Nice try but no potato for New Zealand couple’s giant find

值得嘉許，但紐西蘭夫婦發現的巨大物體不是馬鈴薯

【摘要2022.7.28.四.自由】◎孫宇青

A New Zealand couple who believed they had dug up the world’s largest potato in the garden of their small farm near Hamilton have had their dreams turned to mash after Guinness World Records wrote to say that scientific testing had found it wasn’t, in fact, a potato after all.

紐西蘭一對夫婦相信，他們在漢密頓附近自家小農場的菜園中，挖到世界上最大顆馬鈴薯，但金氏世界紀錄寫信告知他們，科學檢測發現這玩意兒完全不是馬鈴薯後，他們的幻想破滅了。

Colin Craig-Brown, who first hit the tuber of a gourd with a hoe last August when gardening with his wife Donna, said it sure looked and tasted like a potato.

去年8月，科林‧克雷格—布朗和太太多娜一起做園藝時，率先用鋤頭挖到葫蘆塊莖，並認為這看起來且嚐起來絕對就是馬鈴薯。

After months of submitting photos and paperwork, the couple got the bad news from Guinness in an email.

在提交照片和文件數月後，這對夫婦收到金氏世界紀錄用電子郵件寄送的壞消息。

"Dear Colin," the email begins, going on to say "sadly the specimen is not a potato and is in fact the tuber of a type of gourd. For this reason we do unfortunately have to disqualify the application."（AP）

信件以「親愛的科林」起頭後接下去說：「很遺憾，這個樣本不是馬鈴薯，實際上是某種葫蘆的塊莖。因此，很不幸的，我們必須撤銷這次的申請。」（美聯社）

新聞辭典

mash：動詞或名詞，搗爛；糊狀物。例句：There is only mashed potato in the fridge.（冰箱裡只剩馬鈴薯泥。）

hoe：名詞，鋤頭。例句：The farmer used a hoe to dig a hole.（農夫用鋤頭挖了一個洞。）

specimen：名詞，樣本、標本。例句：He is fond of collecting butterfly specimens.（他喜愛蒐集蝴蝶標本。）