《中英對照讀新聞》Tooth Fairy leaving more under the pillow： survey 調查顯示：牙仙子在枕頭底下留了更多錢

《中英對照讀新聞》Tooth Fairy leaving more under the pillow： survey 調查顯示：牙仙子在枕頭底下留了更多錢

2012-09-30

◎俞智敏

Economic hard times are well and truly over if you’re losing your baby teeth.

假如你正在掉乳齒，經濟不景氣就真的已經結束了。

Credit card brand Visa said that, according to a national survey, the Tooth Fairy -- or parents acting discreetly in her name -- left an average of $3 under the pillow per tooth this year.

信用卡公司「威士」表示，根據美國一項全國性調查，牙仙子，或者以她的名義謹慎行事的家長們，今年平均為每顆脫落的乳齒在枕頭下藏了3美元。

That’s up 15 percent from $2.60 a year ago, it said, making deciduous teeth one of the best investments out there.

調查指出，這比一年前的2.6 美元增加了15%，顯示脫落的乳齒是最好的投資標的物之一。

"The tooth fairy may be the canary in the economic coal mine," said Jason Alderman, Visa’s senior director of global financial education, echoing hopes that the US economy might yet snap out of its post-recession blues.

「牙仙子很可能正是經濟的金絲雀，」威士公司全球金融教育部門資深主任艾德曼說，這也呼應著外界期待美國經濟還是可能脫離後經濟衰退期的困境。

Visa is promoting a smartphone app to help parents figure out exactly how much a fallen tooth is worth, as part of a global program to better educate families about money.

威士公司正宣傳一種智慧手機應用程式，以協助家長算出每顆脫落的乳齒到底值多少錢，這是該公司所推出有關家庭金錢教育全球性計畫的一部份。

Its Tooth Fairy findings were based on a telephone survey of 2,000 households across the United States in mid-July. （AFP）

這項「牙仙子」調查結果是根據今年7月中對全美兩千戶家庭所進行的電話訪問所得。（法新社）

新聞辭典

tooth fairy：名詞，傳說中的牙仙子，據說兒童每掉一顆乳齒，她就會趁其熟睡時把錢留在枕頭下。

deciduous：形容詞，指脫落性的、落葉性的，如deciduous teeth（乳齒）、deciduous forests（落葉林）。

canary in a coal mine：原指古時礦工常帶著對毒氣敏感的金絲雀進入礦坑，假如發現金絲雀死亡，就表示礦坑裡有毒氣必須趕快撤出，引申為指預告危險或麻煩即將來臨的警示，例句︰Like canaries in the coal mines of yore, low-lying islands in the midst of the world’s vast oceans face the possibility of extinction.（如同古代礦坑裡的金絲雀，位於世界廣大海洋中的低窪島嶼正面臨滅絕的可能危機。）