《中英對照讀新聞》Thailand's Underwear Shortage
泰國的內衣短缺

◎羅彥傑

Female inmates in Thailand's prisons are so short of underwear that the head of the main women's prison appealed to the public for donations – new or recycled.

泰國監獄女性囚犯實在缺少內衣，以致一座主要女子監獄的典獄長向社會大眾呼籲捐獻－新的或回收的皆可。

The director of the Central Women's Prison, Ankhanueng Lebnak, said that the government refuses to provide a budget to buy each female prisoner more than two pairs of underpants each year because they are considered a luxury item, the official Thai News Agency reported.

中央女子監獄的典獄長安哈紐恩．雷布納克說，政府拒絕提供預算，每年替每一位女囚犯購買兩件以上的內褲，因為這些東西被視為是奢侈品，官方的泰國通訊社報導。

An appeal for assistance yielded donations of 74,010 new and used garments, and Ankhanueng began distributing the extra underwear to prisons across the country, the report said.

這項求助呼籲帶來了七萬四千零十件新的與穿過的衣服，安哈紐恩並且開始將多出來的內衣分送給全國各監獄，報導說。

Thailand, with a population of 65 million people, holds more than 250,000 prisoners, about one-fifth of whom are women. The prison population has grown dramatically in recent years because of convictions for drug offenses, and most facilities hold many more convicts than their planned capacity.

有六千五百萬人口的泰國，目前在監獄中拘禁了超過二十五萬名囚犯，其中約五分之一為女性。最近數年由於毒品案件的定罪，囚犯人數激增，大多數的設施也容納遠超過原訂人數限制的囚犯。

新聞辭典

be short of：片語，指缺乏、不足。例句：The company is short of cash so that the employees cannot get their wages.（公司缺少現金，員工因此拿不到工資。）

appeal：動詞，亦可當名詞，指呼籲、籲請。例句：The mayor appealed to the gangsters to give up their arms and surrender.（市長呼籲歹徒放下武器投降。）

yield：動詞，在此指產生、帶來。

convict：名詞，指被定罪或服刑中的囚犯。當動詞用時，則指定罪。例句：The prime minister suggested that convicts should wear uniforms to make them more visible.（總理建議應讓囚犯穿著制服，以利識別。）