黄金马桶艺术品在英国被盗 网友：怎么抱走的？

近日，正在丘吉尔出生地英国布莱尼姆宫（Blenheim Palace）展出的黄金马桶艺术品被盗，警方称案件正在调查中。

据了解，该艺术品出自意大利艺术家莫瑞吉奥·卡特兰（Maurizio Cattelan）之手，名为“美国（America）”。

Gold toilet stolen from Blenheim Palace

The Guardian

Lavatory valued at £1m taken from Winston Churchill’s birthplace just before 5am on Saturday

Police are on the hunt for an 18-carat gold toilet stolen overnight from Winston Churchill’s birthplace.

lavatory

lavatory /ˈlævətərɪ/ 表示“厕所”，英文解释为“A lavatory is a toilet or a room with a toilet in it.”

carat

同karat，表示“开（黄金的纯度单位）”，英文解释为“a unit for measuring how pure gold is”举个🌰：

24-carat gold is the purest.

24开的黄金是最纯的。

另外可以表示宝石的重量单位（克拉）a unit for measuring the weight of jewels (= precious stones).

Officers were called to reports of a burglary at Blenheim palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, where the loo – valued at £1m - was on display as part of a contemporary art exhibition, just before 5am on on Saturday.

burglary

表示“入室盗窃（罪）”，英文解释为“the crime of getting into a building to steal things”举个🌰：

Burglaries have risen by 3%.

入室盗窃案上升了3%。

厕所的相关表达

· loo表示“卫生间，洗手间，厕所”，英文解释为“a toilet; an informal or dialect word for lavatory”举个🌰：

I need to go to the loo (= use the toilet ).

我要去一下洗手间。

厕所的表达除了上文的loo和lavatory，还有如：

· john：a toilet 厕所，盥洗室，举个🌰：

I'm just going to the john - can you wait for me?

我去上洗手间——你能等我吗？

· convenicnce / public convenience：a public toilet 公共厕所

· bathroom / toilet

DI Jess Milne of Thames Valley police said: “The piece of art that has been stolen is a high-value toilet made out of gold that was on display at the palace.

“The artwork has not been recovered at this time, but we are conducting a thorough investigation to find it and bring those responsible to justice.”

A 66-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the theft.

The burglary has left the palace with significant damage and flooding. The toilet, designed by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, had been plumbed in and was available for visitors to use.

plumb

表示“给…装水管”，英文解释为“to supply a building or a device with water pipes, or to connect a building or a device to a water pipe”举个🌰：

Have you plumbed the dishwasher in yet?

你给洗碗机接上水管了吗？

The golden lavatory, named America, drew large crowds when it was exhibited in New York. It had been installed in a wood-panelled chamber opposite the room where Churchill was born.

Blenheim palace is the ancestral seat of the Duke of Marlborough.

panelled

表示“ 镶（饰）有嵌板的”，英文解释为“covered or decorated with flat pieces of wood”举个🌰：

The walls were panelled with oak.

墙壁上都镶着橡木板。

chamber

表示“（作特殊用途的）房间”，英文解释为“A chamber is a room designed and equipped for a particular purpose.”举个🌰：

For many, the dentist's office remains a torture chamber.

对许多人来说，牙科诊室仍是一间行刑室。

seat

两个不常见的含义，

1）表示“（尤指大学或政府机关）所在地；中心”，英文解释为“a place where people are involved in a particular activity, especially a city that has a university or the offices of a government”，如：a university town renowned as a seat of learning 有学术重镇之称的大学城，举个🌰：

Washington is the seat of government of the US.

华盛顿是美国政府所在地。

2）表示“（大户人家在乡间的）别墅，宅邸；（上层社会人士的）乡村宅第”，英文解释为“a large house in the country, that belongs to a member of the upper class”，如：family/country seat 私家/乡间宅邸，the family seat in Norfolk 在诺福克的祖宅。

Ahead of the toilet's installation, the duke's half-brother, Edward Spencer-Churchill, founder of the Blenheim Art Foundation, said last month the lavatory wouldn't be “the easiest thing to nick”.

“Firstly, it's plumbed in and secondly, a potential thief will have no idea who last used the toilet or what they ate,” he told the Times. “So no, I don't plan to be guarding it.”

half-brother

表示“同父异母（同母异父）的兄弟”，英文解释为“a brother who is the son of only one of your parents”，类似的也有half-sister.

nick

1）作动词，表示“偷”，英文解释为“to steal something”举个🌰：

I've had my bike nicked again.

我的自行车又被偷了。

2）表示“抓获，逮捕”，英文解释为“If the police nick someone, they catch them for committing a crime.”如：You're nicked! 你被捕了！举个🌰：

They nicked him for driving at 70 in a 50 speed limit area.

他们逮捕了他，因为他在限速50英里的区域内开到了70英里。

The palace's chief executive, Dominic Hare, urged anyone with any information about the theft to contact police.

“Following the Thames Valley police statement we can confirm ‘America’, the art piece by Maurizio Cattelan, has been stolen in the early hours of this morning,” he said.

“We are saddened by this extraordinary event, but also relieved no one was hurt. We are very grateful to our staff and to Thames Valley police for their rapid and brave reactions.

“We knew there was huge interest in the Maurizio Cattelan contemporary art exhibition, with many set to come and enjoy the installations. It's therefore a great shame an item so precious has been taken, but we still have so many fascinating treasures in the palace and the remaining items of the exhibition to share.”

Hare said the investigation continued, but “it will be business as usual from tomorrow”. Blenheim palace was closed on Saturday.

Visitors to the palace had been given three minutes of solitude to test out the golden throne. The Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones has described the experience as “much like peeing on porcelain … but here, among all the photos of young Winston, it also feels like pissing on British history”.

throne

表示“（国王、女王的）御座，宝座”，英文解释为“a special chair used by a king or queen to sit on at ceremonies”。

porcelain

porcelain /ˈpɔːslɪn, -leɪn/ 表示“瓷；瓷器”，英文解释为“a hard white shiny substance made by baking clay and used for making delicate cups, plates and decorative objects; objects that are made of this”。

撒尿的相关表达

去年我们在「高能预警」这是一篇有味道的文章（Mom lets kid pee on floor of crowded Beijing bus）中就整理了相关表达，

· pee，非正式，也是表示“尿，撒尿”，可作名词也可作动词，作名词时可以说：go for a pee/have a pee.

· piss可作动词也可作名词，“撒尿”口语上可以直接说，go for/have/take a piss；piss还有很多其它的含义，作名词时有个短语，take the piss (out of sb/sth) 表示“〔嘲笑或愚弄某人而〕令（某人）生气”，英文解释为“to annoy someone by laughing at them or making them seem stupid”，举个🌰：

The kids always take the piss out of some teachers.

孩子们总是拿某些老师寻开心。

· urine作为名词表示“尿”，英文解释：Urine is the liquid that you get rid of from your body when you go to the toilet. 举个🌰：

The doctor took a urine sample and a blood sample.

医生取了尿样和血样。

其动词形式为：urinate 排尿。

- END -

LearnAndRecord

2015年2月8日

2019年9月15日

第1681天

每天持续行动学外语