British Vision Issue 68, 21岁才能喝酒？

...city of London. There is public support for a Chief Constable¹'s call to raise the legal age for drinking alcohol from 18 to 21, but continued opposition² to forcing up the price by raising tax levels. Those are the main findings of a poll conducted for Channel 4 News following the call by the Cheshire Chief Constable Peter Fahy earlier this week. Mr. Fahy's comment on our program followed the killing³ of the father-of-three Garry Newlove who was beaten to death outside his home after confronting a group of youths. James Blake reports.

We've just received a telephone call that there are a group of people drinking on one of the local parks.

On patrol in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, this community wardens⁴ are out looking for children drinking in the streets and they are not hard to find. Each week, piles of cans, bottles and spirits are seized, there is a thriving black market in underage booze fueled by parents, siblings⁵ and older friends.

They get very brave and very bold, um, where somebody, not for a real decent kid. when they have another drink, when they've had a few, they just turn into a completely different person. And it makes our job can be twice as difficult really.

Momentum⁶ is building for a change in the law. After Garry Newlove was killed confronting youths outside his home, the Chief Constable spoke⁷ out.

Well, I think a lot of people now say the price of alcohol should be raised and in particular for the highest drinks, beers and for the spirits.

So Channel 4 News has commissioned to survey. A thousand adults were asked if they agree with the police. Should the drinking age be raised to 21? A majority 52% said yes. Do you think raising the price of alcohol will reduce antisocial behavior? Only 25% said yes, nearly 3 quarters said no.

In Wallington this group of 16 to 18-year-old were asked, would a change in the law make any impact at all?

Young people have to find money. They steal, they save or borrow, they'd find money somehow.
So if it was raised to 21, do you think that would have an impact on them?
Yeah, because then the people out there will get in, like, might have got ID for them. So it will stop from drinking.

At Newcastle crown court yesterday, another trial involving drunken teenagers. This time a man was attacked and kicked into a coma⁸. Sentencing the judge said:
Youngsters who drink too much will face punitive⁹ action. Those who are drunk and abuse the rights and entitlements of those law-abiding members of society will get punished.

So pressure now from the police and the judiciary, and the Channel 4 News survey suggests most people want action, too, but by raising the age limit not the prices.

And you can see further results from other opinion poll on our website.

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1.booze:Booze is alcoholic¹⁰ drink.

1 constable   

n.(英国)警察，警官

参考例句：

• The constable conducted the suspect to the police station.警官把嫌疑犯带到派出所。
• The constable kept his temper,and would not be provoked.那警察压制着自己的怒气，不肯冒起火来。

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

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 wardens   

n.看守人( warden的名词复数 )；管理员；监察员；监察官

参考例句：

• Air raid wardens in tin hats self-importantly stalked the streets. 空袭民防队员戴着钢盔神气活现地走在街上昂首阔步。 来自辞典例句
• The game wardens tranquillized the rhinoceros with a drugged dart. 猎物保护区管理员用麻醉射器让犀牛静了下来。 来自辞典例句

5 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

6 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

9 punitive   

adj.惩罚的，刑罚的

参考例句：

• They took punitive measures against the whole gang.他们对整帮人采取惩罚性措施。
• The punitive tariff was imposed to discourage tire imports from China.该惩罚性关税的征收是用以限制中国轮胎进口的措施。

10 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。