超匪類中年 & 半桶水中年

When dozens of chickens went missing from a remote West Bengal village, everyone blamed the neighbourhood dogs.

當西孟加拉一個偏僻村莊的數十隻雞不知去向時，所有人都認為是附近狗群幹的好事。

But Ajit Ghosh, the owner of the missing chickens, eventually solved the puzzle when he caught his cow--a sacred animal for the Hindu family--gobbling up several of them at night.

但當失蹤雞群的主人阿吉特．葛許逮到自己養的牛─對印度教家庭屬於神聖動物─在晚上大啖雞隻時，他終於解開這個謎團。

"We were shocked to see our calf eating chickens alive," Ghosh said.

「看到我們養的小牛大吃活雞時，大家都嚇了一大跳，」葛許說。

The family decided to stand guard at night at the cow shed which also served as a hen coop, after 48 chickens went missing in a month.

這家人在1個月內丟了48隻雞後，決定晚上在同時兼做雞舍的牛棚裡守衛站崗。

"Instead of the dogs, we watched in horror as the calf, whom we had fondly named Lal, sneak to the coop and grab the little ones with the precision of a jungle cat," Gour Ghosh, his brother, said.

「我們在驚恐中看到的不是狗，而是被我們親暱地喚做拉爾的小牛，鬼鬼祟祟地潛進雞舍，然後以叢林貓的精準，一把抓住那些小雞。」葛爾．葛許，阿吉特的兄弟說。

Local television pictures showed the cow grabbing and eating a chicken in seconds and a vet confirmed the case.

當地電視台的畫面顯示，這頭牛數秒內就捕食一隻雞，而一名獸醫也證實確實如此。

新聞辭典

holy cow：口語，表示驚訝，意思近似「天啊」，「不會吧」。 calf指小牛，bull指公牛，cow指母牛或乳牛，非正式用語中泛指牛。holy則是神聖的，holy cow用在本文正有一語雙關之意。

blame：動詞，責備，怪罪。例句：Don’t take it too personally; he just needs someone to blame.（別太介意，他只是要找人怪罪一下。）

stand guard：片語，守衛，站崗。例句：US troops stand guard after a helicopter crashed in Mosul, Iraq.（美軍在一架直昇機墜毀於伊拉克摩蘇爾後開始警戒。）

vet：名詞，獸醫，即veterinarian。