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Woman wins lottery after spotting 'amazing angel' over Cornish church
A church visitor may have taken one of the most iconic images created by nature - an angel cloud formation over the iconic church where the 'ghost of Christmas' is said to be buried. Tracey Preston was leaving the church of St Endellion in Port Isaac on New Year's Eve when she looked up and saw clouds shaped like one giant angel reaching down towards her with the light of the sun shining through its outstretched hand.
Of the cloud formation that looks like a human figure with wings and a hand pointing down, Tracey, from Whitemoor in mid-Cornwall, said: "We had just visited the parish church in St Endellion on New Year's Eve. After meeting the congregation, we decided to go for a coffee close by. I looked up and I could not believe what I was seeing. I grabbed my phone and took pictures. I was in awe and feeling extremely humbled. Never would I see that image again. I hope it's a good omen for 2024."
She added: "When I got home that day, I had an email from the National Lottery saying I’d won £214. A good omen indeed."
St Endellion Church, immortalized in a poem by poet laureate John Betjeman, is famous for its annual music and literary festivals which take place at Easter and in the summer every year. It is also the final resting place of Dr Miles Marley, the man whose name was the inspiration for Charles Dickens' Jacob Marley from A Christmas Carol.
Tracey's friend and Cornwall historian Barry West discovered the Dickens' links to Cornwall and Miles Marley's gravestone in the churchyard at St Endellion. He found out that Miles Marley died in 1854, aged 56, and is the man believed to be the inspiration behind the naming of Scrooge’s former business partner, who arrives to haunt him from the grave.
The places where the ghost of Christmas Present takes the miserly Scrooge also bear a striking resemblance to the Cornish moors and standing stones, the land of tin mining and the 18th-century Longships lighthouse at Land’s End - places that Dickens had visited just a year before the famous novella came out.
A London surgeon, Dr Marley came to live in the North Cornwall fishing village when his health was failing to be closer to his son, Henry Frederick Marley, who was the doctor at nearby Padstow for 50 years. Barry came across the connection while delving into Dickens’s 1842 visit to Cornwall.
About the angel cloud formation photograph that his friend took, he said: "If you look closely you will see the most amazing angel. This must surely be one of the most iconic images created by nature for Christmas 2023. Perhaps this was the Angel Gabriel or maybe St Endellieneta looking over us?"
注释：
outstretch: v
表示"扩张；伸展得超出 ... 的范围)"，如：These birds stands on the rock, wings outstretched. 这些鸟站在岩石上，翅膀张开着。
congregation: n
表示" 教堂会众；人群；（物）群；集合"，means "a group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend a given church"，如：The congregation in the church knelt in prayer. 教堂的会众跪下来祈祷。
immortalize: v
表示" 使不朽；使名垂千古"，means "be or provide a memorial to a person or an event"，如：Her brave decision immortalized as an example to us all. 她的勇敢决定作为我们大家的榜样而名垂千古。
miserly: adj
表示"吝啬的；少量的"，means "characterized by or indicative of lack of generosity"，如：He is miserly with both his time and his money. 他对于自己的时间和金钱都是吝啬的。
moor: n
表示"荒野，旷野; 摩尔人（非洲西北部柏柏尔人的后裔）"，如：The following day, she is like the rose of moor, blossomming proud pistil. 以后的日子,她一如旷野的玫瑰,绽放着骄傲的蕊。
novella: n
表示" 短篇故事；中篇小说"，means "a short novel"，如：I first read this novella when I was in middle school. 我第一次读这篇短篇小说是在初中的时候。
delve: v
表示" 探究；挖掘；搜索"，means "turn up, loosen, or remove earth"，如：She had started to delve into her father's distant past.
她开始探究她父亲久已逝去的岁月。
中文简要说明：
英国康瓦尔（Cornwall）一名女子新年前夕离开教堂后抬头看天空，赫然发现云层呈现「天使伸手」的模样，她当下相信是2024年的「好兆头」，想不到回家后就接到中了214英镑乐透的通知。
康瓦尔郡地方媒体「Cornwall Live」报导，2023年12月31日，康瓦尔女子普蕾丝顿（Tracey Preston）到当地颇负盛名的圣安德里恩教堂（St Endellion）与教友聚会，结束后一行人决定到附近喝咖啡，当她走出教堂时，赫然看见天空中的云层呈现天使的形状，甚至还伸出一只手朝下，阳光从天使伸出的手中向下洒落。
普蕾丝顿说当下不敢相信自己所见，立即拿起手机拍下，「我再也不会见到这种景象，希望是2024年的好预兆」。
巧合的是，普蕾丝顿当天稍后回到家后，就收到英国国家乐透（National Lottery）发送的中奖电子邮件，通知她中了214英镑。
普蕾丝顿的友人、康瓦尔历史学者维斯特（Barry West）说，如果仔细近看普蕾丝顿拍下的天使伸手照片，「你会看到最令人惊叹的天使，这肯定是大自然为2023圣诞节所创造、最标志性的画面之一」
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