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Book vending machine unveiled at train station 自动售书机在英国火车站正式启用

文字稿

It's not very often a train station vending machine gets this kind of attention, or indeed, the presence of best-selling authors like Michael Morpurgo. But his wife Clare is the daughter of Allen Lane, and they were here to mark something special.

火车站的自动售货机很少能引起这样的关注，能请来麦克·莫波格这样的畅销书作家更是难得。他的妻子克莱尔是艾伦·莱恩的女儿，他们两人来这里是为了纪念一个特殊的日子。

Clare, Lady Morpurgo, Allen Lane's daughter
"On a train journey back from staying with his great friend Agatha Christie, my father got off the train at Exeter, to get the train back to London, and went to the bookshop to find something to read. All the books were very expensive and very boring, and he thought then: I've got a really good idea – popular books with a decent price that everybody would like to read."

克莱尔·莫波格夫人       艾伦·莱恩之女
“我父亲在从他的好友阿加莎·克里斯蒂那里回来的路上，在埃克塞特下了火车，准备换乘回伦敦的火车，在等车期间，他去车站的书店找书看。但那里卖的书都又贵又无聊，他转念想：我有一个好主意——以合理的价格出售人人都想读的通俗读物。”

So, Allen Lane founded Penguin Books, and the paperback was a big hit. And, it turns out, this isn't Penguin's first vending machine.

于是，艾伦·莱恩创办了企鹅出版社，而出版社发行的平装书系列大受欢迎。其实，这台新自动售书机并非企鹅出版社的第一台自动售书机。

Zainab Juma, Penguin Books
"In 1937, Allen Lane actually installed a Penguin Book vending machine that he called the Penguincubator on Charing Cross Road."

宰纳卜·朱马       企鹅出版社
“1937年时，艾伦·莱恩就推出了一台企鹅出版社自动售书机，他称之为 ‘企鹅孵化器’，安装在伦敦查令十字路上。”

Today, they were celebrating how Penguin Books came into being with a big book, or perhaps should I say a cake, marking the arrival of this machine.

今天，人们在这里庆祝企鹅出版社的诞生之路，其中一大亮点是这个外型是一本书的蛋糕。蛋糕标志着这台新自动售书机正式启用。

Sir Michael Morpurgo, Best-selling author
"And here it is, all these years later, with the penguin logo on it, at the station where he discovered this idea, having just been to visit Agatha Christie. He'd sold, I mean, millions of her books for a tiny, tiny price, which was really important. It was one of the reasons writers like that became superstars in the world of writing, the world over."

麦克·莫波格爵士       英国畅销书作家
“多年后的今天，这台带有企鹅商标的自动售书机，放在艾伦当年拜访阿加莎·克里斯蒂后想到推出廉价平装书时所在的车站。他以极低的价格卖出了数百万本阿加莎·克里斯蒂的书，这一点真的很重要。这也是阿加莎·克里斯蒂这样的作家成为世界文坛巨星的原因之一。”

On its big day, this vending machine acted like every other vending machine. So far, it's sold 200 books since it was first installed.

在新自动售书机正式启用的重要日子里，它与其它普通的自动售货机一样在工作。自首次安装以来，这台新自动售书机已经卖出了200本书。