 Put international diplomacy and high politics aside. The real question Italians want answered is whether their prime minister is afraid of spiders.
He may be a self-confident billionaire capable of putting a brave face on any situation, but if a new law is anything to go by, Silvio Berlusconi is terrified of arachnids. The Senate Monday rushed through a decree banning scorpions, tarantulas and various other venomous eight-legged creatures from being brought onto Italian soil. The law might not have attracted much attention had it not been expressly drawn up by Berlusconi and rammed through parliament in lightning speed, at a time when the prime minister was already swamped by an international diplomatic row. While Berlusconi was trying to smooth fevered European brows after his comparison of a German politician to a Nazi concentration camp guard, his aides were plotting against "spiders that are dangerous to man." The bill was presented to parliament in the form of a decree -- a method usually reserved for matters of the greatest urgency. A spokeswoman in Berlusconi's office was unable to confirm whether the prime minister suffers from arachnophobia, saying only that he is an animal lover who also wants to protect Italians from potential danger. But Italian newspapers were full of speculation about how Berlusconi may have been stung into action on the issue. A carton of 300 lethal scorpions was flown into Milan earlier this year destined for an Italian collector of rare species and for a small pharmaceutical laboratory. It is said that the laboratory sits just down the road from Arcore, Berlusconi's private residence on the outskirts of Milan, and there were fears some might escape and crawl into the villa's gardens. "He was going on and on about how dangerous the little things were," Antonio Catricala, a senior official in Berlusconi's office said. "He insisted that a law be passed banning the importing of scorpions." ( Agencies ) | 先把國(guó)際外交和高級(jí)政治擱在一邊，意大利人真正想要解答的問(wèn)題是：他們的總理是否真的害怕蜘蛛類動(dòng)物。 他也許是一個(gè)自信的億萬(wàn)富翁，能勇敢的面對(duì)任何情況，但是如果根據(jù)這個(gè)法律來(lái)判斷，貝盧斯科尼非常害怕蜘蛛類節(jié)肢動(dòng)物。 周一，參議院迅速通過(guò)了一項(xiàng)法案，禁止將蝎子、狼蛛和其它各種有毒的八足動(dòng)物帶入意大利。 要不是貝盧斯科尼總理在自己已陷入國(guó)際外交爭(zhēng)論的情況下親自起草并迫使國(guó)會(huì)閃電般通過(guò)，這項(xiàng)法案可能并不會(huì)引起太多的關(guān)注。 貝盧斯科尼正在努力平息來(lái)自歐洲各國(guó)的強(qiáng)烈不滿，因?yàn)樗岩粋€(gè)德國(guó)政客比作納粹集中營(yíng)衛(wèi)兵。而此時(shí)他的參謀們卻在密謀對(duì)付那些"威脅人類安全的蜘蛛"。 該議案以法令的程序上交國(guó)會(huì)，而這種方式通常專門用于那些非常緊急的事件。 貝盧斯科尼辦公室的一位女發(fā)言人沒(méi)有確認(rèn)總理是否患有蜘蛛恐懼癥，只說(shuō)他是一個(gè)動(dòng)物愛好者，同時(shí)也想防止意大利人遭受潛在的威脅。 然而意大利的各報(bào)紙紛紛猜測(cè)貝盧斯科尼是受了什么刺激才這么做的。 今年早些時(shí)候，一紙箱蝎子空運(yùn)至米蘭，箱內(nèi)的300只毒蝎子寄給了意大利一名稀有物種收藏家和一個(gè)小型制藥實(shí)驗(yàn)室。 據(jù)說(shuō)這個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)室就坐落于貝盧斯科尼在米蘭郊外Arcore的私人別墅邊。一些蝎子很有可能會(huì)逃出來(lái)爬進(jìn)別墅的花園里。 貝盧斯科尼辦公室的一位高級(jí)官員安東尼奧·卡特里卡拉說(shuō)："他一再?gòu)?qiáng)調(diào)那些小東西有多危險(xiǎn)。他堅(jiān)持通過(guò)立法來(lái)禁止進(jìn)口蝎子。" （中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站譯） |
Updated: 2003-08-01 01:00
