2006年VOA标准英语-Hooded Police Raid Kenyan Media Offices

By Cathy Majtenyi
Nairobi
02 March 2006

Hooded¹ police in Kenya have raided the privately² owned Standard media group's television offices and newspaper printing presses.

The managing editor of the Kenya Television Network, Farida Karoney, describes to VOA the raid that took place at her station at around midnight.

"Just after we finished doing our late-night news, a group of about between 50 and 100 people - they were hooded and armed - forced their way into our offices," she said. "They demanded to be taken to the transmission studio, from where they asked the transmission crew to shut down the transmitter."

"Then they took our back-up computer, the computer that has programs for the day and also took the tape - usually we back up the tape," continued Karoney. "They also took the day's commercial line-up, and they took the power back-up system. Then they demanded to be taken to the KTN newsroom from where they took away all the computers."

The police detained four KTN staff members in a police station for two hours before releasing them.

The station had stopped transmitting in the morning, but was back on air by the afternoon. Karoney says reporters are writing their stories by hand and improvising³ in other ways to make up for the equipment loss.

Copies of Thursday edition of The Standard lie scattered⁴ on floor at newspaper's printing press after police raid in Nairobi   
  
In the early hours, police also stormed the presses of the daily newspaper The Standard, destroying equipment and setting thousands of newspapers on fire.

Throughout the day, opposition⁵ politicians, human rights groups, media organizations, and Kenyans calling into talk shows denounced the raids, accusing the government of brutally⁶ snuffing out press freedom in a way not seen for more than 20 years.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon police spokesman Jasper Ombati said police raided the offices to collect what he says was evidence about an intended action to stir up ethnic⁷ hatred⁸ that would have posed a major threat to national security.

He accused Standard journalists of accepting bribes⁹ to write articles as part of this alleged¹⁰ action.

This is the second crackdown against the Standard group in recent days.

Three Standard journalists were arrested earlier this week over a story alleging¹¹ that President Mwai Kibaki met with former minister and senior opposition politician Kalonzo Musyoka.

Last week, police raided the offices of a tabloid¹² called Weekly Citizen in response to a negative report about the president.

1 hooded   

adj.戴头巾的；有罩盖的；颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的

参考例句：

• A hooded figure waited in the doorway. 一个戴兜帽的人在门口等候。
• Black-eyed gipsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to tell fortunes. 黑眼睛的吉卜赛姑娘，用华丽的手巾包着头，突然地闯了进来替人算命。 来自辞典例句

2 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

3 improvising   

即兴创作（improvise的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• I knew he was improvising, an old habit of his. 我知道他是在即兴发挥，这是他的老习惯。
• A few lecturers have been improvising to catch up. 部分讲师被临时抽调以救急。

4 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

5 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。

6 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

7 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

8 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

9 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

10 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

11 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

12 tabloid   

adj.轰动性的，庸俗的；n.小报，文摘

参考例句：

• He launched into a verbal assault on tabloid journalism.他口头对小报新闻进行了抨击。
• He believes that the tabloid press has behaved disgracefully.他认为小报媒体的行为不太光彩。