《中英對照讀新聞》Lights out in Iceland for view of night sky 冰島為夜景熄燈

◎張沛元

The lights are going out in Iceland this week so people can gaze at the night sky. Authorities in the capital Reykjavik will turn off street lights and people are also being encouraged to sit in their houses in the dark, writer Andri Snaer Magnason said.

冰島的燈火本週將熄滅，好讓民眾能凝望夜空。作家馬格納森說，首都雷克雅未克將熄滅街燈，鼓勵民眾坐在一片漆黑的家中。

While the lights are out, an astronomer will describe the night sky over national radio. "We have a very beautiful sky as soon as we turn off the lights," Magnason, who came up with the idea, said.

當燈火熄滅時，一名天文學家將透過廣播電台描述夜空。想出這個點子的馬格納森說：「當我們一關掉燈，我們就有一個非常美麗的天空。」

The lights are due to go off at 10 p.m. （2200 GMT）,about two hours after nightfall, for half an hour.

燈火預定晚間10點（格林威治標準時間22時），也就是約莫日暮後2小時關閉，持續半小時。

Magnason said the capital's population of around 250,000 might be able to see the Northern Lights.

馬格納森說，約25萬首都民眾也許將能看到北極光。

Two other Icelandic towns will also turn off their lights.

其他2個冰島城鎮也將關燈。

新聞辭典

gaze：動詞／名詞，凝視，注視。例句：It's cool tonight; let's gaze at stars in the sky together in my backyard.（今晚天氣涼爽，我們一起在我家後院觀星吧。）

turn off：片語，關閉，關掉。turn on，打開電器音響。例句：Stop the noise and turn on the radio. I want to listen to the news broadcast.（別吵了，把收音機打開，我要聽新聞。）

as soon as：片語，一經…；立即…；一…就…。例句：As soon as he arrived in New York, he went to the office immediately.（他一到紐約，馬上就進辦公室。）

GMT：Greenwich mean time，專有名詞，格林威治標準時間，GMT時間加8就是台灣時間。如GMT時間22時加8即為30，再減24等於6，也就是台北時間上午6時。Greenwich裡的w不發音，n和i合在一起念成/ni/，不過，基於約定俗成，格林威治成了固定的翻法了。