Book vending machine unveiled at train station 自動售書機在英國火車站正式啟用

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It’s not very often a train station vending machine gets this kind of attention, or indeed, the presence of best-selling authors like Michael Morpurgo. But his wife Clare is the daughter of Allen Lane, and they were here to mark something special.

火車站的自動售貨機很少能引起這樣的關註，能請來麥克·莫波格這樣的暢銷書作傢更是難得。他的妻子克萊爾是艾倫·萊恩的女兒，他們兩人來這裡是為瞭紀念一個特殊的日子。

Clare, Lady Morpurgo, Allen Lane’s daughter
“On a train journey back from staying with his great friend Agatha Christie, my father got off the train at Exeter, to get the train back to London, and went to the bookshop to find something to read. All the books were very expensive and very boring, and he thought then: I’ve got a really good idea – popular books with a decent price that everybody would like to read.”

克萊爾·莫波格夫人艾倫·萊恩之女
“我父親在從他的好友阿加莎·克裡斯蒂那裡回來的路上，在埃克塞特下瞭火車，準備換乘回倫敦的火車，在等車期間，他去車站的書店找書看。但那裡賣的書都又貴又無聊，他轉念想：我有一個好主意——以合理的價格出售人人都想讀的通俗讀物。”

So, Allen Lane founded Penguin Books, and the paperback was a big hit. And, it turns out, this isn’t Penguin’s first vending machine.

於是，艾倫·萊恩創辦瞭企鵝出版社，而出版社發行的平裝書系列大受歡迎。其實，這臺新自動售書機並非企鵝出版社的第一臺自動售書機。

Zainab Juma, Penguin Books
“In 1937, Allen Lane actually installed a Penguin Book vending machine that he called the Penguincubator on Charing Cross Road.”

宰納卜·朱馬企鵝出版社
“1937年時，艾倫·萊恩就推出瞭一臺企鵝出版社自動售書機，他稱之為 ‘企鵝孵化器’，安裝在倫敦查令十字路上。”

Today, they were celebrating how Penguin Books came into being with a big book, or perhaps should I say a cake, marking the arrival of this machine.

今天，人們在這裡慶祝企鵝出版社的誕生之路，其中一大亮點是這個外型是一本書的蛋糕。蛋糕標志著這臺新自動售書機正式啟用。

Sir Michael Morpurgo, Best-selling author
“And here it is, all these years later, with the penguin logo on it, at the station where he discovered this idea, having just been to visit Agatha Christie. He’d sold, I mean, millions of her books for a tiny, tiny price, which was really important. It was one of the reasons writers like that became superstars in the world of writing, the world over.”

麥克·莫波格爵士英國暢銷書作傢
“多年後的今天，這臺帶有企鵝商標的自動售書機，放在艾倫當年拜訪阿加莎·克裡斯蒂後想到推出廉價平裝書時所在的車站。他以極低的價格賣出瞭數百萬本阿加莎·克裡斯蒂的書，這一點真的很重要。這也是阿加莎·克裡斯蒂這樣的作傢成為世界文壇巨星的原因之一。”

On its big day, this vending machine acted like every other vending machine. So far, it’s sold 200 books since it was first installed.

在新自動售書機正式啟用的重要日子裡，它與其它普通的自動售貨機一樣在工作。自首次安裝以來，這臺新自動售書機已經賣出瞭200本書。