2007年VOA标准英语-Foreign Teacher Fined for Public Indecency in S
时间：2019-01-13 作者：英语课 分类：2007年VOA标准英语（八月）
Dakar
30 August 2007
A 19-year old Irish man has been fined about $300 in Senegal after being found guilty of public indecency. He was also given a four-month suspended sentence. The foreign volunteer worker, who was released from jail last Friday, spent four weeks in jail awaiting a final verdict. Selah Hennessy visited him in Saint-Louis, Senegal, and has this report.
Covered in beetle 1 bites and looking dirty and exhausted 2, Patrick Devine said he could not believe he had been holed up in jail, waiting for sentencing, for such a long time.
Hunched 3 against a wall in the jail courtyard he said he was sharing his cell with 40 men and sleeping most nights on a cold cement floor.
He said Senegal's slow judicial 4 system meant that he was being punished excessively for what seemed to him like a minor 5 offense 6.
Devine was in Senegal volunteering as a teacher and aid worker with the "Teaching and Projects Abroad program." He had spent two months teaching Senegalese kids and taking care of hundreds of beggar children, or talibe, who swarm 7 the city's streets.
He was thrown in jail after dropping his pants outside a local government building. He said the prank 8 was part of a string of dares he and other volunteers were playing.
But a resident saw him in the act and brought a policeman to the scene. He was arrested with a Canadian girl who had been taking his picture, but she was let go within days.
A Senegalese lawyer and human rights activist 9 based in London, Ibrahima Kane, says public acts of indecency are always treated very seriously in Senegal.
"People believe that it is really important in the public arena 10 that people behave in a certain way," he said. "You can do what you want in your private life, but in the public arena it is really difficult for the state and for the community to accept this type of attitude."
He says visitors to foreign countries must understand and respect local customs or they will be faced with the law.
He says Devine was unlucky to have committed the offense during Senegal's hot months of July and August, because the legal process then moves even slower than usual.
"In Senegal even in the normal period to get the bail 11 takes a lot of time and sometimes people can even stay in jail for six months maximum, that is what the law says, six months maximum without being given bail," he explained.
While in jail, Devine said all he wanted was to get back to Ireland to be with his girlfriend. He now has that possibility, as well as plans to go to university in Belfast.
- A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
- He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。
- It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
- Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。
- He sat with his shoulders hunched up. 他耸起双肩坐着。
- Stephen hunched down to light a cigarette. 斯蒂芬弓着身子点燃一支烟。
- He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
- Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。
- The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
- I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。
- I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
- His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。
- There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
- A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。
- It was thought that the fire alarm had been set off as a prank.人们认为火警报警器响是个恶作剧。
- The dean was ranking the boys for pulling the prank.系主任正在惩罚那些恶作剧的男学生。
- He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
- He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。
- She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
- He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。