2006年VOA标准英语-US Capitol Office Building Re-Opens After False

By Dan Robinson
Washington
26 May 2006

Police and emergency vehicles outside of Rayburn builiding   
  
A congressional office building near the U.S. Capitol was shut down for several hours Friday, as police investigated a report of shots being fired.

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At about 10:30 Friday morning, Capitol Police issued a "shelter-in-place" order for the Rayburn House Office Building, just across the street from the U.S. Capitol.

That instructs anyone inside to move to the nearest interior office space and away from windows, and remain there until further instructions.

At the time of the warning, Congressman¹ Pete Hoekstra was overseeing a hearing of the House Intelligence Committee. "I'd ask all members please, to stay in the room. There are reports of gunfire in the building," he said.

 
Capitol Hill police officer holds press conference to explain what happened, Friday
  
"Right now we want to err² on the side of caution," said Sergeant³ Kimberly Schneider of the Capitol Police.

Throughout the afternoon, the building remained locked down as police and special operations teams carried out a door to door and floor by floor search.

Across the street, the U.S. Capitol Building itself was also briefly⁴ locked down, but re-opened a short time later.

Nearly five hours after the incident began, Capitol Police announced that their search had ended and the Rayburn building was again open for business.

Police attribute the initial report of gunfire heard to noise made by construction workers.

The U.S. Capitol and surrounding buildings have been the scene of numerous security alerts in recent years, some attributed to suspicious packages or substances, others to aircraft straying into restricted airspace over Washington, D.C.

Security has intensified⁵ dramatically since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, and Capitol police routinely respond with maximum vigilance to potential threats.

In 1998, two Capitol police officers were killed by a man with a history of mental illness.

1 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

2 err   

vi.犯错误，出差错

参考例句：

• He did not err by a hair's breadth in his calculation.他的计算结果一丝不差。
• The arrows err not from their aim.箭无虚发。

3 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

4 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

5 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》