365个英语简短小故事-78. Man's Best Friend

A professional football player was charged by government prosecutors¹ with breeding dogs to fight, providing the site for the dog fights, gambling² on the dog fights, and killing³ dogs that were not good fighters. The quarterback, Roger Cheney, at first denied everything. He told the media that he hoped his mother would not hear about any of this and, if she did, she knew him well enough not to believe any of the charges.

Unfortunately, all the people that worked for him immediately confessed everything, hoping for reduced sentences. They all pointed⁴ a finger at the quarterback.

The media interviewed Cheney’s father, who said that he had told his boy that dog-fighting was evil and he should stop it. His son told him that it was only some dogs—it wasn’t like he was destroying lions or elephants. “He told me that humane⁵ societies destroy thousands of dogs a month, so what was the big deal,” Cheney’s dad said.

Two weeks after the initial charges were made, Cheney agreed to plead guilty to several reduced charges, including animal cruelty. He could be sentenced to five years in jail. Across the nation, football fans and animal fans were equally outraged⁶ at his admission. “Athletes are supposed to be a model for our nation’s youth,” said some. “He is more of an animal than any of his poor dogs,” said others. Few were surprised or saddened when the National Football League suspended Cheney without pay for an undisclosed term.

 

1 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

2 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

5 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

6 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。