《中英對照讀新聞》Aussie toilet seats also bulking up 澳洲人的馬桶座也擴大

◎ 鄭寺音

Toilet seats need strengthening to cope with the strain of bearing ever heavier Australians, the government's design agency said.

馬桶座必須強化，來因應體重愈來愈重的澳洲人造成的負擔，政府的設計局說。

Standards Australia, which lays down safety rules for products, said toilet seats were currently required to meet a rigidity test of 45 kilograms and that this was no longer adequate to accommodate most people's weight in a seated position.

制定產品安全規範的澳洲標準局說，馬桶座目前規定必須符合45公斤的堅硬測試，而這已不再能承受多數人坐下時的重量。

Standards Australia spokeswoman Kate Evans said the new safety standard to be released later this year would reflect the "perspective that people are getting bigger."

澳洲標準局的發言人艾凡絲說，今年稍後將公布的新安全標準，會反映「民眾體型愈來愈大的前景」。

The blow-out in the national girth rate has also challenged designers of public seating.

全國腰、臀圍數據暴增，也挑戰公共座位的設計者。

Grocon, the construction company that has just completed the renovation of Melbourne's main sports stadium in time for the Commonwealth Games, said the seating capacity had dropped from 120,000 to 96,000 because "bums are 30-per-cent bigger now than when the stadium was built."

Grocon這家剛剛完成墨爾本主要體育場翻修工程、及時趕上大英國協運動會的建設公司說，體育場座位容量從12萬席減至9萬6千席，因為「現在的屁股比這座體育館建造時大了3成」。

新聞辭典

Aussie︰俗語，指澳洲人。

bulk up︰動詞 ，龐大，變大。

lays down︰片語，指「訂定」（規則、法律）。例句：The rule book lays down what should be done in such a case. （規則手冊裡規定了這種情形下的作法。）

accommodate︰動詞，（有足夠的空間）可以容納，收容。例句：The bus is large enough to accommodate fifty passengers.（這輛公車可容納50名乘客。）

bum︰英式英文，指屁股。