贝卢斯科尼:爱美女总好过同性恋

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi dismissed calls to resign on Tuesday over reports he helped a 17-year-old girl who attended parties at his house, saying it was "better to like beautiful girls than to be gay."

He refused to apologise for his fondness for young women and denied doing anything improper, after the case of the girl known as Ruby filled Italian newspapers last week and opposition lawmakers called for him to resign.

"As always, I work without interruption and if occasionally I happen to look a beautiful girl in the face, it's better to like beautiful girls than to be gay," he told a meeting at a motorcycle industry show in Milan.

"You should be completely reassured about the government and about the fact that it's a government that still has a majority that intends to govern until the end of its term," he said.

Berlusconi, 74, has brushed off scandals over women and parties in the past but has been under unusual pressure since newspapers last week carried reports about the teenager who attended parties at his sumptuous villa at Arcore near Milan.

The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported details of a phone call it said Berlusconi made to a Milan police chief on Ruby's behalf when she was detained over a separate theft in May, raising questions of whether he improperly intervened.

Berlusconi says he helped Ruby, whose real name is reported by Italian newspapers to be Karima El Mahroug, but he denies exerting any improper pressure on police officers.

The teenager, who has since turned 18, has told newspapers she received 7,000 euros ($9,760) from Berlusconi after attending two parties. She has denied having sex with him.

意大利总理西尔维奥．贝卢斯科尼本周二声明拒绝辞职，并表示“喜欢美女总好过同性恋”。有报道称他“帮助”过一位在他家参加派对的17岁女孩。

上周，意大利媒体对老贝与女孩鲁比之间的这起桃色事件进行了集中报道，反对党也要求他下台。但老贝拒绝为自己的好色道歉，还矢口否认自己有不当的行为。

他在米兰的一个摩托车工业博览会上对与会者说：“我一直不间断地工作，只是偶尔会碰巧欣赏一下美女，但喜欢美女总好过同性恋。”

他说：“大家应该完全信任这届政府，相信政府依然拥有多数人的支持，并将完成任期。”

现年74岁的贝卢斯科尼已经对过去有关美女和派对的桃色丑闻不屑一顾，但自从上周报纸报道了这位嫩模参加老贝在其米兰附近的阿尔科奢华别墅举办的派对一事后，他承受了不同以往的压力。

据《晚邮报》报道，贝卢斯科尼曾在今年五月给米兰一位警长打电话为鲁比求情，当时鲁比正因一起单独盗窃案件被捕。该报纸还报道了电话内容的细节，这使人们怀疑老贝是否干涉了此事。

贝卢斯科尼表示自己只是帮了鲁比，但否认给警方施加了不当压力。据意大利报纸报道，鲁比真名为卡莉玛．埃尔．马罗格。

即将年满18岁的鲁比向媒体爆料称，老贝在她参加了的两场派对后给了她七千欧元（合9760美元）。她否认与老贝发生了性关系。

Vocabulary:

brush off: to rebuff; send away（丢弃，漠视）

sumptuous: luxuriously fine or large; lavish; splendid（奢侈的，华丽的）