In a country reputed for its orderliness, putting your shoes on a public seat often earns a quick rebuke from passersby.(telegraph.co.uk) |
A mayor in Germany is attracting interest from other cities after he installed a special park bench for town teens who refuse to sit properly. After residents of the southwestern city of Eppelheim complained teenagers always sat on the top of benches, rather than on the seat itself which they dirtied with their shoes, Mayor Dieter Moerlein came up with the idea of putting the seat on top. The first of Moerlein's benches was installed last week and he is already fielding calls from interested cities in Germany, he told reporters on Tuesday. "The reception has been overwhelming," Moerlein said. "Whoever wants to build one, be my guest." The mayor of 17 years calls them "no-interest" benches because teens have "no interest in following etiquette. They all sit on the new benches like sparrows on a branch," he said. In a country reputed for its orderliness, putting your shoes on a public seat often earns a quick rebuke from passersby. In one extreme case, a 69-year-old pensioner wounded an 18-year-old man with a knife on Sunday after the teen would not take his feet off of a seat on a train. But in Eppelheim the bench has been a sufficient solution for all parties in a city best known for strudel and global food ingredient maker Rudolf Wild GmbH. "Kids are happy because there are no rules against sitting on the back of benches," the mayor said. "Others are happy because they now have a clean place to sit." (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)
(Agencies)
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針對那些“坐沒坐相”的青少年,德國某市市長近日發明了一款特制的公園長椅,使得其它不少城市也頗有興趣。 德國西南部埃珀爾海姆市的居民抱怨稱,該市青少年常常踩著公園長椅的座位坐在椅背上,座椅都被踩臟了。于是市長迪特爾?莫爾林恩就想到了這個把座位放在上方的主意。 莫爾林恩發明的首個座椅于上周在公園安裝。他在本周二接受記者采訪時表示,已經有不少德國城市來電表示對這個發明感興趣。 莫爾林恩說:“打電話來問的人很多。歡迎所有想安裝座椅的人前來咨詢。” 莫爾林恩擔任該市市長已有17年了。他稱這些座椅為“無興趣”座椅,并稱這是因為青少年“對遵守禮節毫無興趣,他們坐在新座椅上就像停在枝頭的麻雀一樣”。 在以整潔著稱的國度,把腳踩在公共座椅上很快就會招來路人的責罵。 在一起極端案例中,一位69歲的退休老人在某個周日用刀捅傷了一個18歲的年輕人,因為他不肯把腳從火車座位上放下來。 但在埃珀爾海姆市,這種新式座椅就足以解決所有問題。埃珀爾海姆市以香甜可口的薄酥卷餅著稱,全球著名食品配料生產商魯道夫?威爾德公司也位于該市。 市長說:“孩子們見到新式座椅很開心,不用怕因為坐在椅背上而壞了規矩。其他人也很開心,因為終于有干凈地方坐了。” 相關閱讀 (中國日報網英語點津 Julie 編輯:Helen) |
Vocabulary: field: to deal with or handle, esp adequately and by making a reciprocal gesture(處理,應付) be my guest: do as you wish(請便,別客氣) GmbH: 股份有限公司的縮寫(德語) |