石材装修盛行 英盗石案频发

Thieves are ripping up ancient pavements, slate roofs and even graveyards to feed a fashion for real stone in expensive home makeovers.
时下盛行用天然石材进行昂贵的家居翻新，为满足潮流需求，窃贼们从古道、石板瓦屋顶甚至墓地盗取石材。

The organised gangs have switched from stealing copper and other types of metal following new rules demanding tighter checks by scrap metal merchants.
政府发布的新规要求废金属收购商对金属进行更严格的检查，这些有组织的盗窃团伙已经从偷窃铜和其他金属转向偷窃石材。

Schools, churches, memorial gardens, farm buildings, homes and even historic city pavements are being targeted by the criminals.
学校、教堂、纪念公园、农场建筑、住宅、甚至历史悠久的城市道路都正成为这些犯罪分子的目标。

The stone is being sold on to unscrupulous builders who use it to create kitchen floors and work surfaces, fireplaces, patios, drives and walls.
偷来的石材被卖给不道德的建筑商，他们用这些石材铺就厨房地板、工作台、壁炉、露台、私人车道和墙体。

People with valuable stone on their property, such as Portland - which was used in the construction of St Paul's Cathedral - Yorkshire and Cotswold are most at risk.
那些房产上有珍贵石材的人最有可能被偷。珍贵石材包括曾用于建设圣保罗大教堂（St Paul's Cathedral）的波特兰石、约克石和科兹沃尔德石。

Eric Bignell, editor of Natural Stone Specialist magazine, said the uses for stone in the home have increased massively in recent years.
《天然石材专家》（Natural Stone Specialist）杂志的编辑埃里克·比格内尔（Eric Bignell）说，近年来，石材用于家居装修的比例有了大幅增长。

'People want something which is substantial in their home, from hard landscaping to housing interiors,' he said.
他说：“从硬质景观到室内装修，人们想要在自己家中添置一些坚固的材料。”

'It's very desirable to have a house built with stone walls, but we're also seeing stone floors, fireplaces, even kitchens all have granite worktops now and stone theft is a problem.
“拥有一座带有石墙的房子是非常诱人的，但我们也看到有石头地板、石头壁炉，甚至厨房都拥有花岗岩工作台。盗窃石材是一个问题。”

'People are stealing everything from stone walls and tiles to garden statues to reuse in the home.'
“人们现在偷窃各种石材重新用于家居装修，从石墙石瓦到花园雕塑，都不放过。”

Recent cases include a Cotswold farmer, who was left with a £50,000 repair bill after thieves stole the stone roof from his stable block twice in three weeks.
最近发生的盗石案的受害者之一是科茨沃尔德（Cotswold）一位农民，他家马厩的石头屋顶三周内被窃贼偷了两次，修缮费需要5万英镑。

Leeds City Council has had to replace £50,000 worth of York stone stolen from pavements across the city within a 12-month period.
利兹（Leeds）市议会需要更换全市路面在一年内被偷走的价值5万英镑的约克石。

Earlier this month, the Cowdray Estate, in Sussex, reported that a number of stone slabs were stolen from the centre of the ancient Cowdray Causeway.
本月早些时候，苏塞克斯郡（Sussex）的考德雷庄园（Cowdray Estate）报告称，考德雷古堤道中心的很多石板被偷了。

In Wales, heartless thieves stole stone slabs from a memorial garden in Aberbargoed, which was one of a spate of similar thefts in the area.
在威尔士（Wales），无情的窃贼偷走了阿贝巴格德（Aberbargoed）一座纪念花园里的石板，这是该区域发生的一连串类似盗窃案之一。

Police have launched an appeal for information following a number of recent stone thefts from historic walls in the Breckland area of Norfolk.
最近诺福克郡（Norfolk）的布雷克兰（ Breckland）发生了多起古建筑墙体石材盗窃案，警方已经开始呼吁知情公众提供 线索。

Kevin Thomas, risk management surveyor at Ecclesiastical Insurance, warned that people having stone features installed in their homes and gardens may be at risk of receiving stolen goods.
安立甘宗教会保险公司（Ecclesiastical Insurance）的风险管理鉴定人凯文·托马斯（Kevin Thomas）警告称，那些在家中或花园里添置石头建筑的人可能有收到赃物的风险。

'The theft of stone is an increasing phenomenon, in both rural and urban areas,' he said.
“盗石现象日益增多，农村和城市地区都有。”他说。

'We're seeing things like paving slabs, blocks from walls and roof tiles stolen from heritage buildings and churches. Anything that has a marketable value that the thieves can sell on to the building trade.
“我们看到从遗产建筑和教堂偷走的铺路石板、墙体石块以及屋顶瓦块等东西，任何有市场价值、窃贼能卖给建筑商的东西。”

'In places like Cumbria and Lancashire, whole bits of building are being taken.
“在像坎布里亚郡（Cumbria）和兰开夏郡（Lancashire）这样的地方，有人正将整个的建筑都偷走。”

'The thieves stealing the stone are often removing items that have been in place for hundreds of years and are an important part of Britain's heritage and landscape.'
“偷石材的窃贼通常将完好存在了数百年的东西拿走，这些东西是英国遗产和景观的重要组成部分。”

Mr Thomas said stone thieves are often very brazen, dressing in high visibility jackets so they look like official workmen.
托马斯先生说，盗石贼通常是非常无所顾忌的，他们穿着高能见度的夹克衫，看起来像正式的工匠。

'It's so easy for them to take it. Often these places are in rural areas, they are unoccupied and isolated and thieves have all the time in the world to carry out the theft uninterrupted.'
“他们要拿走这些石材很容易，通常这些地方都位于农村，无人居住，与世隔绝。他们有大把时间不断地偷窃。”

Heritage Watch schemes, similar to Neighbourhood Watch, have been set up in Cheshire, Hertfordshire and Essex to tackle the thefts.
柴郡（Cheshire）、赫特福德郡（Hertfordshire）和埃塞克斯郡（Essex）已经发起了与“邻里守望”（Neighbourhood Watch）计划相似的“文化遗产看守”（Heritage Watch）计划，以解决盗窃问题。

And some places have started using SmartWater technology - a uniquely coded forensic liquid that shows up under an ultraviolet lamp - to make it easier to identify stolen stone and trace where it has been taken from.
有些地方已经开始使用SmartWater检测技术——一种用于法庭科学取证的唯一编码的液体，在紫外线灯下能够显现——以更容易地识别被盗的石材并追踪它们是从哪里被偷走的。

Vocabulary

slate：石板瓦

unscrupulous：不道德的

patio：露台

granite：花岗岩

worktop：(厨房做饭用的)操作面

slab：厚板

brazen：无所顾忌的

forensic：法庭科学取证的

ultraviolet： 紫外线的