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英语口语教程(Oral Workshop)--中级 Lesson 17

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Lesson 17

 Juvenile1 Delinquency

 Text A

 Jennifer got off the bus from the university and began walking towards the flat she shared with two other students. On her way she had to buy some food and stopped in one of the shops in the street. It was run by an Asian family, and although the prices there were a little higher than in the big supermarket further down the street, she did a lot of her shopping there. The vegetables were fresher and they had various things she couldn't get elsewhere. Mr Patel, the owner of the shop, was checking through a list, but smiled, as he always did, when he saw her come in.

 She picked up a wire basket and walked towards the back of the shop, where the rice was kept: The shop was divided by three long aisles3, with rows of shelves crammed4 with all sorts of things. Except for her and Mr Patel , there were only two other people there. They were two teenage boys, and they were standing5 at the end of one of the aisles. 

She glanced at them as she passed. They were both wearing long, old-fashioned overcoats and they looked rather ridiculous in them because the coats were too big. But such things were popular with some teenagers at the time. 'Watch out, stupid,' she heard one of them whisper to the other. She walked on to the next aisle2 and found the rice she was looking for.

 Then she heard something else. It sounded like a tin dropping on the floor. She peered through a gap in the shelf and caught a glimpse of one. of the boys bending down. She saw him pick up a tin of food. But instead of putting it in the shopping basket, he dropped it into the inside pocket of his long overcoat. Jennifer glanced back down the aisle. She could see Mr Patel at the cash till, still checking through his list.

 Then she looked through the gap in the shelf again. The boys still had their backs to her. 'Come on, let's get out of here,' she heard one of them say. At the same time, she saw one of them put another tin in his overcoat pocket. They moved away from her. She could no longer see what they were doing or hear what they were saymg.

 When she got to the till, the two boys were in front of her. She watched them pay for the few things they had in the basket. They had both buttoned their coats and fastened them with their belts. Mr Patel did not seem suspicious at all. He even smiled at them as they were about to leave. 

Jennifer opened her mouth to say something.

 Text B

 The only crime I have ever been connected with was unsuccessful. One summer night I went to bed, leaving my bedroom door open because it was very hot. During the night I was woken up by the sound of a match being struck. For a moment I thought it must be the friend I lived with, but then I remembered he was away. 

I felt certain there was someone in the room. I saw the outline of a man standing near the door. I was almost certain the man was a burglar. Without thinking what I was doing, I shouted loudly and. jumped out of bed to catch the man. As I ran across the garden, I suddenly realized I was doing something very foolish. The burglar I was chasing might be carrying a knife. I went straight back into the house and locked all the doors to protect myself.

 This was a very small crime which did not succeed, but crime is a serious problem in Britain. One sort of crime which particularly worries people is juvenile delinquency-that is, crimes committed by young people. For some years, juvenile delinquency has been increasing. There are two main sorts of juvenile crime : stealing and violence. Most people do not understand why young people commit these crimes. There are , I think, a large number of different reasons.

 These crimes are not usually committed by people who are poor or in needl. Young people often dislike and resent the adult world. They will do things to show that they are rebels. Also in Britain today it is easier far young people to commit crimes because they have more freedom to go where they like and more money to do what they like.

 There are two other possible causes which are worth mentioning. More and more people in Britain live in large towns. In a large town no one knows who anyone else is or where they live. But in the village I come from crimes are rare because everybody knows everyone else.

 Although it is diffcult to explain, I think the last cause is very important. Perhaps there is something wrong with our society which encourages violence and crime. It is a fact that all the time children are exposed to films and reports about crime and violence. Many people do nat agree that this influences young people, but I think that young people are very much influenced by the society they grow up in. I feel that the fault may be as tnuch with our whole society as with these young people.

 Additional Information

 It's just before school starts, when they check the pupils for guns. By now, the 1,600 students at Chester High School in Philadelphia have got used to it.

 One by one, they go through a metal detector6 gate, like the ones at an airport, at the main entrance to their school. The beeper alarm is constantly going off, indicating some metal object in the pupil's pockets. Mostly, it is a key, or coins.

 Such searches-in some schools a regular routine , in others , a spotcheck- are part of the attempt of school authorities in the United States to keep students from bringing into the classroom their knives, revolvers and machine-guns.

 The metal detector checks have already become commonplace in schools in Philadelphia, Detroit, and New York. A school in Fairfax, on the outskirts7 of Washington, D. C. , will soon begin them.

