原版英语小短文 181. Thieves Take Paintings

      The thieves used a ladder, a flashlight, and a knife. And they were lucky. They broke into a famous museum. All they had to do was to break a window. They left half an hour later. They left with five paintings worth $200 million. The thieves cut the paintings out of their frames. "They knew what they were doing," said a museum spokesman. But how did they do it so easily? Where was security? Where was the alarm? Where was the camera? One security guard was stationed in that part of the museum. He was asleep during the robbery. He was fired. The security alarm was broken. The museum was waiting for a replacement¹ part. The thieves wore ski masks. The police are studying the videotape for clues to identify the two thieves. The broken window had no steel bars because it was on a busy street, said the spokesman. 

1 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。