2006年VOA标准英语-Alabama Investigates 9 Church Fires

By Mike Cooper
Alabama
08 February 2006

Law enforcement officials are investigating nine fires that have occurred at rural churches in the southern state of Alabama during the past week. The fires have affected¹ both white and black Baptist churches.

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Alabama Gov. Bob Riley walks amid ruins of Ashby Baptist Church     
  

Nine churches have been burned in rural areas of Alabama during the past week. Five fires occurred early Friday morning south of Birmingham. Four more churches burned early Tuesday near the Mississippi state line. Of the nine churches burned, five were destroyed.

All of the fires have involved churches of the Baptist faith - a Protestant denomination². James Cavanaugh, a special agent in charge with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said he does not know of a motive³.

"It could be a religious bias⁴. It could be a devil-Satanic thing. It could be somebody angry at Baptist churches. It could be a number of motives⁵, and we're exploring those," he said.

More than 100 law enforcement officials from federal, state, and county agencies are investigating the fires. While all of the churches that burned on Tuesday had predominantly black congregations, four of the five churches burned last week were mostly white.

Sheriff David Abston of Pickens County, in western Alabama, said the fire that damaged Dancy First Baptist Church appeared to have been intentionally⁶ set.

"The whole thing is strange. What the motives would be, we don't know, but we're going to investigate it," he said.

Investigators⁷ are looking for two people in a sport utility vehicle seen near some of the fires. Some congregations have begun keeping overnight vigils to protect their churches.

1 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

2 denomination   

n.命名，取名，(度量衡、货币等的)单位

参考例句：

• The firm is still operating under another denomination.这家公司改用了名称仍在继续营业。
• Litre is a metric denomination.升是公制单位。

3 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

4 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

5 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

6 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

7 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》