VOA标准英语2010年-Russia Gripped by Car Crashes Involvin
时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2010年(三月)
The leader of the left wing movement "Left Front" Sergei Udaltsov holds a poster reading "Everyone is equal before the law" outside the Moscow headquarters of Russian oil company Lukoil, 09 Mar 1 2010
Spectacular car crashes are making news in Russia these days. Most of them involve vehicles of people in positions of authority or privilege. Another recent incident has turned into a major scandal after police ordered drivers into harm's way on a busy Moscow highway. The Internet is helping 2 raise questions about the judgment 3 and integrity of officials behind a wave of Russian road accidents.
The list of Russia law enforcement officials involved in traffic accidents continues to grow. On Wednesday, a Moscow police officer was accused of damaging three cars while driving without a license 4. The same day, a policeman in the town of Sergeyev Posad hit an 11-year-old boy in a pedestrian crossing. In February, an allegedly drunken police officer struck a woman while driving on a sidewalk in central Moscow. In the city of Voronezh, also in February, a policeman involved in a deadly hit and run accident was arrested after witnesses reported his license number. Last year, three off-duty police sergeants 5 were fired for drunken driving on Red Square.
In yet another scandal, traffic police last week ordered several drivers to remain in their cars and to park across Moscow's Outer Ring Road in an attempt to stop an armed criminal. He rammed 6 through the vehicles. Police initially 7 refused to compensate 8 the drivers for damages, saying the fugitive 9 escaped. A hearing about the incident in Parliament on Thursday revealed that Moscow police have spikes 10 normally used to puncture 11 the tires of suspected criminals. The incident, now called the Human-Shield Affair, came to light only after one of the drivers, Stanislav Sutyagin, complained on YouTube. He says police parked their cars behind those of the dragooned civilians 12.
Sutyagin says he or his friend could have died if the criminal had hit them differently. He adds that the fugitive could have opened fire, exposing everyone to danger. He asks if perhaps their lives are worthless in Russia. Could it be, Sutyagin wonders, if authorities aren't spitting on the fact that there are real people driving in cars.
"Direct conflict with society"
Sociologist 13 Stepan Lvov told VOA that Russian law enforcement officials are in direct conflict with society, adding that human life in Russia was devalued by the country's Soviet 14 experience.
Lvov says that when Russians lived in the Soviet Union, people were cogs in a huge machine and could not defend their personal, economic, civic 15 and other rights. Those rights, he says, was repressed and restrained, and today Russians can only count on themselves, because of the notion of man as a wolf has spread and afflicted 16 the entire country.
Speaking at a parliamentary hearing on Thursday, Moscow's chief traffic cop, General Sergei Kazantsev, said his subordinates kept him in the dark about the Human Shield Affair.
Kazantsev says he was at work on the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth of March. He says he attended a government meeting on the ninth and returned to his office at two PM and only then did he learn that the Internet was ablaze 18 with information about the incident.
The privileged
People in positions of privilege have also been crashing cars. In November, the children of affluent 19 Russians visiting Switzerland struck and seriously injured a retiree during a street race in a rented Lamborghini; the daughter of a senior official in Siberia raised an outcry when a surveillance camera showed her checking damage to her vehicle instead of attending to the two pedestrians 20 she hit - one was killed, the other paralyzed; two women died in Moscow last month in a head-on collision with the chauffeur 21 driven Mercedes carrying the vice 22 president of the Lukoil energy company.
Numerous witnesses say the chauffeur was at fault. Photos and video of the accident posted on the Internet show Lukoil's large and heavy Mercedes well across the center line beside the small Citroen it collided with. Nonetheless, police blamed the dead driver.
Despite the Internet and public outrage 23, sociologist Lvov says no one is likely to face serious punishment, because police and elites 24 in Russia enjoy official protection. He adds that ordinary Russians frustrated 25 by the injustice 26 vent 17 their anger at anyone who aspires 27 to a better life to the detriment 28 of everyone except the elites.
Lvov says fellow citizens, whom Russians consider to be wealthy, hurt their own images, but they also inflict 29 serious damage to Russia's budding middle class. Its members, he says, are not wealthy individuals, but those who want a bit of security in life.
General Kazantsev belatedly agreed to compensate drivers whose cars were damaged after police put them in harm's way. He also awarded certificates, but driver Sutyagin refused to accept his. He said had no choice but to follow police orders. On the Internet, Sutyagin says next time will pay a $10.00 fine for disobeying such orders, which is better than risking his life and property.
- It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
- Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。
- The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
- By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
- The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
- He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。
- The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
- The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。
- Platoon sergeants fell their men in on the barrack square. 排长们在营房广场上整顿队伍。
- The recruits were soon licked into shape by the drill sergeants. 新兵不久便被教育班长训练得象样了。
- Two passengers were injured when their taxi was rammed from behind by a bus. 公共汽车从后面撞来,出租车上的两位乘客受了伤。
- I rammed down the earth around the newly-planted tree. 我将新栽的树周围的土捣硬。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
- Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。
- She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
- Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。
- The police were able to deduce where the fugitive was hiding.警方成功地推断出那逃亡者躲藏的地方。
- The fugitive is believed to be headed for the border.逃犯被认为在向国境线逃窜。
- a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
- There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉,以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Failure did not puncture my confidence.失败并没有挫伤我的信心。
- My bicycle had a puncture and needed patching up.我的自行车胎扎了个洞,需要修补。
- the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
- At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后,至少有300名平民下落不明。
- His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家,研究社会主义。
- Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。
- Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
- Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。
- I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
- The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。
- About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
- A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。
- He gave vent to his anger by swearing loudly.他高声咒骂以发泄他的愤怒。
- When the vent became plugged,the engine would stop.当通风口被堵塞时,发动机就会停转。
- The main street was ablaze with lights in the evening.晚上,那条主要街道灯火辉煌。
- Forests are sometimes set ablaze by lightning.森林有时因雷击而起火。
- He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
- His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。
- Several pedestrians had come to grief on the icy pavement. 几个行人在结冰的人行道上滑倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Pedestrians keep to the sidewalk [footpath]! 行人走便道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- The chauffeur handed the old lady from the car.这个司机搀扶这个老太太下汽车。
- She went out herself and spoke to the chauffeur.她亲自走出去跟汽车司机说话。
- He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
- They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
- When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
- We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。
- The elites are by their nature a factor contributing to underdevelopment. 这些上层人物天生是助长欠发达的因素。
- Elites always detest gifted and nimble outsiders. 社会名流对天赋聪明、多才多艺的局外人一向嫌恶。
- It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
- The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
- All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。
- The fame to which he aspires was beyond his reach. 他追求的名誉乃是他所不能及的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- An old steed in the stable still aspires to gallop a thousand li. 老骥伏枥,志在千里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Smoking is a detriment to one's health.吸烟危害健康。
- His lack of education is a serious detriment to his career.他的未受教育对他的事业是一种严重的妨碍。