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No black cat will cross your path this Halloween, not if a northern Idaho animal shelter can help it. Like many shelters around the country, the Kootenai Humane Society in Coeur d'Alene is prohibiting(1) black cat adoptions from now to Nov. 2, fearing the animals could be mistreated in Halloween pranks — or worse, sacrificed in some satanic(2) ritual.
今年萬聖節你將不會看到黑貓從你家附近的小路走過，除非北愛達荷州的動物保護機構幫助它。和其他保護組織一樣，為防止黑貓在萬聖節惡作劇中受到虐待或更甚者成為某些邪惡儀式的祭品，庫特內科達倫慈善協會從11月2日起拒絕受理黑貓領養業務。
The risk may be remote(3), said the shelter's executive director, Phil Morgan.
收容所執行總監菲爾·摩根說發生這種事情的幾率可能微乎其微。
"It's kind of an urban legend. But in the humane(4) industry it's pretty typical that shelters don't do adoptions of black cats or white bunnies because of the whole satanic sacrificial thing," Morgan said. "If we prevent one animal from getting hurt, then it serves its purpose."
摩根說：“對於城市來說這聽起來有些奇特。但是，在慈善界，為預防邪惡祭祀行為拒絕領養黑貓和白兔很正常。哪怕我們因此只救了一隻小動物，一切就值得。”
Out of 97 cats at the shelter, 28 are black, Morgan said.
摩根說收容所共有97隻貓，其中28隻為黑色。
However, some animal experts say the practice does more to hurt animals than protect them.
但是，有些動物專家說這樣的行為不但不能保護動物，還可能造成更大傷害。
"Black cats already suffer a stigma(5) because of their color," said Gail Buchwald, vice president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter in New York City. "Why penalize(6) them any more by limiting the times when they can be adopted?"
紐約美國防止虐待動物協會副主席蓋爾·布希瓦爾德說：“黑貓因為皮毛顏色已經很倒楣了，為什麼還要減少他們被領養的機會？”
Black cats tend to be adopted less often than other felines, Buchwald said.
布希瓦爾德說黑貓本來就不容易被領養。
"Behaviorally, there's no difference from the color of the cat. It's tied into this whole mythology(7) about the animal — don't let it cross your path or some foreboding(8) or foreshadowing(9) of evil — and that's an outdated superstition(10)," she said.
她說：“從行為上說，各種顏色的貓沒有分別。這只是與有關黑貓的神話有關，例如不要讓黑貓從你門前走過，或者它們是魔鬼凶兆的象徵，這已經是過時的迷信了。
It's not clear how many shelters still seasonally ban black cat adoptions, said Kim Intino, director of animal sheltering issues for the Humane Society of the United States, but the trend seems to be fading — along with the once-common bans on bunny adoptions around Easter or puppy adoptions as Christmas gifts.
美國慈善協會動物保護部門主管吉姆·因提諾說，不清楚目前有多少家收容所依然季節性拒絕領養黑貓，但數量的確在下降。曾經在復活節拒絕兔子領養和聖誕節拒絕領養小動物作為禮物的現象也與日俱減。
"If there were people out there performing rituals with animals, then I would think that Halloween would be a time for that, but a good adoption process would tend to weed(11) that out," Intino said. "There's going to be incidents of weird abuse that happen no matter what. The remedy(12) is not banning black cat adoptions."
因提諾說：“如果有人用小動物作為儀式祭品，我認為萬聖節的確給了他們理由，但是嚴格的領養程式應該能夠避免此類事情發生。無論怎樣各種怪異事件都會發生，限制領養黑貓不能解決問題。”
1. prohibit：阻止，禁止
2. satanic：惡魔的
3. remote：幾率小的
4. humane：仁慈的
5. stigma：污名，恥辱
6. penalize：處罰
7. mythology：神話
8. foreboding：預兆
9. foreshadow：預示
10. superstition：迷信
11. weed out：清除
12. remedy：補救
（CRI ENGLISH)
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