时间:2018-12-02 作者:英语课 分类:2018年NPR美国国家公共电台9月


英语课

 


SCOTT SIMON, HOST:


I think a lot of people might have felt a jolt 1 in their souls when Dr. Christine Blasey Ford 2 told the Senate Judiciary Committee that one of the most vivid, indelible memories she has of the night she says she was sexually assaulted at 15 by a 17-year-old Brett Kavanaugh behind a closed door, while his friend looked on, was what she recalled as the uproarious laughter between the two - and they're having fun at my expense. Judge Kavanaugh denies the allegations.


It is hard not to be chilled and sickened to hear a woman recall how she heard cruel laughter from two older boys as they stumbled drunk back to the party after they had pinned her to a bed and tried to strip off her clothes, sexually assault her and made her fear for her life by clapping a hand over her mouth to stop her screams. It was a story of cold, brute 3 male force followed by uncaring laughter - demeaning and dismissive laughter that, in a way, is its own kind of assault. Many women have heard that kind of laughter.


It is always a little precarious 4 when a specific human story with many moving parts becomes a social or political symbol. Christine Blasey Ford's moving testimony 5 unlocked a heavy door in America this week. Her pointed 6, painful memories helped inspire many women to unearth 7 their own, often for the first time - to talk about the times they have been assaulted, pawed, groped, humiliated 8 or raped 9. These are stories many women have locked away just to keep going. They need to be heard now, both out in the open and in the privacy of families. All of those stories from so many women don't necessarily prove that 17-year-old Brett Kavanaugh attacked 15-year-old Christine Blasey in the summer of 1982, just as middle-age Brett Kavanaugh's record of promoting women or coaching a girls basketball team doesn't prove that he didn't.


That door Christine Blasey Ford and so many other women have opened, often at great personal cost, could throw more light onto the darkness of sexual assault. But will events of this week encourage more women and men to trust they will be heard if they have the courage to come forward? Or do they have to fear they will be met with disbelief, indifference 10 and even the cold, derisive 11 laughter that Christine Blasey Ford made so many people remember?


(SOUNDBITE OF ZOE KEATING'S "FLYING AND FLOCKING")



1 jolt
v.(使)摇动,(使)震动,(使)颠簸
  • We were worried that one tiny jolt could worsen her injuries.我们担心稍微颠簸一下就可能会使她的伤势恶化。
  • They were working frantically in the fear that an aftershock would jolt the house again.他们拼命地干着,担心余震可能会使房子再次受到震动。
2 Ford
n.浅滩,水浅可涉处;v.涉水,涉过
  • They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上,所以我们只能涉水过河。
  • If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪,必须极度小心。
3 brute
n.野兽,兽性
  • The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
  • That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲,它咬人。
4 precarious
adj.不安定的,靠不住的;根据不足的
  • Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
  • He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家,他过得是朝不保夕的生活。
5 testimony
n.证词;见证,证明
  • The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
  • He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。
6 pointed
adj.尖的,直截了当的
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
7 unearth
v.发掘,掘出,从洞中赶出
  • Most of the unearth relics remain intact.大多数出土文物仍保持完整无损。
  • More human remains have been unearthed in the north.北部又挖掘出了更多的人体遗骸。
8 humiliated
感到羞愧的
  • Parents are humiliated if their children behave badly when guests are present. 子女在客人面前举止失当,父母也失体面。
  • He was ashamed and bitterly humiliated. 他感到羞耻,丢尽了面子。
9 raped
v.以暴力夺取,强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 );强奸
  • A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
  • We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致,不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句
10 indifference
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎
  • I was disappointed by his indifference more than somewhat.他的漠不关心使我很失望。
  • He feigned indifference to criticism of his work.他假装毫不在意别人批评他的作品。
11 derisive
adj.嘲弄的
  • A storm of derisive applause broke out.一阵暴风雨般的哄笑声轰然响起。
  • They flushed,however,when she burst into a shout of derisive laughter.然而,当地大声嘲笑起来的时候,她们的脸不禁涨红了。
学英语单词
abenteric typhoid
abu
act or omission
ahmadinejad
al segno
alisal
Anagasta kuehniella
area agreement
BAFO
beavertons
Berkhout
box heart sawing
Burnt toasts
calcium silicate hydrate
capsular branches
Carl Gustaf Mossander
catch knob
centre bits
cinders
cold-finished steel
demodulating function
directory search time
dismiss a case
diurnal circle
downrush
drive belt
ebon
Elmley
erosive wear
experimental mounting
final squint angle (fsa)
fire-suppression bottle
fuel-cooling installation
fusuline
gas waste processing system
give someone his walking papers
guttural
harshbarger
high frequency instability
Horae
Howe, Samuel Gridley
icandophila caronata mull. arg.
instrument engineering
interrelationship
isuppli
Karmex DL Diuron Weed Killer
Kuhni extractor
l-norcoralydine
leaf thorn
letter q
like-for-like sales
lingual artery
machine language program
monitresses
multipart
multivegetable
nepdg
non-solutions
Occup.
oil tray
olive groves
Omento-
oxolinic acid
pawkiest
platolenes pilipes
Pliopithecus
polyallomer resin
pralidoxime
Prontoramin
Prunus serrula
Radical Civic Union
reciprocal virtual work theorem
registered proprietor
rentier states
replete
Saba Bank
savepoint
selectric
Sellarsian
septicemias
skew symmetric operator
spinachias
staged contactor
stamped shares
steam boiler plant
stenopsyche pallidepennis
stillitano
sulfonimide
surgical haversack
tectoria
the rule of three
thyrses
told me you loved me
torpedo fire control computer
triangular association scheme
trichopterigia kishidai
unsayability
unsteady state condition
urticaria pigmentosa
utility landing craft
vacuum treated concrete
voidage fluctuation