VOA标准英语2013--退休牧师反对死刑

 

Retired¹ Chaplain Campaigns Against Death Penalty 退休牧师反对死刑

HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS — A number of U.S. states have taken steps to limit  the death penalty over fears that innocent people may have already been  executed. But not Texas, which has put to death more than 500 people  since capital punishment was reinstated there in 1982. The former  chaplain of the Huntsville state prison, the busiest execution chamber²  in the country, has some strong thoughts on the situation.

“Okay, nobody’s been in here before, but this is part of the tapes,”  said Reverend Carroll Pickett.

There are ghosts in Pickett’s closet. Ninety-five to be exact.

That’s the number of inmates⁵ put to death while he was chaplain at the  Texas state execution chamber in Huntsville.

“I made the tapes the next day, or the next night, to get it all out, ” he said. “He admitted he was nervous, and it showed in many ways  that he was scared.”

Change of heart

Pickett keeps a scrapbook of the 1974 prison siege that killed two  employees who belonged to his church. He was a Presbyterian minister  and was already a prison chaplain when Texas reinstated executions in  1982. He favored the death penalty until execution number 33, Carlos  DeLuna.

“He had big eyes. Big brown eyes. He was innocent. I knew he was  innocent. I knew by talking to him and listening to him,” said  Pickett.

DeLuna was convicted for the fatal stabbing of a gas station attendant.

But Pickett believes it was a case of mistaken identity. And while he  promised DeLuna his death would be painless, it was far from that.  

“It was horrible. I couldn’t sleep for days and days,” he said.

Pickett came out against the death penalty after retiring in 1995. He  is now a powerful voice in the movement to abolish it.

Protesters, like Gloria Rubac and relatives of a convict being put to  death here, wait outside the Huntsville death house where Pickett  worked.

The clock shows the wrong time, but inside, the execution is being  carried out like clockwork.

This video provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows  the execution chamber where a condemned⁶ inmate⁴ is strapped⁷ down. At 6  p.m., if there's no last-minute injunction, a lethal⁸ injection is  administered.

Petitioning for change

There were massive protests right here in front of the death house,  back when Pickett attended his first execution. Now the death of number  505 Arturo Diaz draws only a committed core of anti-death penalty  activists, including a group from a local Catholic church.

“When we execute, we take away the possibility of redemption," said  Kelly Epstein, a Catholic protester.

The Rev³. Fred Valone of St. Thomas Catholic Church believes change is  coming.

“Well you know I think, state by state, people are realizing that the  death penalty is against our moral fiber,” he said.

But not Texas Governor Rick Perry. He supports the death penalty and  says Texas has never executed an innocent person.

Pickett disagrees. “I was a witness to a murder in the name of the  state.”

“The family has just come out of the death house and Texas has another  notch on their belt,” said one woman, talking on her mobile phone.

After it’s over, everyone goes home. This is a town, however, that's  defined by what just happened.

A local restaurant sells what it calls a Killer⁹ Burger.

And across town, at the prison museum, the implements¹⁰ of death are on  display.  

Huntsville resident Richie Harris said he’s familiar with the moral  arguments against capital punishment.

“I agree that ‘who are we to judge’ and I understand that. But it’s  also important to understand that if you kill a man, and it’s proven  that you have killed him, he deserves the death sentence in the state  of Texas,” said Harris.

Harris and his family are a few blocks from the death house. They came  to see a high school parade.

It has only been about an hour since the execution, and this could be  virtually any town in America - if it weren’t its death penalty  capital. 

1 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

2 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

3 rev   

v.发动机旋转，加快速度

参考例句：

• It's his job to rev up the audience before the show starts.他要负责在表演开始前鼓动观众的热情。
• Don't rev the engine so hard.别让发动机转得太快。

4 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

5 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

7 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

9 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

10 implements   

n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• Primitive man hunted wild animals with crude stone implements. 原始社会的人用粗糙的石器猎取野兽。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They ordered quantities of farm implements. 他们订购了大量农具。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》