365个英语简短小故事-105. The US Senator

A Republican US senator, Lance Dreyer, held a press conference yesterday. He thanked the media for showing up, and then protested that he was not gay and had never been gay. He said he had never been involved in any way with a man. He said that he had hired a lawyer to help him defend his good name. Furthermore, Dreyer said, he had no plans of resigning. Then, instead of allowing the two dozen media members, including TV and radio reporters, to ask questions, he simply got in his car and left. His remarks made headlines on all the local and national TV shows.

In June, Dreyer had been arrested in an airport rest room by a plain-clothes detective. Because of complaints from the public that gay men had been having sex in the rest room, the city’s vice¹ squad² went into action. The detective, Thad Grey, would sit in a stall and wait for men to suggest having sex with him.

Dreyer entered the rest room and sat in the stall just to the left of the detective. Dreyer’s right foot edged closer and closer to Grey’s stall. When his foot was under the divider, he started tapping his foot. Tap-tap-tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap. Grey repeated the seven taps in the same pattern. Then Dreyer tapped with his knuckle³ on the dividing wall. Tap-tap. Tap-tap. Grey repeated the signal. Then Dreyer put his right hand under the dividing wall and gave the thumbs-up signal. Grey gave the same signal back, and then walked into Dreyer’s stall and arrested him for soliciting⁴ sex in a public facility.

Dreyer pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of “disorderly conduct.” He denied that his actions were signals for sex. He said that he was merely signaling that he had no toilet paper in his stall.

 

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

3 knuckle   

n.指节；vi.开始努力工作；屈服，认输

参考例句：

• They refused to knuckle under to any pressure.他们拒不屈从任何压力。
• You'll really have to knuckle down if you want to pass the examination.如果想通过考试，你确实应专心学习。

4 soliciting   

v.恳求( solicit的现在分词 )；（指娼妇）拉客；索求；征求

参考例句：

• A prostitute was soliciting on the street. 一名妓女正在街上拉客。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• China Daily is soliciting subscriptions. 《中国日报》正在征求订户。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》