◎羅彥傑

Newark police on Monday are trying to match up 250 shoes recovered from a creek on Sunday with those reported stolen in the area since 2003.

紐華克警方週一試圖將週日從一條小溪尋獲的250隻鞋子，和2003年起在當地報案遭竊者進行比對。

A passerby spotted three large duffel bags stuffed with men’s shoes in Elk Creek near Elkton, Md., on Sunday morning and alerted police, who have been investigating a string of Newark-area burglaries in which the thief steals men’s shoes, photographs of their owners and, in at least one case, men’s underwear.

一名路人週日上午在馬里蘭州艾克頓附近的艾克溪，發現3個裡面塞滿男鞋的帆布袋，於是向警方報案，而警方一直在調查紐華克地區一連串的竊案，在這些案件中，竊賊偷走男鞋、物主照片，以及在至少一件案子裡偷走男性內衣。

Investigators now are drying off the shoes, which were wet and muddy from the creek, and trying to figure out if they match the descriptions of any of the close to 200 pairs reported stolen in recent years, police spokesman Lt. Brian Henry said Monday.

調查人員目前正在烘乾這些被溪水浸濕且沾滿泥巴的鞋子，並試圖判定它們是否符合近年來報案遭竊的近200雙鞋子中任何一雙的描述情況，警方發言人布萊恩．亨利警官週一說。

The burglar appears to target University of Delaware students.

竊賊似乎鎖定德拉瓦大學的學生。

新聞辭典

stuff︰名詞指原料、物品，在這裡當動詞用，指塞滿、填滿。例句︰The bus is stuffed with passengers.（這輛巴士擠滿了乘客。）

dry off︰片語，弄乾、烘乾。例句︰The wind dried the ground off.（風吹乾了地面。）

figure out︰片語，弄懂、理解、明白。例句︰I can’t figure out why he said that.（我弄不懂他為什麼要說那句話。）