 School administrators8 decided9 that something finally had to be done after the various shootouts and discoveries of weapons in schools around the country had made headlines for weeks running.

 On January 26, at Woodrow Wilson School in Washington, a teenager shot and wounded four others in a fight over a place to sit in the school cafeteria.

 On February 9, teachers confiscated10 a semi-automatic pistol from two 13-year-olds at a school in the Washington suburb of Silver Spring after they had threatened other students with the weapon. Six days later, a student at Kramer High School in Washington threatened a schoolmate with a sawedoff shotgun. Asked why he did it, the youngster said the other had "stared so stupidly" at him.

 The list of such incidents goes on and,on, and in some cases, they are fatall.

 According to the California-based " National School Safety Centre " (NSSC) in a recent report, there were 360,000 violent incidents in American schools in 1986, the last year for which statistics are available. The incidents ranged from fistfights to shootouts, and 70,000 weapons were confiscated, including 1 , 700 pistols and rifles.

 Since then , says Ronald Stephens , the director of NSSC , the number of incidents involving guns in schools has risen considerably11.Teachers and security experts have a hard time explaining why teenagers want to bring lethal12 weapons with them to school.

 "Some want to impress their schoolmates," believes Stephens."They feel that a gun is a symbol of power and control.Others have a feeling that they need weapons to protectthemselves."

 School authorities see the rise in weapons and violence above all as being connected to drugs in American high schools. Armed youth gangs divide up the drug trade turf among themselves. According to the NSSC , the older gang members use the younger newcomers as "weapons depots13".

 Lyn Siper of the National Crime Prevention Council in Washington believes that youths during their puberty lean towards fighting out their conflicts instead of talking about them. Such drugs as cocaine14 and crack add to their emotional disturbance15.

 Siper and Stephens agree that the general level of violence on the streets of big American cities, and the unimpeded access to guns, play a role. America's citizens possess a total of 120 million firearms. Many of the revolvers and rifles which authorities confiscated in the schools had been legally acquired and registered by the students' parents.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 juvenile OkEy2     
n.青少年,少年读物;adj.青少年的,幼稚的
参考例句:
  • For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人,他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
  • Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。
2 aisle qxPz3     
n.(教堂、教室、戏院等里的)过道,通道
参考例句:
  • The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
  • The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。
3 aisles aisles     
n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊
参考例句:
  • Aisles were added to the original Saxon building in the Norman period. 在诺曼时期,原来的萨克森风格的建筑物都增添了走廊。
  • They walked about the Abbey aisles, and presently sat down. 他们走到大教堂的走廊附近,并且很快就坐了下来。
4 crammed e1bc42dc0400ef06f7a53f27695395ce     
adj.塞满的,挤满的;大口地吃;快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满;填入;临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)
参考例句:
  • He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
  • All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。
5 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
6 detector svnxk     
n.发觉者,探测器
参考例句:
  • The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
  • Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。
7 outskirts gmDz7W     
n.郊外,郊区
参考例句:
  • Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
  • They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。
8 administrators d04952b3df94d47c04fc2dc28396a62d     
n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 );有管理(或行政)才能的人;(由遗嘱检验法庭指定的)遗产管理人;奉派暂管主教教区的牧师
参考例句:
  • He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员,但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
  • Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城
9 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
10 confiscated b8af45cb6ba964fa52504a6126c35855     
没收,充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Their land was confiscated after the war. 他们的土地在战后被没收。
  • The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。
11 considerably 0YWyQ     
adv.极大地;相当大地;在很大程度上
参考例句:
  • The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
  • The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。
12 lethal D3LyB     
adj.致死的;毁灭性的
参考例句:
  • A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
  • She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。
13 depots 94513a1433eb89e870b48abe4ad940c2     
仓库( depot的名词复数 ); 火车站; 车库; 军需库
参考例句:
  • Public transportation termini and depots are important infrastructures for a city. 公交场站设施是城市重要的基础设施。
  • In the coastal cities are equipped with after-sales service and depots. 在各沿海城市均设有服务部及售后维修站。
14 cocaine VbYy4     
n.可卡因,古柯碱(用作局部麻醉剂)
参考例句:
  • That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
  • Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。
15 disturbance BsNxk     
n.动乱,骚动;打扰,干扰;(身心)失调
参考例句:
  • He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
  • You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。
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