奇聞趣事多 社交網站出風頭
From the German town that unwittingly advertised pornography on its website to the American who interrupted his wedding to update his Facebook and Twitter accounts, the world was full of weird stories in 2009.
"Standing at the altar with @TracyPage where just a second ago she became my wife! Gotta go, time to kiss the bride" is how Dana Hanna kept the world posted between "I do" and that kiss.
Cartoon character Marge Simpson made it on the cover of Playboy magazine, two White House gate-crashers celebrated their triumph on Facebook, and the world was fooled into believing a 6-year-old boy was caught in a runaway home-made helium balloon.
Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube proved fertile ground for many of the bizarre stories.
British doctors were advised to ignore amorous advances from patients after some were propositioned on Facebook, Dutch lawmakers were told off for tweeting in parliament and in Canada an MP had to apologize for insulting a rival on Twitter.
In New York, five "restroom ambassadors" got jobs tweeting from the toilets at Times Square: greeting tourists and shoppers -- and then sending short dispatches on their encounters.
Britain's High Court ordered its first injunction via Twitter to stop an anonymous Tweeter impersonating someone else.
Swine flu, or H1N1, presented another challenge -- and rich source of weird stories. In Egypt, thousands of pigs were slaughtered even though the United Nations said the mass cull was a "real mistake" because the strain was not found in pigs.
Russian soccer fans were instructed to drink whisky on a trip to Wales for a World Cup qualifier match to ward off the H1N1 virus. In Japan, candidates stopped shaking hands. In Italy an inventor devised an electronic holy water dispenser.
從德國某小鎮無意間在其網站上登色情廣告，到美國一名男子在婚禮過程中更新Facebook和Twitter——2009年，世界各地的奇聞趣事一籮筐。
美國男子戴納•漢納在新娘說“我願意”和親吻新娘的間隙發帖通告全世界：“我正和@TracyPage站在聖壇之上，就在一秒鐘前，她成爲了我的妻子！先下了，現在該親吻新娘了。”
卡通人物瑪姬•辛普森（辛普森太太）登上《花花公子》雜誌封面；兩名勇闖白宮（國宴）的不速之客在Facebook上大吹大擂（詳細）；世人居然相信了美國一名6歲男孩被刮跑的自制氨氣球帶走的故事。
Facebook、Twitter以及YouTube等社交網站成爲催生奇聞趣事的肥沃土壤。
英國一些醫生在Facebook上遭病人求愛，被建議不予理睬；荷蘭立法者們因在國會開會期間瘋玩Tweeter遭指責；而在加拿大，一名議員因在Tweeter上惡語攻擊對手而被迫道歉。
在紐約，五名“廁所大使”得到了這樣的工作，他們需要在時代廣場的廁所“接待”遊客和購物者，然後將在廁所的工作經歷通過Tweeter發到網上。
英國高級法院首次通過Twitter下達禁令，禁止一位匿名推客裝成他人。
甲型H1N1流感是今年的另一大挑戰，也成爲奇聞趣事的一大來源。在埃及，成千上萬頭豬被宰殺，儘管聯合國稱這一大規模屠宰是個“重大錯誤”，因爲在豬的體內並未發現這種病毒。
俄羅斯足球迷在前往英國威爾士看世界盃資格賽途中，被建議喝威士忌以防感染甲流病毒；在日本，（衆議院選舉）候選人因怕感染甲流（在宣傳造勢時）取消握手（詳細）；在意大利，一名發明人士發明了一種自動聖水機（詳細）。
Vocabulary:
unwittingly:無意的；無心的
gate-crasher: one who gains admittance, as to a party or concert, without being invited or without paying 未經邀請擅自闖入者，不速之客
tell off: to rebuke severely; reprimand 嚴厲責備，譴責
injunction: a court order prohibiting a party from a specific course of action （法院的）禁止令；強制令
cull: to select and kill (surplus animals) 屠宰
ward off: to fight someone or something off; to hold someone or something off 避開（He warded off a danger. 他避開了危險。）
