《中英對照讀新聞》Book vending machines in Paris巴黎的書籍自動販賣機

◎ 張其賢

The first five vending machines offering paperback books at bargain prices have been installed in Paris, French booksellers Maxi-Livres announced recently.

第一批共5台以折扣價出售平裝書的自動販賣機已經在巴黎設置，法國書店業者「瑪克西圖書公司」最近宣布。

For only 2 euros, or about 2.45 dollars, Parisans can now purchase 25 tiltles by classical authors such as Charles Baudelaire, Homer, Oscar Wilde or Lewis Carroll, cookbooks like “The Book of the Wok” or a French-English dictionary as easily, and as cheaply, as they buy candy or canned soft drinks.

只要2歐元，或大約2.45美元，巴黎人現在就能像買糖果或罐裝飲料那樣容易又便宜的買到夏爾•波特萊爾、荷馬、奧斯卡•王爾德或路易斯•卡洛爾等經典作家的25本書中的任一本，也可以買到「鍋藝大全」之類的烹飪書，或是一本法英字典。

“It's a test,” a spokeman for Maxi-Livres said. “We will look at the results in December. But we can already say that the public reception has been good.”

「這是一項試驗，」瑪克西圖書公司的一位發言人說。「我們將在12月時驗收成果。不過我已經可以說，至今大眾的反應很好。」

The vending machines have been installed at highly frequented Metro stations and are equipped with a mechanical arm that seeks out the selected book “and does not drop or damage it,” Maxi-Livre said.

這些自動販賣機已經裝在人潮特別多的幾個地鐵站內，並配備可以找出被選中的書，「而且不會使書掉落或受損」的機器手臂，瑪克西圖書公司說。

新聞辭典

vending machine：名詞，自動販賣機。例句：It is said that the first commercial vending machines were introduced in London in the early 1880s selling post cards.（據說第一批商用自動販賣機是在1880年代被引進倫敦，用來出售明信片）。

paperback：形容詞/名詞，平裝的/平裝書。精裝的/精裝書則是hardcover。

at bargain prices：以折扣價出售。bargain當名詞時指「好康的交易」，如I got this table at a bargain.（我很便宜地買到這張桌子）。bargain hunter是「專找好康交易的人」。

install：動詞，裝設。常見的用法是電腦軟體的「安裝」，也可指家電、機具等的「安裝」或「裝設」。

wok：名詞，中式炒菜鍋。「鍋」的常見說法是pot，不過pot指燉煮用的鍋，中式炒菜鍋則是wok。

highly frequented：在此frequent是動詞，意思是「常去」。frequent作形容詞時，重音在第一音節，作動詞時重音在第二音節。