2007年VOA标准英语-Foreign Teacher Fined for Public Indecency in S

By Selah Hennessy
Dakar
30 August 2007

A 19-year old Irish man has been fined about $300 in Senegal after being found guilty of public indecency.  He was also given a four-month suspended sentence.  The foreign volunteer worker, who was released from jail last Friday, spent four weeks in jail awaiting a final verdict.  Selah Hennessy visited him in Saint-Louis, Senegal, and has this report.

Covered in beetle¹ bites and looking dirty and exhausted², Patrick Devine said he could not believe he had been holed up in jail, waiting for sentencing, for such a long time.

Hunched³ against a wall in the jail courtyard he said he was sharing his cell with 40 men and sleeping most nights on a cold cement floor.

He said Senegal's slow judicial⁴ system meant that he was being punished excessively for what seemed to him like a minor⁵ offense⁶.

Devine was in Senegal volunteering as a teacher and aid worker with the "Teaching and Projects Abroad program."  He had spent two months teaching Senegalese kids and taking care of hundreds of beggar children, or talibe, who swarm⁷ the city's streets.

He was thrown in jail after dropping his pants outside a local government building.  He said the prank⁸ was part of a string of dares he and other volunteers were playing.

But a resident saw him in the act and brought a policeman to the scene.  He was arrested with a Canadian girl who had been taking his picture, but she was let go within days.

A Senegalese lawyer and human rights activist⁹ based in London, Ibrahima Kane, says public acts of indecency are always treated very seriously in Senegal.

"People believe that it is really important in the public arena¹⁰ that people behave in a certain way," he said.  "You can do what you want in your private life, but in the public arena it is really difficult for the state and for the community to accept this type of attitude."

He says visitors to foreign countries must understand and respect local customs or they will be faced with the law.

He says Devine was unlucky to have committed the offense during Senegal's hot months of July and August, because the legal process then moves even slower than usual.

"In Senegal even in the normal period to get the bail¹¹ takes a lot of time and sometimes people can even stay in jail for six months maximum, that is what the law says, six months maximum without being given bail," he explained.

While in jail, Devine said all he wanted was to get back to Ireland to be with his girlfriend.  He now has that possibility, as well as plans to go to university in Belfast.

1 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。

2 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

3 hunched   

（常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的

参考例句：

• He sat with his shoulders hunched up. 他耸起双肩坐着。
• Stephen hunched down to light a cigarette. 斯蒂芬弓着身子点燃一支烟。

4 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

5 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

6 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

7 swarm   

n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入

参考例句：

• There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
• A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。

8 prank   

n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己

参考例句：

• It was thought that the fire alarm had been set off as a prank.人们认为火警报警器响是个恶作剧。
• The dean was ranking the boys for pulling the prank.系主任正在惩罚那些恶作剧的男学生。

9 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

10 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

11 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。