Occupy Activists Fail to Occupy Wall Street

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

　　Police used barricades⁵ to shunt demonstrators around Wall Street, and to disperse⁶ what began as a march of several hundred people into a number of smaller groups.  Protesters carried signs denouncing what they believe to be a wealthy one percent of Americans that have corrupted⁷ the country’s political and economic system with money.

　　Some minor skirmishes erupted between police and protesters who failed to move where they were told.

　　Trading at the New York Stock Exchange was not disrupted, as stockbrokers⁸ and other financial workers with proper IDs were allowed through barricades into the heart of the Financial District.  Many of those workers say Occupy activists make some valid⁹ points, but that the movement is wrong to blame capitalism¹⁰ for the country’s political and economic problems.  Bob Costello, an IT consultant¹¹ with The Federal Reserve Bank, criticizes Occupy activists for lack of focus.

　　“They want to express the anger, but there’s no way to satisfy that anger," said Costello. "Personally, I think they ought to be in Washington in front of Congress going, ‘maybe we should get our Congressman¹² to get the companies out of their pockets.’  Because that’s what this is about, right?”

　　Occupy activist¹ and barber shop owner Severin Dickson says the movement got its message out even if Thursday’s march failed to literally¹³ occupy Wall Street.

　　“I think this is just the very beginning," said Dickson. "It’s not a fad¹⁴, it’s not a phase.  It’s a structural¹⁵ problem.”

　　As Dickson sees it, the structural problem involves moneyed and corporate interests that are buying political influence at the expense of ordinary people who need jobs, health insurance and education.

　　Thursday’s march was held to mark two months since the beginning of the Occupy movement, which has now spread to scores of American cities and around the world.

分享到：