閱讀難度：

Prognosticators who predicted the end of the world and got it wrong, scientists who built a wasabi fire alarm, and researchers who studied how the urge to urinate affects decision-making were among the winners of spoof Ig Nobel prizes last Thursday, Reuters reported.

The annual prizes, meant to entertain and encourage scientific research, are awarded by the Journal of Improbable Research as a whimsical counterpart to the Nobel Prizes.

Ig Nobels also went to researchers who found that the male buprestid beetle likes to copulate with Australian beer bottles, and researchers who showed why discus throwers become dizzy and hammer throwers do not.

Former winners of the real Nobel prizes hand out the prizes at a ceremony held at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. （點擊路透社網站查看原文）

搞笑諾貝爾獎頒出

???????據路透社報道，上周四的搞笑諾貝爾獎得主中包括：錯誤預言世界末日的預言家、制造芥末火警的科學家，以及研究尿急如何影響決策的研究人員。

???????這個年度獎是為了娛樂并鼓勵科學研究，由《匪夷所思研究期刊》頒出，也是對諾貝爾獎的惡搞。

???????搞笑諾貝爾獎還頒給了發現雄性吉丁蟲喜歡和澳大利亞啤酒瓶交配的研究人員，以及發現為何鐵餅投擲運動員頭暈而鏈球投擲運動員不頭暈的研究人員。

???????在馬薩諸塞州劍橋市哈佛大學舉行的儀式上，真正的前諾貝爾獎得主頒出了獎項。

(China.org.cn October 9, 2011)