euphoric, feel-good, Christmas, Childermas, Nativity Scene, ferret out, advent

 《中英對照讀新聞》Researchers ferret out reasons for runner’s high 研究人員找出跑者愉悅感的原因


◎管淑平
You’ve probably had the feeling. Your running shoes are pounding the pavement--then suddenly your pain fades away, and you’re feeling euphoric. The runner’s high.
你大概有過這樣的感覺。你的跑鞋沉重地踩在路上─然後，突然間痛苦消散，你感覺愉快。跑者的愉悅感。

But that biological perk may be limited to mammals that evolved for endurance exercise--like us. So says a study in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
但是，那種生物性振奮狀態或許只限於經演化成適合耐力運動的哺乳動物─像我們人類。「實驗性生物學」期刊上的一份研究這麼說。

Researchers had humans and dogs--both natural-born runners--jog a half hour on a treadmill. Then they sampled their blood for endocannabinoids, some of the compounds thought to trigger the runner’s high.
研究人員讓人和狗在跑步機上跑30分鐘─這兩種動物都是天生的跑者。接著，採集他們的血液樣本，檢驗內生性大麻鹼，這種化學物質據信會引發跑者愉悅感。

As expected, humans and dogs had much higher levels after the run. But when sedentary ferrets took the same 30-minute trot, they had no spike in those feel-good molecules.
一如預期地，人和狗跑步後，血液中內生性大麻鹼都高得多。但是，定棲性貂鼠同樣跑30分鐘後，血液中這種產生愉悅感的分子數量卻沒有提高。

The authors say that’s because long-distance running could have helped our hunter-gatherer ancestors find more food--thus increasing their reproductive success. And they speculate that natural selection may have linked up a feel-good reward to that beneficial behavior.
報告作者說，這是因為長距離跑步可能幫助我們以打獵採集為生的祖先找到更多食物，從而促進他們繁殖成功。作者推測，物競天擇或許讓愉悅回饋機制與這種有利於生存的行為產生關連。

These days of course, this ancient trait won’t help us find extra calories--but it may encourage us to run ’em off.
當然，這種祖先留下來的天性，在今日不會幫助我們取得更多熱量，而是或許鼓勵我們擺脫卡路里。



新聞辭典：
ferret out：動詞片語，（經過仔細、持續調查後）查出、揭露。例句：It will take years to ferret out the truth.（要查出真相將花上數年時間。）
fade away：動詞片語，漸漸消失、凋零、衰弱。例句：Our parents are fading away as they get older.（我們的父母日漸年邁，身體正逐漸衰弱。）
perk： 動詞，振作、活躍、恢復精神，打扮。名詞（俚語，常用複數形），小費、額外津貼或福利。例句：Try to perk yourself up with some exercise when you feel tired during the day.（白天覺得疲倦時，試著做些運動提振精神。）



Welcoming the Advent season with song

Roasted chestnuts or a mug of hot spicy wine warm keep hands warm, and
carols fill the air. Celebrate the Christmas season with a selection of
carols and traditional songs sung by the DW Choir.



Black nativity angers Italy’s "White Xmas" party 黑色耶穌誕生圖激怒義大利的「白色耶誕」政黨
◎俞智敏
A nativity scene featuring a dark-skinned Jesus, Mary and Joseph that has gone on display in a Verona courthouse has created heated debate in a city with strong links to Italy’s anti-immigration Northern League party.
由黑皮膚的耶穌、馬利亞與約瑟為主角的耶穌誕生圖最近在維羅那的一所法院展示，但卻在這座與義大利反移民的北方聯盟黨有緊密關聯的城市引發激烈辯論。
The nativity’s appearance coincides with the League’s controversial operation "White Christmas," a two-month sweep ending on Christmas Day to ferret out foreigners without proper permits in Coccaglio, a small League-led town east of Milan.
這幅耶穌誕生圖的出現時機，正好碰上北方聯盟推動一項極具爭議性的「白色耶誕」行動，這項為時兩個月、於耶誕節當天結束的行動，目的是要找出住在由北方聯盟執政、位於米蘭東方的小城科卡里歐，卻沒有合法居留證件的外國人。
The Christmas scene -- featuring a dark-skinned baby Jesus dressed in a red shirt and lying in a manger -- was the idea of Mario Giulio Schinaia, the chief Public Prosecutor in Verona.
這幅耶誕場景──穿著紅上衣的黑膚嬰孩耶穌躺在馬槽中──是維羅那市檢察長史奇納亞想出的主意。
"History teaches us that baby Jesus and his parents were very probably dark-skinned," Schinaia said. "There shouldn’t be a white or black Christmas, only a merry Christmas for everyone, of every skin color, ethnic background and nationality."
「歷史告訴我們，嬰孩耶穌和他的父母很可能擁有深色皮膚，」史奇納亞表示。「耶誕節根本不該分白色或黑色，而是屬於所有人、所有膚色、種族背景與國籍的快樂耶誕。」
The nativity has caused heated reactions in the rich northern town, where resentment toward foreigners has spread as the number of immigrants, particularly from north Africa and eastern Europe, continues to rise.
但這幅耶穌誕生圖卻在這座富裕的北方城市引發激烈反應，當地人對外國人的憎惡，隨著移民的人數，尤其是來自北非與東歐的移民持續增加而不斷擴散。
The Northern League, an ally of conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with key cabinet posts including the interior ministry, has used its growing political clout to secure tough new laws including making illegal immigration a crime.
北方聯盟為保守派總理貝魯斯孔尼的盟黨，掌有包括內政部長在內的重要內閣職務，該黨已利用其日益增長的政治影響力通過多項嚴苛的新法令，其中包括把非法移民列為罪行。

新聞辭典
nativity：名詞，指出生、誕生，大寫時尤指耶穌的誕生或耶穌誕生圖，亦可泛指耶誕節。如nativity play，耶誕劇（通常由兒童在耶誕節演出、關於耶穌降生的戲劇）。
ferret：名詞原指雪貂、白鼬，作動詞時指仔細搜索、找出，如Officials say they will ferret out abuses in the welfare program.（官員們表示會仔細找出社福計畫中的弊病。）

fer·ret¹ (fĕr'ĭt)
n.

