2007年VOA标准英语-Indian Police Under Fire as Bodies of 17 Poor A

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
07 January 2007

 
Activists of leftist women organizations protest killing¹ of innocent children in Noida, India, 6 Jan 2006
The bodies of 17 women and children who disappeared over the last two years have been discovered in a house in an upscale suburb of the Indian capital. As Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi, the case has triggered public outrage² at the failure of police to investigate the disappearances³.

The gruesome crime came to light over the New Year weekend, when police found the skeletal remains⁴ of 17 people outside a businessman's home in a posh suburban⁵ town on the outskirts⁶ of New Delhi.

The police believe the victims were lured⁷ into the businessman's home by his servant with the promise of sweets, then sexually assaulted and killed. Their dismembered bodies were later stuffed into sacks and dumped into drains.

The businessman and his servant have been arrested and charged with kidnapping, raping⁸ and murdering the victims, some of who were as young as five years old.

The dead were mostly children of the poor migrant workers who live in huts and shanties⁹ just half a kilometer from the booming town. They had disappeared over the last two years, but their relatives say the police refused to investigate the cases.

Furious residents say police only took action after people found body parts and clothes in a drain behind the businessman's house. An outraged¹⁰ public is accusing the police of failing to act because the victims and their families were poor.

The head of the Bureau of Police Research and Development, Kiran Bedi, says a badly funded police force does tend to ignore the problems of the poor.

"People on the margins¹¹ actually do not get the attention," she said. "They do not have the power of money or influence, and they do get left out. And whatever resources by the way the police has, because it has got grossly inadequate¹² resources, they go to V.I.P. security, to law and order, and to more high-profile cases and heinous¹³ crimes. So preventive policing is a big, big casualty, and so are the poorer sections of 
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and lawmaker Brinda Karat, second right, comforts the relatives of children who were killed in Noida, 6 Jan 2007
society."

Grieving parents say the police refused to follow up on reports of the disappearances, even though one young boy or girl from the shanties would go missing every few weeks. They say a total of 30 children have disappeared, but instead of investigating, the police scolded the parents for failing to take care of their children.

Their grief has now boiled over into anger. The families have thrown stones at the police, and rioted outside the businessman's house.

Their anguish¹⁴ has finally prompted some action. Six officers have been fired for failing to act on the reports of missing children, and the federal government has ordered an investigation¹⁵ into the police handling of the incident.

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• 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。

3 disappearances   

n.消失( disappearance的名词复数 )；丢失；失踪；失踪案

参考例句：

• Most disappearances are the result of the terrorist activity. 大多数的失踪案都是恐怖分子造成的。 来自辞典例句
• The espionage, the betrayals, the arrests, the tortures, the executions, the disappearances will never cease. 间谍活动、叛党卖国、逮捕拷打、处决灭迹，这种事情永远不会完。 来自英汉文学

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

6 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

7 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

8 raping   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的现在分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• In response, Charles VI sent a punitive expedition to Brittany, raping and killing the populace. 作为报复，查理六世派军讨伐布列塔尼，奸淫杀戮平民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The conquerors marched on, burning, killing, raping and plundering as they went. 征服者所到之处烧杀奸掠，无所不做。 来自互联网

9 shanties   

n.简陋的小木屋( shanty的名词复数 )；铁皮棚屋；船工号子；船歌

参考例句：

• A few shanties sprawl in the weeds. 杂草丛中零零落落地歪着几所棚屋。 来自辞典例句
• The workers live in shanties outside the factory. 工人们住在工厂外面的小棚屋内。 来自互联网

10 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

11 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

12 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

13 heinous   

adj.可憎的，十恶不赦的

参考例句：

• They admitted to the most heinous crimes.他们承认了极其恶劣的罪行。
• I do not want to meet that heinous person.我不想见那个十恶不赦的人。

14 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

15 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。