美国国家公共电台 NPR With Trump's Border Plans, Security And Surveillance Firms Eye Bigger Profits

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

There's a whole lot of excitement at this year's Border Security Expo in San Antonio. Here's why - the White House is asking Congress for billions of dollars to fund more federal agents and many miles of a border wall. That could mean big opportunity for the vendors¹ who are peddling² their wares³ to government buyers. NPR's John Burnett has this report.

JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE⁴: The Homeland Security Department is already the largest federal law enforcement agency with the biggest budget, and it may get even bigger. With that in mind, the exhibition hall at the Border Security Expo is packed with vendors, most of them selling the latest high-tech⁵ gadgetry⁶ for surveillance and reconnaissance.

MARK TINKER: My name's Mark Tinker. I'm the CEO of Quantum Technology Sciences, and we sell unattended seismic⁷ acoustic⁸ sensors⁹.

ANDREW FINN: My name is Andrew Finn. I'm with Fraser Optics. Our core competency is handheld gyro-stabilized binoculars¹⁰.

MIKE PINE: Mike Pine, vice¹¹ president of business development for CT Defense¹². And we are here today to promote a mobile command post that's capable of housing up to 33 agents for 20 days off the grid¹³.

BURNETT: So this is like a giant cammo RV.

PINE: Exactly.

BURNETT: So you figure because there's a boom in border security under this president, it's good time to be at this expo.

PINE: Absolutely. We've got another 5,000 agents that are coming on board. The question is how well the Border Patrol deploy¹⁴ these agents to the front lines.

BURNETT: For a reality check, there are certainly bad hombres on the border. But most immigrants who cross illegally are men looking for work in a landscaping crew or Central American mothers with children in tow, asking for asylum¹⁵. Nevertheless, the vendors at the Border Security Expo are loaded for bear. Their booths bristle¹⁶ with military-style tactical gear, the latest police assault weapons, surveillance drones and a strange sci-fi-looking spotlight¹⁷ that you aim like a rifle. It's offered by a Japanese company whose spokesman is Hiro Yazawa.

And what would this do?

HIRO YAZAWA: For the border control, searching people and also this kind of blinking unit used for blinding eyes and...

BURNETT: It could temporarily blind them.

YAZAWA: Exactly, exactly, yeah.

BURNETT: By late Tuesday, the spotlight weapon - priced at $5,000 - had no customers. One of those looking to buy is Gabe Acosta, an assistant chief patrol agent in Laredo, Texas. He's looking at the coolest new law enforcement gear, and so far, his favorite...

GABE ACOSTA: Is a certain night vision optic, which allows you to see color at night versus¹⁸ your standard, you know, green type of screen that you may have. It's like day shift at night.

BURNETT: Walking around the exhibit hall, you realize this is not a conference for wall builders. In fact, Trump's big beautiful wall is not especially popular at the Border Security Expo. Jay Ahern, former acting¹⁹ customs commissioner²⁰, called it, quote, "dumb, physical infrastructure²¹" during his panel at the expo.

JAY AHERN: While the wall gets a lot of play publicly, I think the technology piece will be critically important.

BURNETT: Far from San Antonio, dozens of contractors²² are designing prototypes of a border wall, ranging from 18 to 30 feet high. But here at the Security Expo, current and former Homeland Security officials are looking for a smart border that may depend more on computer screens than steel and concrete. John Burnett, NPR News, San Antonio.

1 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 peddling   

忙于琐事的，无关紧要的

参考例句：

• He worked as a door-to-door salesman peddling cloths and brushes. 他的工作是上门推销抹布和刷子。
• "If he doesn't like peddling, why doesn't he practice law? "要是他不高兴卖柴火，干吗不当律师呢？

3 wares   

n. 货物, 商品

参考例句：

• They sold their wares at half-price. 他们的货品是半价出售的。
• The peddler was crying up his wares. 小贩极力夸耀自己的货物。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

6 gadgetry   

n.小机械，小器具

参考例句：

• His desk is covered with electronic gadgetry. 他的书桌上摆满了各种电子装置。
• Then why not just take back all your fancy gadgetry? 那你怎么不把这堆玩意给我撤了？ 来自电影对白

7 seismic   

a.地震的，地震强度的

参考例句：

• Earthquakes produce two types of seismic waves.地震产生两种地震波。
• The latest seismic activity was also felt in northern Kenya.肯尼亚北部也感觉到了最近的地震活动。

8 acoustic   

adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的

参考例句：

• The hall has a fine acoustic.这个大厅的传音效果很好。
• Animals use a whole rang of acoustic, visual,and chemical signals in their systems of communication.动物利用各种各样的听觉、视觉和化学信号来进行交流。

9 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

10 binoculars   

n.双筒望远镜

参考例句：

• He watched the play through his binoculars.他用双筒望远镜看戏。
• If I had binoculars,I could see that comet clearly.如果我有望远镜，我就可以清楚地看见那颗彗星。

11 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。

12 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

13 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

14 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

15 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

16 bristle   

v.（毛发）直立，气势汹汹，发怒；n.硬毛发

参考例句：

• It has a short stumpy tail covered with bristles.它粗短的尾巴上鬃毛浓密。
• He bristled with indignation at the suggestion that he was racist.有人暗示他是个种族主义者，他对此十分恼火。

17 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

18 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

19 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

20 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

21 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

22 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》