商业周刊:火车模型劫持案(3)

Model trains don't have the broad appeal they once did. The same year GMMES was founded, 1953, toy manufacturer Lionel hit record sales of $33 million.

火车模型不再像以前那样具有广泛的吸引力。格雷芬德海洋与工程模型协会成立的那年，1953年，玩具制造商Lionel创下3300万美元的销售记录。

A visionary Lionel sales executive named Arthur Raphael, who died the year before,

该公司中一位富有远见的销售主管，阿瑟·拉斐尔在前一年去世。

believed that if the company could keep kids interested in trains until age 14, they'd be hooked for life.

他相信，如果公司能在14岁前一直让孩子们对火车感兴趣，他们将终生为此而迷。

But with the rise in popularity of NASA and the Space Age, Legos and toy guns and Hot Wheels, and eventually Nintendos and Xboxes,

但随着美国宇航和太空时代（Space Age）、乐高（Legos）、玩具枪支和风火轮（Hot Wheels）、以及最后的任天堂（Nintendos）和Xboxes公司人气上升，

Lionel (and its British competitor, Hornby) collapsed¹ into bankruptcy² and languished³ through various buyouts.

致使Lionel及其英国竞争对手霍恩比（Hornby）惨遭破产，后来经各种收购而萎靡不振。

While it's unclear whether their obsolescence⁴ has made classic train models more valuable, they're still zealously⁵ sought-after at auctions⁶ by collectors,

虽然尚不清楚，他们的过时是否已经使经典的火车模型变得更有价值，但他们仍然是各种拍卖会上受到收藏家们热切追捧的对象，

including loco-obsessed celebrities⁷ such as Rod Stewart and hooked-for-life fanatics⁸ such as my father, a Lionel addict⁹,

这些人中包括迷恋火车机车的名人比如洛·史都华，以及痴迷一辈子的狂热爱好者，就像我父亲，他痴迷于Lionel。

who, in what he insists makes perfect sense, has invested my meager¹⁰ inheritance into Southern Pacific and 763E Hudson electrics, each costing $2,500. Sir Rod declined to comment.

他把我那一丁点遗产投资到南太平洋铁路公司（Southern Pacific）和763E哈得逊电气公司（763E Hudson electrics），每家公司花掉了2500美元。他这么做，一点也不让人感到惊讶。

They're pieces of art, my dad says.

罗德爵士拒绝置评，而我父亲则说，它们是艺术品。

Anyway, as with anything of value and beauty, model trains have sometimes attracted the attention of thieves and vandals.

不管怎样，像任何具有价值又美丽的东西一样，火车模型有时也会引起盗贼和破坏公物者的注意。

In October 2017 a thief gripping a tiny flashlight with his teeth climbed through the ceiling of a shop in Devon, making off with expensive locomotives.

2017年10月，一个小偷用牙咬着一个小手电筒，爬上德文郡一家商店的天花板，偷走了价格昂贵的火车机车。

Roughly a year later, a drunk burglar with a metal butter knife attempted to rob an 85-year-old retiree of his prized model railroad collection at his Lincolnshire cottage.

大约一年后，一个喝醉酒的窃贼用金属黄油刀试图抢劫一位85岁退休老人，这位老人在林肯郡的小屋中收藏着珍贵的铁路模型。

(According to the Telegraph, they tussled, and the octogenarian and his wife sat on the tosspot until the police arrived.)

（据《每日电讯报》的报道，他们扭打在一起，这位八旬老人和他的妻子压在酒鬼身上，直到警察赶到。）

And only this past May, there was a smash-and-grab at a model railway exhibit in Stamford.

就在今年5月，在斯坦福举行的一个铁路模型展会上，发生了砸窗抢劫事件。

1 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

2 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

3 languished   

长期受苦( languish的过去式和过去分词 )； 受折磨； 变得（越来越）衰弱； 因渴望而变得憔悴或闷闷不乐

参考例句：

• Our project languished during the holidays. 我们的计划在假期间推动得松懈了。
• He languished after his dog died. 他狗死之后，人憔悴了。

4 obsolescence   

n.过时，陈旧，废弃

参考例句：

• For some small unproductive mills,the reality is not merger but obsolescence and bankruptcy.对一些效率低下的小厂而言，现实不是合并，而是可能被淘汰和破产。
• Finally,the cost approach can provide a basis for allocating penalties,specifically economic obsolescence.最后，成本法可作为一个分配因陈旧特别是因经济

5 zealously   

adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地

参考例句：

• Of course the more unpleasant a duty was, the more zealously Miss Glover performed it. 格洛弗小姐越是对她的职责不满意，她越是去积极执行它。 来自辞典例句
• A lawyer should represent a client zealously within the bounds of the law. 律师应在法律范围内热忱为当事人代理。 来自口语例句

6 auctions   

n.拍卖，拍卖方式( auction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They picked up most of the furniture at auctions in country towns. 他们大部分的家具都是在乡村镇上的拍卖处买的。 来自辞典例句
• Our dealers didn't want these cars, so we had to dump them at auctions. 我们的承销商都不要这些车子，因此我们只好贱价拍卖。 来自辞典例句

7 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

8 fanatics   

狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The heathen temple was torn down by a crowd of religions fanatics. 异教徒的神殿被一群宗教狂热分子拆除了。
• Placing nukes in the hands of baby-faced fanatics? 把核弹交给一些宗教狂热者手里？

9 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。

10 meager   

adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的

参考例句：

• He could not support his family on his meager salary.他靠微薄的工资无法养家。
• The two men and the woman grouped about the fire and began their meager meal.两个男人同一个女人围着火，开始吃起少得可怜的午饭。