Witchcraft training gets tax break

　　参加魔法培训带来减税好运

　　DUTCH tax authorities have allowed a woman to deduct the 2,210 euros (US$ 2,655) late last month, for she used it to take a one-year course in witchcraft.

　　The 39-year-old actress and artist learned how to use crystal balls, prepare herbs, cast spells and other witchcraft skills at the course held in the country's northwest. "The woman used the training in order to start giving workshops, so she used it to extend her professional knowledge," the tax official told Reuters. Margarita Roland, who gave the course and whose web site (http://www.heksehoeve.nl/) shows her with a broomstick and pointed hat, said she teaches apprentices all they need to know to become witches, using magic as a force for good.

　　上月月末，荷兰税务当局减免了一名妇女2210欧元（2655美元）的税金，以补偿她前一年参加巫术培训班的费用。

　　培训班在荷兰西北部举办，这位现年39岁的女演员兼艺术家在课程中学会了如何使用水晶球，准备草药，念符咒和其他巫术。税务局的官员告诉路透社记者，这位妇女想在培训后开设自己的艺术创作工作坊，所以她想借此来扩充自己的专业知识。一个叫玛格丽塔·罗兰的人开设了这门课程，她在自己的网页上形象怪异：手握扫帚，头戴尖顶帽，声称会把成为巫师所需的全部知识传授给学徒，而且把魔法作为一种正义的力量。

　　Russia's Putin sends in the plumbers

　　普京为老妇亲点水暖工

　　HOURS after Russia's President Vladimir Putin championed a Russian pensioner's complaint that she had to lug water home in buckets, the plumbers were on the way.

　　RIA-Novosti news agency said, "Builders have driven out there and 80 million roubles (US$ 2.58 million) have been allotted." Her plea was one of many questions addressed to Putin during a three-hour live television appearance when ordinary Russians asked about anything from racism to car insurance.

　　A previous presidential television phone-in had a similarly happy ending when a giant Christmas tree arrived at a town near the Chinese border after a poignant plea from a child.

　　俄罗斯一位退休老人在电视实况转播中，向总统普京投诉，说她每天不得不从外面提水回家。接到投诉，普京立即批示，几小时后，上门维修的水暖工就出发了。

　　据俄罗斯新闻信息社报道，建筑商不仅亲自开车去了现场，而且还拨款8000万卢布（258万美元）专门为老妇维修。在长达3个小时的实况转播中，市民们向普京提出了各种问题，小自汽车保险，大到种族主义，而老妇人的要求只是众多请求中的一个罢了。

　　上一次与总统对话的电视转播也同样是在欢乐气氛中结束的，当时总统下令把一棵巨大的圣诞树运到中俄边境的小镇上，满足了当地一个小孩的迫切愿望。

　　Consumer feedback, Rio style

　　巴西乘客怒烧抛锚汽车

　　AN angry passenger on a crammed bus in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro set the vehicle ablaze after it broke down and the driver ordered everyone off.

　　The bus stopped with a boiling radiator in the poor Campo Grande neighbourhood and the driver told passengers it would not complete its route, a fire department official said. One passenger returned with a bottle of alcohol, sprayed it inside the bus and set it alight, ignoring a fare collector who was still inside. The fare collector jumped out just in time to avoid the fire but the blaze destroyed the bus and also damaged nearby electricity and telephone wires.

　　Residents of Rio's slums sometimes torch buses to protest police killings of innocent people during raids against drug gangs. But police said this case was different. It was just one furious, stressed out passenger.

　　巴西里约热内卢一挤满乘客的公交车在路上抛锚，司机命令所有乘客下车，其中一位乘客为泄不满，竟一把火将车点着。

　　据消防中心一官员透露，当公交车开到贫民区大坎普时，车内空调失灵，热得像个蒸笼，司机表示汽车无法发动。乘客下车后，不料其中一位又携酒返回，不顾车里还有一名售票员，一骨脑地把整瓶酒都洒在车厢内并放火烧车。幸好售票员及时跳车才得以脱险，但大火烧毁了公交车，并造成周边的电线和电话线受损。

　　里约热内卢的贫民区里常有贩毒团伙出没，那儿的居民有时会放火烧公交车来抗议警方在突袭罪犯时殃及无辜。但警方称本案性质不同，因为这次纵火的是一名愤怒和极度压抑的乘客。