Veterinarians want you to pay close attention to your pets with "unpredictable" fireworks

Veterinarians want you to pay close attention to your pets with "unpredictable" fireworks

關於「非預期」煙火 獸醫要你密切關注你的寵物

【摘要2020.7.10.自由】◎張沛元

With the Fourth of July around the corner, veterinarians are urging pet owners to pay close attention to their animals.

隨著7月4日（美國國慶）即將到來，獸醫敦促寵物飼主密切關注自家毛小孩。

The pandemic has canceled many scheduled community fireworks displays. However, veterinarians worry that could lead to more people illegally setting them off at home.

（武漢肺炎）全球大流行使得許多原訂的社區大型煙火會宣告取消。然而，獸醫擔心，這可能反而導致更多人違法在家放煙火。

"Home fireworks are actually less predictable than commercial fireworks," said Dr. M. Leanne Lilly from OSU’s Veterinary Medical Center. "With commercial fireworks, you know when they are going to start. You know when they are going to end. You can look up the schedule. You can prepare for them a lot better than you can not knowing when your neighbor five doors down is going to do them at 5 p.m. or 7 p.m. or 10 p.m."

「家庭煙火確實比大型煙火會更難以預料，」（美國）俄亥俄州立大學獸醫醫療中心的獸醫Ｍ．黎安．利里說。「關於大型煙火會，你知道何時開始與何時結束，你可以查時程表，做好準備，遠比為隔5戶的鄰居不知會在晚上5點、7點還是10點（放煙火），做更好的準備。」

新聞辭典

around the corner：慣用語，不遠，就在附近；即將來臨。例句：Many people mistakenly believe happiness is just around the corner if we land a better job, find a more attractive mate, or buy a bigger house.（許多人誤以為只要得到一份較好的工作、找一個更有魅力的另一半，或買一棟更大的房子，幸福就不遠了。）

set off：片語，離開某處（出發）；啟動，開始工作（警報響）；引起爆炸（放煙火）。

look up：片語，仰視；查詢；拜訪；情況好轉。例句：I didn’t know what the word meant until I looked it up in a dictionary.（我查了字典才知道這個字是什麼意思。）

If Cats Disappeared...

如果這世界貓消失了．．．．．．

【摘要2020.7.10.蘋果】

If Cats Disappeared from the World is a novel about love and loss. It was written by Japanese author Genki Kawamura and published in 2012. The book’s main character is a young unnamed mailman who learns that he’s dying of cancer. Soon after he is diagnosed, the devil appears and proposes an odd deal. The devil tells the mailman he can save him from death. However, for each extra day the mailman lives, the devil will make something vanish from the world. The mailman can accept this and live, or reject this and die.

《如果這世界貓消失了》是一本圍繞著愛與失去的小說。這本小說是由日本作家川村元氣所著，並於2012年出版。本書主角是個未提及姓名、得知自己將死於癌症的年輕郵差。他被診斷出罹癌的不久後，惡魔就現身了，還對這位郵差提出了古怪的交易。惡魔告訴郵差衪能救他一命。不過郵差每多活一天，惡魔就會讓某件事物從世上徹底消失。郵差可以接受這樁交易而延續生命，或是拒絕並就此死去。

生活必備字詞

diagnose vt.診斷，查出（病症）
Herman, who never smoked, was shocked when he was diagnosed with lung
cancer.
vanish vi.消失