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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
PorcFest and the Free State Project
Anarchists1 get organised
The plot to liberate2 New Hampshire
A YOUNG man in a leather loincloth saunters past a woman dressed like Alice in Wonderland.
The tang of pot wafts3 through the air, and a small remote-operated drone buzzes overhead
(“Bought it in China,” says the proud owner; “I'd use it to follow chicks,” marvels4 one chap).
Guns are everywhere; Bitcoin is the currency of choice.
The Porcupine5 Freedom Festival, which ended on June 29th,
saw more than 1,500 libertarians and anarchists descend6 on Lancaster, New Hampshire.
The event's mascot7 is a porcupine, which, though well-armed, only causes pain when attacked.
New Hampshire is a natural stamping-ground for freedom-lovers.
It has low taxes, lean bureaucracy and some of the loosest gun laws in America.
Grown-ups can ride around without seat-belts or motorcycle helmets.
The right to rebel when public liberty is “manifestly endangered” is enshrined in the state constitution.
This is why it was chosen as the site for the Free State Project (FSP),
which aims to lure8 at least 20,000 like-minded people to this small state (population 1.3m) and make it even more “liberty-loving”.
Since 2002 nearly 16,000 have pledged to come and help slash9 state and local budgets,
limit government meddling10 and legalise choices that do not harm others, such as drugs, gay marriage and maybe prostitution.
It will be a “Yankee Hong Kong”, says Carla Gericke, FSP's president.
“The one place in America that is economically free, like a beacon11 to the rest of the country—or even the world.”
More than 1,600 “Free Staters” have already made New Hampshire their home.
They are beginning to have an effect.
In 2012 the Granite12 State became the first to allow lawyers to tell juries they may acquit13 a defendant14 if they believe the law is unfair.
In 2011 the state stripped away much of the red tape that kept home brewers from selling their wares15, spawning16 a boom of “nanobreweries”.
And in January the state House was the first legislative17 body in the country to vote to legalise marijuana for recreational use,
although lawmakers backed down when Governor Maggie Hassan, a Democrat18, proved reluctant.
Some locals feel that the anti-government agitators19 have gone too far.
A group in the small town of Keene tops up parking meters that have run out to stop traffic officers from issuing penalty tickets.
The traffic officers complain that activists20 sometimes harass21 them; a charge the activists deny.
Other protesters are accused of provoking cops into arresting them so they can film the resulting altercation22.
An anti-libertarian group called “Stop Free Keene” grumbles23 about the public pot-smoking and rude street art that the newcomers bring.
In the jovial24 atmosphere of PorcFest, where idealists bond over their shared mistrust of rules and big institutions,
the prospect25 of a future New Hampshire that can do without such things seems far-fetched.
Tech geeks (who still dominate the Free State movement) enjoy home-made “bananarchy” ice cream while prattling26 on about the power of crypto-currencies.
“Bitcoin can topple governments and end war,” gushes27 one fan.
Others are more realistic. “I'm an incrementalist,” explains Jason Sorens,
the subdued28 intellectual who dreamed up the Free State Project while he was getting his PhD from Yale.
Now a lecturer at Dartmouth College in Hanover,
he is eager to use New Hampshire to test libertarian theories about enlightened self-interest and reciprocal altruism29, small government and large networks of voluntary institutions.
“We don't have all the answers,” he says, “but it's worth the experiment.”
1 anarchists | |
无政府主义者( anarchist的名词复数 ) | |
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2 liberate | |
v.解放,使获得自由,释出,放出;vt.解放,使获自由 | |
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3 wafts | |
n.空中飘来的气味,一阵气味( waft的名词复数 );摇转风扇v.吹送,飘送,(使)浮动( waft的第三人称单数 ) | |
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4 marvels | |
n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 );令人惊奇的事物(或事例);不平凡的成果;成就v.惊奇,对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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5 porcupine | |
n.豪猪, 箭猪 | |
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6 descend | |
vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
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7 mascot | |
n.福神,吉祥的东西 | |
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8 lure | |
n.吸引人的东西,诱惑物;vt.引诱,吸引 | |
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9 slash | |
vi.大幅度削减;vt.猛砍,尖锐抨击,大幅减少;n.猛砍,斜线,长切口,衣衩 | |
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10 meddling | |
v.干涉,干预(他人事务)( meddle的现在分词 ) | |
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11 beacon | |
n.烽火,(警告用的)闪火灯,灯塔 | |
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12 granite | |
adj.花岗岩,花岗石 | |
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13 acquit | |
vt.宣判无罪;(oneself)使(自己)表现出 | |
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14 defendant | |
n.被告;adj.处于被告地位的 | |
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15 wares | |
n. 货物, 商品 | |
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16 spawning | |
产卵 | |
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17 legislative | |
n.立法机构,立法权;adj.立法的,有立法权的 | |
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18 democrat | |
n.民主主义者,民主人士;民主党党员 | |
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19 agitators | |
n.(尤指政治变革的)鼓动者( agitator的名词复数 );煽动者;搅拌器;搅拌机 | |
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20 activists | |
n.(政治活动的)积极分子,活动家( activist的名词复数 ) | |
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21 harass | |
vt.使烦恼,折磨,骚扰 | |
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22 altercation | |
n.争吵,争论 | |
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23 grumbles | |
抱怨( grumble的第三人称单数 ); 发牢骚; 咕哝; 发哼声 | |
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24 jovial | |
adj.快乐的,好交际的 | |
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25 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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26 prattling | |
v.(小孩般)天真无邪地说话( prattle的现在分词 );发出连续而无意义的声音;闲扯;东拉西扯 | |
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27 gushes | |
n.涌出,迸发( gush的名词复数 )v.喷,涌( gush的第三人称单数 );滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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28 subdued | |
adj. 屈服的,柔和的,减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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29 altruism | |
n.利他主义,不自私 | |
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