2009奇闻趣事多 社交网站出风头

From the German town that unwittingly advertised pornography on its website to the American who interrupted his wedding to update his Facebook and Twitter accounts, the world was full of weird stories in 2009.

"Standing at the altar with @TracyPage where just a second ago she became my wife! Gotta go, time to kiss the bride" is how Dana Hanna kept the world posted between "I do" and that kiss.

Cartoon character Marge Simpson made it on the cover of Playboy magazine, two White House gate-crashers celebrated their triumph on Facebook, and the world was fooled into believing a 6-year-old boy was caught in a runaway home-made helium balloon.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube proved fertile ground for many of the bizarre stories.

British doctors were advised to ignore amorous advances from patients after some were propositioned on Facebook, Dutch lawmakers were told off for tweeting in parliament and in Canada an MP had to apologize for insulting a rival on Twitter.

In New York, five "restroom ambassadors" got jobs tweeting from the toilets at Times Square: greeting tourists and shoppers -- and then sending short dispatches on their encounters.

Britain's High Court ordered its first injunction via Twitter to stop an anonymous Tweeter impersonating someone else.

Swine flu, or H1N1, presented another challenge -- and rich source of weird stories. In Egypt, thousands of pigs were slaughtered even though the United Nations said the mass cull was a "real mistake" because the strain was not found in pigs.

Russian soccer fans were instructed to drink whisky on a trip to Wales for a World Cup qualifier match to ward off the H1N1 virus. In Japan, candidates stopped shaking hands. In Italy an inventor devised an electronic holy water dispenser.
从德国某小镇无意间在其网站上登色情广告，到美国一名男子在婚礼过程中更新Facebook和Twitter——2009年，世界各地的奇闻趣事一箩筐。

美国男子戴纳．汉纳在新娘说“我愿意”和亲吻新娘的间隙发帖通告全世界：“我正和@TracyPage站在圣坛之上，就在一秒钟前，她成为了我的妻子！先下了，现在该亲吻新娘了。”

卡通人物玛姬．辛普森（辛普森太太）登上《花花公子》杂志封面；两名勇闯白宫（国宴）的不速之客在Facebook上大吹大擂（详细）；世人居然相信了美国一名6岁男孩被刮跑的自制氨气球带走的故事。

Facebook、Twitter以及YouTube等社交网站成为催生奇闻趣事的肥沃土壤。

英国一些医生在Facebook上遭病人求爱，被建议不予理睬；荷兰立法者们因在国会开会期间疯玩Tweeter遭指责；而在加拿大，一名议员因在Tweeter上恶语攻击对手而被迫道歉。

在纽约，五名“厕所大使”得到了这样的工作，他们需要在时代广场的厕所“接待”游客和购物者，然后将在厕所的工作经历通过Tweeter发到网上。

英国高级法院首次通过Twitter下达禁令，禁止一位匿名推客装成他人。

甲型H1N1流感是今年的另一大挑战，也成为奇闻趣事的一大来源。在埃及，成千上万头猪被宰杀，尽管联合国称这一大规模屠宰是个“重大错误”，因为在猪的体内并未发现这种病毒。

俄罗斯足球迷在前往英国威尔士看世界杯资格赛途中，被建议喝威士忌以防感染甲流病毒；在日本，（众议院选举）候选人因怕感染甲流（在宣传造势时）取消握手（详细）；在意大利，一名发明人士发明了一种自动圣水机（详细）。
Vocabulary:

unwittingly:无意的；无心的

gate-crasher: one who gains admittance, as to a party or concert, without being invited or without paying 未经邀请擅自闯入者，不速之客

tell off: to rebuke severely; reprimand 严厉责备，谴责

injunction: a court order prohibiting a party from a specific course of action （法院的）禁止令；强制令

cull: to select and kill (surplus animals) 屠宰

ward off: to fight someone or something off; to hold someone or something off 避开（He warded off a danger. 他避开了危险。）