《中英對照讀新聞》Spider nests in woman's ear for 27 days 蜘蛛在一名婦人的耳中寄居27天

◎ 陳成良

A spider that nested in the ear of a Swedish woman was discovered and removed alive after 27 days, Swedish tabloid Expressen reported on Wednesday.

一隻蜘蛛在一名瑞典婦女耳中寄居27天後才被發現，並活生生的被請出來，瑞典小報「快報」週三報導。

The black spider, "the size of a thumbnail", crept into the woman's ear while she was sleeping and went undiscovered for almost a month, the paper said.

這隻「拇指般大小」的黑蜘蛛，在這名婦女睡覺時，鑽入她的耳朵，並在裡面藏了近一個月都未被察覺，該報報導。

The woman, whose name was not disclosed, told the paper that she at first experienced "a slight loss of hearing" and assumed that she had a build-up of wax. But when she heard "a scratching sound" in her ear she decided to go to the pharmacy to buy a cleanser to wash out her ear cavity.

這名姓名未公開的婦女告訴該報說，最初她覺得「聽力有點下降」，但以為是耳垢增多。但後來當她聽到耳中有「一種摩擦聲」時，她決定去藥房買清潔劑，將耳腔徹底清洗。

When she did so, the spider was flushed out alive and crawled away.The woman recalled having seen a spider on her bed in November, 27 days earlier.

當她這麼做時，竟然沖洗出一隻活生生的蜘蛛，接著牠就溜之大吉。這名婦女回憶稱，11月間在她床上曾看見一隻蜘蛛，算算已經是27天前的事了。

新聞辭典

nest：不及物動詞，築巢、巢居。例句：The birds nested in the oak tree. （鳥在橡樹上築巢）。

assume：及物動詞，認為。 He assumed that prices would rise. （他認為價格可能會上揚）。 assume另一個常見意思是「承擔、 負起」，如assume responsibility （負責任）。

wax：本文中指「耳垢」，本字另一個常見意思是「蠟」。例句：He coated it with wax. （他在它上面塗了一層蠟）。

recall：動詞，記起、憶起，通常後接名詞或動名詞。例句： I don't recall his name. （我不記得他的名字）。