特別推薦：2006圣誕特輯

A man dressed as Santa Claus stands on the beach in Deauville, western France. Santa Claus has been forced to carry out his Christmas duties cowering under a hard hat after youths in a Scottish town pelted him with festive mince pies. Santa was hit by a hail of pastry and dried fruit as the youths launched a barrage of mince pies from the upper level of the shopping centre in Paisley, west of Glasgow. Now worried shopping centre chiefs, fearing a repeat siege of Santa, have taken "drastic" measures, issuing him with a builder-style hard hat. "We are a multi-level centre, and have taken this somewhat drastic action to protect Santa from possible injury," Andrew MacKinnon, the centre manager, explained. "Such an incident does give rise to health and safety concerns, and we take the safety of our staff very seriously." Santa's new hard hat has been decorated with red reindeer antlers to "Christmas it up a bit," he added. Derek Mackay, the Scottish National Party leader, said the mince pie "madness" could harm Paisley, home of the famous Paisley pattern. The manager said that a gang of local "neds," or yobs, threw the pies before running off. Last year, the centre's Father Christmas was set upon by youths calling him a "fraud and a fake." 點擊查看更多雙語新聞 (AP)

日前，蘇格蘭某小鎮的圣誕老人遭到“百果餡餅”的襲擊，因此不得不戴著安全帽上崗。 格拉斯哥西部小鎮佩斯利購物中心的圣誕老人遭到幾個青年發動的一場"餡餅襲擊"，餡餅和干果像下冰雹似的從天而降。 購物中心的負責人擔心圣誕老人再遭襲擊，因此采取了“有力的”保護措施，發給他一頂建筑工地專用安全帽。 購物中心經理安德魯·麥克基儂解釋說：“我們這個購物中心有好幾層，這一措施應該能對圣誕老人起到保護作用。” “這種襲擊事故引起我們對員工健康和安全的擔憂，我們十分重視員工的人身安全?！? 他說，為了“烘托圣誕氣氛”，他們在圣誕老人的新頭盔上裝上了紅色的馴鹿角。 佩斯利小鎮是“佩斯利螺旋花紋”之鄉。蘇格蘭民族黨主席德里克·麥克凱說，圣誕老人遭襲事件會影響到佩斯利的聲譽。 安德魯經理說，當時一群小混混用餡餅襲擊了圣誕老人后逃之夭夭。去年，購物中心的圣誕老人則是遭到了人身攻擊，一群小混混說他是“騙子、冒牌貨”。 （英語點津姍姍編輯）