VOA常速英语2015--塞拉利昂谋杀案引起公愤

塞拉利昂谋杀案引起公愤

Thursday night (8/20) on a beach in Freetown, Sierra Leone, a candlelight vigil was held for a teenager found murdered last week. The death has sparked outrage 1 in the country and concern about rising crime in the wake of the Ebola epidemic 2.

周四晚上，在塞拉利昂弗里敦一个沙滩，人们为上周被谋杀的一名青少年举行烛光守夜。该案件引发民愤，导致人们担忧埃博拉疫情之后不断攀升的暴力犯罪。

The body of 17 year old Hannah Bockarie was found earlier this month on the well-known Lumley Beach. Tests will determine whether she was sexually assaulted, but police and a women’s group say it appears she was. She may have been beaten to death.

17岁的Hannah Bockarie的尸体本月初在著名的拉姆莱海滩被发现。专业人士将检查她是否遭到性侵，但是警方和妇女团体表示答案似乎是肯定的。她可能是被殴打致死的。

Nicky Spencer-Coker is spokeswomen for PowerWomen232, a group of professional women that organized the vigil. She said outrage over the teen’s death erupted when a picture of her body was circulated on social media.

这次守灵活动由职业女性团体PowerWomen232组织，Nicky Spencer-Coker是该机构发言人。她表示，当受害者的照片在社交媒体流传时，这起谋杀案引起公愤。

“This young person, who clearly had died violently, now being violated and victimized a second time by her picture being circulated throughout social media. So, this does not seem like something that we should sit by and allow to go unreported on, unspoken about. It needed to be something that we needed to raise our voices about to let people know that it wasn’t OK with us as citizens of this country, as women, to allow something like this to unchallenged.”

“这位年轻人死于暴力，而现在，她的照片在社交媒体流传，她受到了第二次侵犯和伤害。所以，我们不应该无动于衷，缄口不言。我们需要做点事情发出我们的声音，让人们知道，作为这个国家的公民，作为女性，我们不能容忍这种事情肆无忌惮地发生。”

She said circulating the picture of the crime scene disrespected who Bockarie was.

她表示，让犯罪现场的照片流传是对Bockarie的不尊重。

“That was somebody’s child. Somebody’s sister. Somebody’s daughter. And her young life was cut short in a fairly brutal 3 manner, whether or not she was raped 4. So, we held this candlelight vigil and march. We’re very, very happy about the fact that we’ve received so much support and involvement from various individuals and organizations -- because it means that something we hope will be done. Not just for Hannah, but for other victims of violence and sexual assaults in Sierra Leone,” she said.

“她是别人的孩子，是别人的姐妹，是别人的女儿。她年轻的生命以非常残暴的方式被终止，无论她是否被强奸。所以，我们举行了这次烛光守灵和游行活动。我们很高兴得到了许多个人和组织的支持与参与——因为这意味着我们希望的事情能够实现。不仅仅是对Hannah来说，对塞拉利昂其他暴力和性侵的受害者来说都是如此。”

She said that police and civil society groups reported an increase in crime, including sexual assaults, as Ebola strained government resources. However, no official figures are available yet.

她表示，由于埃博拉疫情占用了政府资源，警方和民间团体报告犯罪事件增加。然而，目前还没有官方数据。

Spencer-Coker said, “I think it was incumbent 5 on us as citizens to put pressure on the police, on the security forces to ensure that if they need to pressure somebody else to get what they need to ensure that we, as citizens, are protected, that they do so. There have been reports of an increase of attacks on people along certain tourist attractions. The police have been responding in terms of increased checkpoints and making the public aware. But clearly more needs to be done.”

Spencer-Coker说，“我认为，作为公民，向警方，向安全力量施加压力是必要的。如果他们需要向其他人施加压力来保障我们的安全，那他们就采取行动。某些旅游景点附近发生的袭击事件也有所增加。作为回应，警察增加了检查点，并警示公众。但是很明显，还有更多工作要做。”

PowerWomen232 is calling for greater funding for the police department’s family support unit and for forensic 6 evidence kits 7 to investigate crime scenes. It also wants more and better trained police officers in Sierra Leone.

PowerWomen232呼吁增加警察局在家属支持设施和调查犯罪现场法医证据工具箱方面的资金投入。他们还希望塞拉利昂拥有更多更好经过正规训练的警察。

Spencer-Coker also said average citizens must use social media responsibly.

Spencer-Coker还表示，普通公民必须负责任地使用社交媒体。

“Social media really can be a tool for good or ill. And this is not the first time that something like this has been reported. In fact, since we started raising our voices on this particular case, people are coming forward and saying, well, this has happened and that had happened. What was most disturbing was the fact that her picture was so widely shared in social media outlets 8. And it just bothered people no end. She didn’t deserve to die the way she did and she didn’t deserve to have her picture distributed the way it was.”

“社交媒体这种工具可以用于善意，也可用于恶意。这已经不是类似的事情首次被报告。实际上，自从我们开始就该案件说出自己的看法，人们都站出来说，发生了这样的事情，发生了那样的事情。最令人困扰的是受害人的照片在社交媒体上广泛流传。这给人们带来无穷无尽的烦恼。她不应该遭遇暴力死亡，她的照片不应该以这种方式传播。”

She said Hannah Bockarie was not a street child. She had family. She had friends. The vigil was held on the eve of her 18th birthday.

她表示，Hannah Bockarie并不是街头流浪儿。她有家人，有朋友。守夜活动在她18岁生日前夜举行。