万花筒 2012-01-29&01-31 老妪带枪登机引恐慌

 And We want to tell you about the security scare that created upheaval¹ at another American airport delaying thousands of travellers and the problem : A 65- year-old woman who had a gun in a bag, and  then disappeared into the terminal. She was arrested tonight. Airport security is again on the hot seat. And here's ABC's Lisa Stark².

It was a mass scramble³ at Dallas Fort-Word- airport after security scanners spotted⁴ a gun in a carry-on computer bag. But the time security agents went to pull the bag it was gone. And so was the passenger, officers put security tapes to pinpoint⁵ the passenger, and fanned out across all five terminals, shutting down terminal D completely, even boarding flights had already loaded, they finally found their passenger. A 65-year-old woman on the American Airline Jet bound for Houston. It had already pulled from the gate, and had to be called back. The woman identified is Judith Canny⁶, her bag, and 38 caliber⁷ pistol were taken off the jet. She reportedly told agents she had forgotten she had it, every other passenger was re-screened. That flight took off over an hour late, 10 other flights were also delayed. Most of airport security is security theater. And that's unfortunate. um, weapons and other items have forgotten through.

Since 9/11 there have been more than 25,000 security breaches⁸ at airports including this one at the Newark International, when a love-sick boyfriend snacked through a security exit to bid his girlfriend goodbye. Thousands of passengers had to be re-screened. TASA insists most of these breaches were minor⁹. The agency has also come under attack for being too aggressive with invasive pat down to children and the elderly.

Now as for the woman in today's charge, she faces state felony charges of carrying weapon where it's prohibited. And Diana, she also faces thousands of dollars in federal civil penalties.

1 upheaval   

n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱

参考例句：

• It was faced with the greatest social upheaval since World War Ⅱ.它面临第二次世界大战以来最大的社会动乱。
• The country has been thrown into an upheaval.这个国家已经陷入动乱之中。

2 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

3 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

4 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

5 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。

6 canny   

adj.谨慎的，节俭的

参考例句：

• He was far too canny to risk giving himself away.他非常谨慎，不会冒险暴露自己。
• But I'm trying to be a little canny about it.但是我想对此谨慎一些。

7 caliber   

n.能力；水准

参考例句：

• They ought to win with players of such high caliber.他们选手的能力这样高,应该获胜。
• We are always trying to improve the caliber of our schools.我们一直在想方设法提高我们学校的水平。

8 breaches   

破坏( breach的名词复数 )； 破裂； 缺口； 违背

参考例句：

• He imposed heavy penalties for breaches of oath or pledges. 他对违反誓言和保证的行为给予严厉的惩罚。
• This renders all breaches of morality before marriage very uncommon. 这样一来，婚前败坏道德的事就少见了。

9 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。