新奇事件簿 一只椰子的故事

Police officers in the Maldives have arrested a coconut¹. It had Arabic writing on it. It was a "sura" (a verse from the Koran) and local people got worried about it. They said it was full of black magic and that someone was using it to try and change the results of an election. Police took the coconut to a local police station because it was a "suspicious fruit". They thought the small fruit might affect how people voted in Saturday's national election. People on the island of Guraidhoo believe black magic can stop voters from voting, or make them vote for someone else. The police contacted a "ruqyah" (a good magician), who decided² the coconut was a fake and contained no black magic.

马尔代夫警方“逮捕”了一只椰子。椰子上含有阿拉伯文字。是阿拉伯文字的神秘字符“sura”，这让当地居民非常担心。他们认为这只椰子充满黑巫术，有人正在试图改变选举结果。这只“受到怀疑”的水果被带回了警局。他们认为这只椰子或许会对周六的全国选举构成影响。居住在古雷德胡岛的居民相信黑巫术能够阻止选民选举，或是让他们投给其他人。警方联系了一位“ruqyah”（魔法师），他认为这只椰子是假的，并不含有黑巫术。

A police official said: "It seems like it was a joke. Just a prank³, so that people will become aware, understand the message, and not do it again." The Huffington Post website claims that black magic can have a big effect on life in the Maldives. In July, a school refused to let a voting box into the building. Teachers were worried it would make students ill. In 2012, Abdulla bin⁴ Mohamed Ibrahim, a religious leader in the Maldives, asked the government to make black magic illegal. He said it was a sin to practice black magic. He said it caused a lot of problems for many families and that it was time to do something about it. Mr Ibrahim said black magic has become a major social issue in his country.

警方称：“这似乎就是个笑话。恶作剧，这样人们就能够明白，不会重蹈覆辙。”《赫芬顿邮报》官网称黑巫术对生活在马尔代夫的居民有着深远的影响。7月间，学校拒绝在校内安置投票箱。老师担心这会让学生患病。2012年，马尔代夫宗教领袖阿卜杜拉·本·穆罕默德·易卜拉欣要求政府将黑巫术非法化。他认为实施黑巫术是罪恶的。他认为这将会对许多家庭带来麻烦，我们是时候采取行动了。易卜拉欣称黑巫术已经成为了马尔代夫的重大社会问题。

1 coconut   

n.椰子

参考例句：

• The husk of this coconut is particularly strong.椰子的外壳很明显非常坚固。
• The falling coconut gave him a terrific bang on the head.那只掉下的椰子砰地击中他的脑袋。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 prank   

n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己

参考例句：

• It was thought that the fire alarm had been set off as a prank.人们认为火警报警器响是个恶作剧。
• The dean was ranking the boys for pulling the prank.系主任正在惩罚那些恶作剧的男学生。

4 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。