每日英語跟讀 Ep.K138: About Australia - Mouse plague sweeps Australia’s east

Swathes of Australia’s rural east are battling a "plague" of mice that is infesting crops and producing hair-raising scenes of rodents running amok.

澳洲鄉村東部大片地區正在與一場老鼠「瘟疫」奮戰，鼠患危害作物，並且造成鼠輩四處橫行的驚駭景象。

Farmers in New South Wales have reported "a drastic increase" in the mouse population, with the creatures invading grain silos, barns and homes, according to the NSW Farmers association.

根據「新南威爾斯州農民協會」說法，該州農民通報老鼠數量「大幅增加」，入侵穀倉和住家。

Videos captured on the Moeris family farm in Gilgandra show thousands of mice scurrying from under pipes, through storage columns and over machinery.

在吉爾加德拉莫里斯家農場捕捉到的畫面顯示，數千隻老鼠從地下管路竄出，穿過穀倉倉筒、越過機具，跑來跑去。

The skin-crawling clips were too much for some social media users.

這些恐怖的畫面讓一些社群媒體使用者難以直視。

"This is exactly what nightmares are made of! I can’t even watch the videos," said one Facebook user in response to Melanie Moeris’ posts. 

一名臉書用戶回應梅蘭妮．莫里斯的發文，「惡夢就是這樣，我甚至不敢看這些影片」。

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Australia changes national anthem to reflect Indigenous history 澳洲更改國歌以反映原住民歷史

The anthem, "Advance Australia Fair," has been tweaked to recognize the country’s Indigenous history and communities, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced.

澳洲總理莫里森宣布，國歌「前進澳洲美之國」已經被些微修正，承認該國原住民歷史與社群。

The first line, "Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free," will now end with "one and free."

第一句「澳洲人，讓我們歡笑吧，因為我們年輕又自由」，將改為以「團結又自由」結束。

The anthem has become controversial in recent years, amid growing conversation about Indigenous representation, systemic inequality, and racial injustice. In particular, many have pushed back against the phrase "for we are young and free", a nod to when Britain’s First Fleet landed in Australia in 1788.

這首國歌在近幾年變得備受爭議，在愈來愈多關於原住民形象、系統性不平等，與種族不正義的對話中。許多人尤其反對「因為我們年輕又自由」這句（歌詞），贊同英國第一艦隊1788年登陸澳洲的歷史。

The government has a history of changing the song to be more inclusive － when Peter Dodds McCormick’s original 1878 composition was declared the official national anthem in 1984, replacing "God Save the Queen," two instances of "sons" were switched with gender-neutral phrasing.

政府過去也曾改動這首歌，以更具包容性。當彼得．多滋．麥考米克1878年譜寫的原曲，於1984年取代「天佑女王」被定為國歌時。曾將歌詞兩處的「兒子」改為性別中立的詞語。Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1448321; https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/paper/1429554

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