VOA慢速英语2015 巴尔的摩警员因黑人死亡被指控

Baltimore Police Officers Charged in Death of Black Man 巴尔的摩警员因黑人死亡被指控

The chief prosecutor¹ in the eastern U.S. city of Baltimore, Maryland has announced charges against six police officers in the case of the death of a 25-year-old black man. Freddie Gray died in the hospital April 19th, a week after he was arrested. 

On Friday, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said there is probable cause to bring criminal charges against the officers involved in the arrest. She said the state medical examiner’s office had ruled that Mr. Gray’s death was a homicide. Also on Friday, that office said it had sent its report on the examination of Mr. Gray’s body -- called an autopsy² -- to the state’s attorney.

Ms. Mosby said Mr. Gray received a severe neck injury while being transported in a police vehicle after his arrest. She said he was not secured in the vehicle as he should have been. Earlier in the week, police admitted that Mr. Gray had not been secured in the van, an action that violates the department’s rules.

Ms. Mosby also said officers did not seek medical assistance although Mr. Gray said he needed it. And she said the knife found on Mr. Gray was legal for him to be carrying. The Baltimore Sun newspaper reports she told Mr. Gray’s family that “no one is above the law.” It also said Ms. Mosby believes Mr. Gray was “improperly arrested” because police had no legal reason to detain him.

Charges against the officers include involuntary manslaughter, assault, misconduct and false imprisonment³. The driver of the police vehicle faces second-degree murder and five other charges.

Police gave their report on the case to the state’s attorney’s office on Thursday. That was one day earlier than the time limit police had set. The findings of the internal investigation⁴ have not been made public.

Officials, citizen groups and others continue to work to restore calm to the city. For now, people are not permitted to be outside from 10 o’clock at night to five o’clock in the morning. Officials say this curfew will likely last a few more days. The streets have been mostly empty during the curfew, and the city has been mostly calm since the riots on Monday.

Thousands of members of the Maryland National Guard, and police from Baltimore, the state of Maryland and other areas are patrolling the streets during the day and at night.

The case of Freddie Gray in Baltimore has influenced demonstrations⁵ in other parts of the country, including Boston, Cincinnati, New York, Washington and Philadelphia. Activists⁶ demonstrating in support of labor⁷ and immigrant rights on May 1 have added tensions with police to their message.

Calls for returning order to Baltimore

Many people have condemned⁸ the actions of those who rioted on Monday. But they say that in addition to returning order to the city, officials must deal with the reasons people are angry with police.

Gerald Miller⁹ lives in Baltimore.

“Baltimore will recover. I think we will recover. Sure, sure, but it’s gonna to take, you know, people getting involved, getting in the trenches¹¹ not just in behind, you know a lectern, or when the camera’s on, or whatever, you gotta get down here in it with the people. This is where the people are. This is where they're hurtin’.”

Cynthia Green also lives in the city.

“My heart is heavy for the, the people of Baltimore, for this community, and all the other communities. And I’m sad for the young people that got up caught up in all of this.”

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is the mayor of Baltimore. She spoke¹² to residents on Tuesday, after the rioting.

“We saw people coming together to reclaim¹³ our city, to clean our city and to help heal our city. I think this can be our defining moment and not the darkest days that we saw yesterday.”

People had gathered peacefully for days demanding to know why Mr. Gray died. The violence began after the funeral for Mr. Gray on Monday. Police say members of criminal groups joined the protestors. They say they did not expect that would happen.

Officer Eric Kowalczyk is a spokesman for the Baltimore police. On Tuesday, he told reporters that police were expecting most of those who would gather after the funeral would be students.

“When we deployed¹⁵ our officers yesterday, we were deploying¹⁶ for a high school event. I don’t think that there is anyone in the country that would expect us to deploy¹⁴ automatic weapons and armored vehicles to an event with 13, 14- and 15-year-olds.”

After the violence on Monday, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency. He moved his office and his top aides to the city.

After the rioting, President Barack Obama said police cannot solve the problems in Baltimore by themselves.

“We can’t just leave it to the police. I think there are police departments that have to do some soul searching. I think there are some communities that have to do some soul searching. But I think we as a country have to do some soul searching.”

The president said rioting is not the same as protesting. And he said those who caused destruction must be punished.

Later the president said it is important that the truth comes out about what happened to Mr. Gray. He also noted¹⁷ that the individuals who are charged should receive fair treatment. Mr. Obama said the Justice Department and new U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch are communicating with Baltimore officials to offer help if needed.

Many of the protesters say they are angry about what they believe is continuing poor treatment of blacks by the police and what they say is the unwillingness¹⁸ of city officials to do anything about it. And they say there is little economic power in black neighborhoods. They say that has been a problem for many years.

Words In the News

curfew – n. an order or law that requires people to be indoors after a certain time at night

in the trenches – idiom a popular phrase that comes from trench¹⁰ warfare¹⁹ in World War I; it refers to being involved in the “real world,” as opposed to just thinking about, talking about or writing about taking action

lectern – n. a stand that holds a book or notes for someone who is reading, speaking or teaching

caught up in – idiom deeply involved with something; participating actively or closely in something

soul searching – idiom the activity of thinking seriously about your feelings and beliefs in order to make a decision or to understand the reasons for your own behavior

1 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

2 autopsy   

n.尸体解剖；尸检

参考例句：

• They're carrying out an autopsy on the victim.他们正在给受害者验尸。
• A hemorrhagic gut was the predominant lesion at autopsy.尸检的主要发现是肠出血。

3 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

6 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

8 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。

9 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

10 trench   

n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕

参考例句：

• The soldiers recaptured their trench.兵士夺回了战壕。
• The troops received orders to trench the outpost.部队接到命令在前哨周围筑壕加强防卫。

11 trenches   

深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕

参考例句：

• life in the trenches 第一次世界大战期间的战壕生活
• The troops stormed the enemy's trenches and fanned out across the fields. 部队猛攻敌人的战壕，并在田野上呈扇形散开。

12 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

13 reclaim   

v.要求归还，收回；开垦

参考例句：

• I have tried to reclaim my money without success.我没能把钱取回来。
• You must present this ticket when you reclaim your luggage.当你要取回行李时，必须出示这张票子。

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 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

16 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

17 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

18 unwillingness   

n. 不愿意，不情愿

参考例句：

• Her unwillingness to answer questions undermined the strength of her position. 她不愿回答问题，这不利于她所处的形势。
• His apparent unwillingness would disappear if we paid him enough. 如果我们付足了钱，他露出的那副不乐意的神情就会消失。

19 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。