英國正立法禁止活煮烹飪龍蝦。（美聯社）
◎陳成良
The United Kingdom is weighing a ban on boiling live lobsters, crabs and other crustaceans amid a push from animal welfare activists to include the invertebrates in legislation that would recognize them as sentient beings.
英國正在考慮禁止煮食活龍蝦、螃蟹和其他甲殼綱動物，動物保護人士正在推動立法認定這些無脊椎動物是有知覺的生物。
At present the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, which is making its way through the House of Lords, covers only vertebrates — animals that have a backbone.
目前，正在上議院審議的《動物福利（感知）法案》只涉及有脊骨的脊椎動物。
Though the legislation currently only includes vertebrates, lawmakers are weighing expanding it to include invertebrates such as lobsters, as well as octopuses and mussels, according to The Times .
據《泰晤士報》報導，儘管該立法目前只涵蓋脊椎動物，但立法者正在考慮將對象擴大到龍蝦、章魚、貽貝等無脊椎動物。
The legislation comes as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it has commissioned a study to examine the creature’s sentience.
在法案出爐之際，英國環境食品與鄉村事務部表示已委託進行一項研究，檢驗這些動物的感知能力。
新聞辭典
weigh：動詞，仔細考慮，權衡，斟酌。例句：He weighed the ideas in his mind.（他在腦中權衡著些想法。）
sentient：形容詞，有知覺的；有感情的。例句： Man is a sentient being.（人是有感覺的生物。）
commission：動詞，委託、安排。例句：The politician commissioned me to write a biography for him.（這位政治人物委託我替他撰寫傳記。）
華客新聞 | 時事與歷史：中英對照讀新聞》UK weighs ban on boiling live lobsters 英國考慮禁止活煮龍蝦
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