每日英語跟讀 Ep.837: About EU - The EU’s new center point after Brexit：a field in Bavaria 歐盟在英國脫歐後的新中心點

Now that the European Union includes one less country, its geographical center has shifted to the southeast — landing in a nondescript field in Bavaria：Gadheim, a village of 80 people near the German city of Wuerzburg.

現在歐盟成員少了一國，其地理中心已向東南移，坐落在巴伐利亞一處平凡無奇的田野：加德海姆，一個人口80人、靠近德國符茲堡的村莊。

The honor of being the center of Europe stems from calculations by France’s national cartographic institute, IGN, which places the point at 9 degrees, 54 minutes, 7 seconds east and 49 degrees, 50 minutes, 35 seconds north.

做為歐盟中心的榮耀，來自法國國家地理測量研究所「法國國家地理研究院」（IGN）的計算，定為東經9度54分7秒和北緯49度50分35秒的點。

Gadheim takes over from a spot in another northern Bavarian municipality, Westerngrund, which is 56 kilometers to the northwest.

加德海姆取代西北方56公里、另一座巴伐利亞北方城市威斯滕格隆德的地位。

Goetz said he first heard of IGN’s calculation on a local radio station in March 2017. "At first, I thought it was an April fool’s joke, an early one. But it turned out very quickly that it was really the case,’’ he said.

（維茨赫海姆鎮長）戈茨說，他2017年3月初次在一個地方廣播電台上聽到IGN計算結果。「起初我以為那是提早來的愚人節玩笑。但是，很快發現真的是這樣」，他說。

Cats to be put on leashes to protect wildlife? EU says No 給貓咪繫上繩子保護野生動物？歐盟說不

Put domestic cats on a leash to better protect threatened birds and the environment? The European Union says that would deny mankind’s furry friend its unalienable right to roam.

給家貓繫上繩子來加強保護受威脅的鳥類和環境？歐盟說，這麼做會使這個人類的毛朋友無法享有自由散步的不可剝奪權利。

The EU’s executive said that it is ``a strong defender of free movement rights _ including of cats’’ and ``categorically’’ denied it would ever force cats to be kept indoors or on a leash, as one scientific study suggests.

歐盟行政單位說，該組織「堅定捍衛自由移動的權利─包括貓的」，「明確地」拒絕依照一份科學研究所說，強制將貓限制在室內，或者拴繩子。

Tilburg University scientists wrote in Oxford’s Journal of Environmental Law that free-ranging domestic cats ``impact biodiversity through predation, disturbance, competition, disease and hybridization,’’ and added that the predatory impact is worse than often assumed.

堤爾堡大學科學家在牛津大學出版社出版的「環境法期刊」撰文指稱，自由四處活動的家貓，「因掠食、干擾、競爭、疾病和雜交等因素，影響生物多樣性」，還說這種掠奪性的影響，比通常所認為的還嚴重。

They argued that EU laws and directives could effectively force owners to keep them indoors or on a leash outdoors.

研究者主張，歐盟法規應該有效地強制飼主將貓限制在室內，或者在戶外繫上繩子。

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1366071 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1349838