It's important to have a goal in life. Indian grocer Radhakant Baijpai certainly has one - to make sure that he has the longest ear hair in the world.
Radhakant was crowned the official Guinness world record holder for the longest ear hair back in 2003, when his aural fronds were an already-impressive 13.2cm long. But that didn't stop him pursuing his goal of ever-longer hair on his ears.
After several more years of carefully cultivating and caring for the ear-hair, Radhakant's tufts now stretch an astonishing 25cm. He is now waiting for Guinness adjudicators to confirm that he has set a new high, hairy bar for his chosen field.
Radhakant, from Uttar Pradesh in northern India, acknowledges that his wife has, at times, wished that he would cut his ear hair off - but he says that she has agreed to let him keep it, as it is a source of pride.
His 25-year-old son is already displaying signs of growing similar ear-hair - although only time will tell if the son can eventually take the place of the father, standing triumphantly atop the pinnacle of human ear-hair achievement. (metro.co.uk)
《字詞解析》
grocer – (n.) 雜貨商。若在 grocer 後面加上所有格符號 (apostrophe) + s ('s)，即 grocer's，那麼就變成「雜貨店」(= grocery store)；這種在食品和商品的販賣者後面加上 's 來變成販賣該食品和商品的商店，是英式英語特有的用法，其他還有greengrocer/greengrocer's (蔬果販賣商/蔬果販賣店)、optician/optician's (眼鏡商/眼鏡行)、newsagent/newsagent's (書報販者、書報經銷人/書報攤)、butcher/butcher's (屠宰商、肉販/肉店)、chemist/chemist's (藥商、藥劑師/藥房)、stationer/stationer's (文具商/文具行)、florist/florist's (花商/花店) 等等。
crown – (v.) 為…加冠，冠以。
aural frond – (n.) 耳葉。aural 為形容詞，意為「耳的；聽力的；聽覺的」。
cultivate – (v.) 培育；培養。
care for – (phr. v.) 照顧。這個片語動詞經常出現在口語中，一般都用於問句和否定句，但意為「喜歡，想要」(to like)：I don’t really care for tea; I like coffee better. (我並不怎麼喜歡喝茶。我比較喜歡喝咖啡)。
tuft – (n.) (毛髮等的) 一簇。
astonishing – (adj.) 令人驚訝的；驚人的。
adjudicator – (n.) 評判員，評定員。
bar – (n.) 障礙，限制。
Uttar Pradesh – (n.) 印度的「北方省」。
take the place of – (v.) 取代。
pinnacle – (n.) 山頂，山峰；頂峰，極點。"standing triumphantly atop the pinnacle of human ear-hair achievement" 譯為「欣喜地站在人類耳毛成就的峰頂上」。
延伸閱讀：新聞英語的語法結構