，他们在橱柜内发现腐烂的榴莲(rotting durian)…
榴莲：怪我喽！
Hundreds evacuated a college library, fearing a gas leak. It was a durian.
Add “cause for a university evacuation[1] in Australia” to the long list of reasons that durian[2] may be the world's most maligned[3] fruit.
[1]evacuation：the process of moving people from a dangerous place to somewhere safe 撤离；疏散；排空
[2]榴莲怎么说？durian ['dʊəriən] a large, oval, tropical fruit with a hard skin covered in sharp points, yellow, orange, or red flesh, and a very strong smell
[3]maligned
(v.) to say false and unpleasant things about someone, or to criticize someone unfairly 诽谤，污蔑，中伤
(adj.) causing or intending to cause harm or evil 恶意的；邪恶的；有害的
此处，maligned为动词过去分词形式，表示“最被污蔑”，即榴莲是最不受待见/最受诟病的一种水果。
About 3 p.m. Saturday local time, Melbourne's Metropolitan Fire Brigade[大都市/市区消防队/局] sent out an alert about a chemical hazard[化学危险品/化学性危害] at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
The smell of gas had been reported in a library on campus, the fire department said. A hazardous-materials[4] team was dispatched to the scene to investigate “potentially dangerous chemicals” stored in the building. Amid fears of a gas leak, Victoria Police evacuated about 500 students and teachers from the library.
[4]hazardous ['hæzə(r)dəs] dangerous 危险的
a hazardous journey/occupation
危险的旅行／职业
It's tough to say whether the culprit[5] was more or less frightening than what the alerts portended[6].
[5]culprit
1) a fact or situation that is the reason for something bad happening 问题的起因；罪魁祸首
2)someone who has done something wrong 过失者；责任人
Children in this country are getting much too fat, and sugar and sweets are the main culprits. 该国儿童过于肥胖，糖和甜食是罪魁祸首。
[6]portend [pɔː(r)'tend]
to be a sign that something bad is likely to happen in the future 预示，预兆，预告（坏事）
It was a deeply superstitious country, where earthquakes were commonly believed to portend the end of dynasties.
这是一个很迷信的国家，地震被普遍认为预示着王朝的终结。
“After a comprehensive search, firefighters identified the smell was not chemical gas, but gas generated from rotting durian, an extremely pungent[7] fruit which had been left rotting in a cupboard,” the Metropolitan Fire Brigade said in a statement titled “Rotten afternoon on campus,” just to drive home the point[8].
[7]pungent ['pʌndʒənt]
A pungent smell or taste is very strong, sometimes unpleasantly strong. （气味）刺鼻的；（味道）强烈的
the pungent whiff of a goat
山羊发出的刺鼻膻味
pungent还有另外一个意思，指（话语或文章）尖刻的，尖锐的：Pungent speech or writing is very strongly felt.
pungent criticism/commentary
尖刻的批评／评论
[8]drive/hammer sth home：to say something clearly and with a lot of force so that you are certain people understand it 把…讲清楚，使人完全明白
She really drove home the message that we need to economize.
她讲得很清楚，我们需要节约。
此处drive home the point 即为：搞清楚这个，把这搞清楚
“The smell had moved around the building via the air conditioning system,” fire officials added.
Durian, for the uninitiated[9], are popular in many parts of the world, especially in Southeast Asia, but seldom eaten with such fanfare[10] in the United States.
[9]the uninitiated：people who are without knowledge or experience of a particular subject or activity 缺乏专门知识者；不知情者；门外汉，外行
Michelle, for the uninitiated, is the central female character in Netflix's latest comedy series.
外人有所不知，米歇尔是英国独立电视台最新播出的喜剧连续剧中的女主角。
for the uninitiated 译为：外人有所不知
[10]fanfare
1) a short loud piece of music that is played to celebrate sb/sth important arriving 号角花彩，号角齐鸣（欢迎仪式等上奏的响亮短曲）
2)a large amount of activity and discussion on television, in newspapers, etc. to celebrate sb/sth（为庆祝而在媒体上的）喧耀
Everything about the fruit would seem to signal “STAY AWAY” to a human's survival instincts: Its tough outer rind[硬外壳] is covered with thorns[11] so sharp that farmers often wear helmets when they harvest them from the trees.
[11]thorn [θɔː(r)n]
a small, sharp pointed growth on the stem of a plant （植物茎上的）刺，荆棘
And that smell.
用英文怎么形容榴莲的味道呢？
“Best described as … turpentine[松节油] and onions, garnished[12] with a gym sock,” the food writer Richard Sterling declared, according to Smithsonian magazine.
[12]garnish：to decorate food with a small amount of different food 在（食物）上加饰菜，（用菜）为（食物）加装饰
Garnish the dish with parsley before serving.
这道菜端上桌之前，上面配些欧芹点缀一下。
“It's like your freezer when you don't clean it out,” one man said in a BuzzFeed video in which people tried durian, deemed “the smelliest fruit in the world,” for the first time.
Durian are just about synonymous with their repulsive[13] odor, which (to be fair) has whiffs[14] of sweetness that are immediately overwhelmed by notes of corrosion and rancid egg. (They are banned on Singapore's subway system, as well as some hotels and trains in Asia.)
[13]repulsive：extremely unpleasant or unacceptable 令人厌恶的；使人反感的；可憎的
What a repulsive old man!
这老头子真是令人厌恶！
[14]whiff [wɪf]：a slight smell, carried on a current of air 一阵气味，一股味道
He leaned towards me and I caught/got a whiff of garlic.
他向我靠过来，我闻到一股大蒜的味道。
另外，a whiff of sth：a slight sign of something 一点点，些许
They regularly hold elections without a whiff of corruption or violence.
他们定期举行选举，其中毫无腐败或暴力的成分。
But fans of the stinky fruit swear by the sweet-yet-savory taste of the durian's mushy pulp[15], which can be scooped[16] out and eaten raw or used in a number of Southeast Asian recipes, especially in desserts.
[15]pulp：a soft, wet mass 浆状物，泥状物
Mash the bananas to a pulp and then mix in the yogurt.
把香蕉捣成糊状，然后拌到酸奶里。
还有另一个意思是指（瓜果等的）肉质部分，髓：the soft part inside some fruit and vegetables.
此处，mushy pulp形容的是榴莲的果物
mushy ['mʌʃi]：soft and having no firm shape 烂糊的；软的
[16]scoop：to move something with a scoop or with something used as a scoop （用勺）舀；（用铲）铲
He scooped the sand into a bucket with his hands.
他用手把沙子捧进桶里。
As for the rotting durian left behind in a Melbourne university library cupboard, fire officials said Environment Protection Authority Victoria would handle its disposal.
来源：华盛顿邮报
LearnAndRecord
2015年2月8日
2018年4月30日
第1178天
每天持续行动学外语
网友评论