讀新聞，學英文——美國賓州一對新人新婚之夜蹲班房

Something old, new, borrowed, black and blue

Pa. newlyweds brawl at hotel, then attack good Samaritans, police say

注釋＋生詞：

Something old, new, borrowed, black and blue⋯⋯美國人婚禮上，新娘子身上必須有舊的，新的，借來的，還有藍色的或黑色的東西。據說，向老祖母借一塊舊的藍色手帕便解決了這個問題。

good Samaritan⋯⋯聖經中的“好撒瑪利亞人”的故事，描述一個流露同情心的人。在這個撒瑪利亞人出發去某城市的途中，看到一個可憐的旅客躺在路旁(found a poor traveler lying on the road)。這旅客被鞭打、搶劫(had been beaten and robbed)。這位仁慈的撒瑪利亞人沒有視而不見(instead of just passing by)，而是停下來幫助這位處於困境中的人(stopped to help this person in need) 。因為傳說，Good Samaritan就成了專有名詞，用來指“樂善好施的人”。我們中國稱之為‘活雷鋒’是也！

brawl⋯⋯爭吵
vow⋯⋯誓約
karate⋯⋯空手道（重音在第二個 a 上）
restrain⋯⋯抑製,阻止,束縛
hallway⋯⋯走廊
lobby⋯⋯大廳,門廊,門廳
planter⋯⋯花盆，花架
break up the fight⋯⋯分開那場打鬥
intoxicate⋯⋯醉酒
assault⋯⋯侵犯人身，施暴
mischief⋯⋯糾紛，胡鬧，爭執
disorderly conduct⋯⋯違法行為
pend⋯⋯等候判定
arraignment court⋯⋯傳訊室
holding cell⋯⋯法院監禁室
wedding gown⋯⋯婚紗
swollen⋯⋯浮腫的
tuxedo pants⋯⋯【美】(男士無尾半正式)晚禮服褲子
preliminary hearing⋯⋯預審
reception⋯⋯宴會

Mon., April. 28, 2008 Associated Press

PITTSBURGH - A couple brawled with one another, then members of another wedding party, hours after they repeated their vows and were headed to a room at a suburban Pittsburgh hotel.

Police say the fight between dentist David W. Wielechowski, 32, and his bride, Christa Vattimo, 25, began as the couple were about to enter their seventh-floor room at the Holiday Inn in Ross Township just north of the city on Saturday night.

The dentist "used a karate-style kick with his leg to kick Christa, knocking her to the floor," the criminal complaint said.

Two guests of another wedding heard the bride's screams and rushed over to help her. But when they restrained Wielechowski, his bride began attacking her rescuers, police said.

The fight traveled from a hallway to an elevator then into the hotel lobby where, police said, the couple threw metal planters containing live plants into an elevator at the men who tried to break up the fight.

"It was pretty wild," Ross police Sgt. Dave Syska said.

Police arrived to find the dentist lying on the floor of the lobby and his bride "yelling loudly" and "apparently highly intoxicated."

Both bride and groom were charged with simple assault, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. The bride was also charged with public intoxication. She asked a district judge not to require her husband to stay away from her while the charges were pending.

Both refused comment when they left Allegheny County arraignment court Sunday after spending the night in separate holding cells.

The bride, still wearing her wedding gown, was picked up by her father. The dentist left on his own, one eye swollen shut, wearing tuxedo pants, a bloody T-shirt and one shoe.

The couple face a preliminary hearing May 7.

The couple had been married in the Bahamas last month, but repeated their vows Saturday before a reception for 150 guests.