1. A weasellike, usually albino mammal (Mustela putorius furo) related to the polecat and often trained to hunt rats or rabbits.
2. A black-footed ferret.

v., -ret·ed, -ret·ing, -rets. v.tr.

1. 1. To hunt (rabbits, for example) with ferrets.
   2. To drive out, as from a hiding place; expel.
2. To uncover and bring to light by searching. Often used with out: "Their work merely points the way for others to ferret out the core components of all proteins" (Natalie Angier).
3. To hound or harry persistently; worry.

v.intr.

1. To engage in hunting with ferrets.
2. To search intensively.

[Middle English furet, ferret, from Old French furet, from Vulgar Latin *fūrittus, diminutive of Latin fūr, thief.]

ferreter fer'ret·er n.
ferrety fer'ret·y adj.

clout：名詞，指對其他人或事物的影響力，如The Queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.（女王或許擁有特權，但她沒有實質的政治影響力。）


Christmas：聖誕節；耶穌聖誕節；耶誕節：耶穌誕生之確切日期聖經並未詳細記載（路二1-20），公元354年教會始規定每年 12月25日為耶穌聖誕節。詳見 Nativity of Christ。

1. A Christian feast commemorating the birth of Jesus.
2. December 25, the day on which this feast is celebrated.
3. Christmastide.

[Middle English Cristemas, from Old English Crīstes mæsse, Christ's festival : Crīst, Christ; see Christ + mæsse, festival; see Mass.]

Christmassy Christ'mas·sy or Christ'mas·y adj.
(Childermas Day：諸聖嬰孩殉道慶日；諸聖嬰孩致命瞻禮：於十二月廿八日舉行，以紀念耶穌時代，被黑落德殺死的無辜嬰孩（瑪二16-18）。)


cycle, liturgical：禮儀週期：分聖誕節和復活節兩大週期，此兩週期外則為常年期。聖誕節週期包括將臨期、聖誕期；復活節週期包括四旬期、復活期。
Christmas carol：(1) 聖誕歌。(2) 報佳音：耶穌誕生時，天使向牧羊人報告救世主誕生的大喜訊－佳音（路一8-11），因此而演變為聖誕節沿門獻唱聖誕歌曲報佳音的習俗。
Christmas crib：聖誕馬槽：由聖方濟（St. Francis of Assisi）開始，於聖誕節期間在聖堂、家中或廣場陳設聖誕馬槽：包括耶穌聖嬰、瑪利亞、若瑟、天使、三賢士、牛、羊等，以描繪聖誕情景。或簡稱 crib。
nativity scene may be used to describe any depiction of the Nativity of Jesus in art, but in the sense covered here, also called a crib or manger in the UK and crèche in France (meaning "crib" or "manger" in French), it means a three-dimensional commercial or folk art depiction of the birth or birthplace of Jesus, either sculpted or using two-dimensional (cut-out) figures arranged in a three-dimensional setting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativity_scene
Christmas cycle：聖誕期：教會禮儀週期之一，由「將臨期」開始，至「主受洗日」止。其中包括：(1) 將臨期 Advent。
(ăd'vĕnt')
n.

1. The coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important: the advent of the computer.
2. Advent
   1. The liturgical period preceding Christmas, beginning in Western churches on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and in Eastern churches in mid-November, and observed by many Christians as a season of prayer, fasting, and penitence.
   2. Christianity. The coming of Jesus at the Incarnation.
   3. Christianity. See Second Coming.

[Middle English, the Advent season, from Old French, from Latin adventus, arrival, from past participle of advenīre, to come to : ad-, ad- + venīre, to come.]

(2) 聖誕節期 Christmas。(3) 主顯節 Epiphany，昔日的「主顯節期」今已取消。
Christmas Eve：聖誕前夕；聖誕夜：耶穌聖誕前一日（望日）。
Christmas tree：聖誕樹：聖誕裝飾之一，開始於德國；1840年已在英國流行；現已風行全球。
Christmas wreath：聖誕花圈；聖誕花環。
Christmastide：聖誕期。詳見 Christmas cycle。
將臨

advent ： (1) 將臨期：耶穌聖誕前四周的準備期，以便迎接耶穌的來臨。將臨期第一主日為教會禮儀年的開始。 (2) 再臨：基督第二次來臨。拉丁文作 adventus 。

Advent of Christ ：耶穌來臨：一般指世界末日時，耶穌第二次來臨審判世人。而耶穌第一次來臨是指祂（兩千年前）在巴勒斯坦降生成人、傳佈福音、救贖世人。

advent wreath ：將臨期花環；將臨圈：是由冬青樹或其他樹葉所作的花環，附有四支蠟燭；將臨期在聖堂彌撒中或家中（晚餐時）點燃；將臨期第一主日點一支，第二主日點兩支，以此類推。到耶誕節時，將此花環置於聖誕像前。此風始自民間預備迎接耶誕節之用。

Adventism ：再臨派；複臨派；安息日教派：基督新教派之一，主張基督即將再臨。十九世紀米勒（ William Miller 1782-1849 ）倡行於美國，其中以基督複臨安息日會 Seventh Day Adventists 教徒最多。

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