2006年VOA标准英语-Experts See Growing Internet Pornography T

By Dan Robinson
Capitol Hill
04 April 2006
 
Robinson report - Download (MP3) 4.84MB

Experts testifying before a congressional panel say the threat posed to children by sexual predators¹ and the multi-billion dollar Internet pornography business is greater than ever. Lawmakers also heard from teenagers involved in the fight against Internet child sexual exploitation, which like the Internet itself has exploded in recent years.

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In 2005, commercial child pornography on the Internet was a $20 billion business, with troubling implications for children around the world vulnerable to abuse.

At Tuesday's hearing, lawmakers heard that inadequate² laws, insufficient³ resources, and a lack of coordination⁴ among government and law enforcement agencies have contributed to this explosion.

Ed Whitfield    
  
Republican Congressman⁵ Ed Whitfield described the scope of the problem. "With the growing use of the Internet, the number of child predators who seek to make, distribute and view images of children being sexually abused, continues to skyrocket. This is due to the anonymity⁶, accessibility, and ease with which child predators can operate on the Internet," he said.

Statistics show that one in five children report sexual solicitations, with only one quarter of those telling parents about it.

In the United States alone, some 3.5 million images of children being sexually exploited are on the Internet at any given time, and are frequently re-distributed in the form of DVDs and videotapes:

Sharon Cooper is a physician with the Department of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina. "Child pornography on the Internet, in particular, has untold⁷ impact upon victims. The possession and distribution of these images, which are in fact, digital crime scenes, promote a need for newer and more plentiful⁸ and more graphic⁹ images," he said.

All of this is fueled by the growth of Internet chat rooms, and portals providing access to live webcam feeds of children being sexually-abused.

At the age of 13, Justin Berry became involved in what he now calls the "sick business" of Internet pornography. "This is not the story of a few bad kids whose parents paid no attention. There are hundreds of kids in the U.S. alone who are right now wrapped up in this horror. Within each of your congressional districts, I guarantee you there are children who have used their webcams to appear naked online, and I guarantee you there are also children in your district on the Internet right now being contacted and seduced¹⁰ by online sexual predators.

Now 19, Berry says sexual predators and pornographers using the Internet believe they have little to fear from law enforcement authorities.

The man accused of molesting¹¹ Berry, Ken¹² Gourlay, was subpoenaed¹³ and appeared before the congressional committee, but declined to answer questions citing 5th Amendment¹⁴ constitutional protections against self-incrimination.

Justin Berry's story was documented in a major investigative article last year by New York Times journalist Kurt Eichenwald, who describes "a losing battle" against child pornography. "The predators are sophisticated in the use of computers and talented in their manipulation of children. They count on our willingness to avert¹⁵ our eyes from the unpleasant, to succeed in their pursuit of illegal images of minors¹⁶. And we have been far too willing to comply."

Eichenwald says a single Internet "portal" contained links to some 600 teenage webcam sites, along with advertising¹⁷ by major companies, including computer equipment manufacturers. "Most disturbing was that major American and international companies advertised on these marketing¹⁸ portals for child pornography. The advertisements appeared immediately above images used by boys and girls to market their pornography sites. Apparently¹⁹ these companies were attempting to win business both from customers and the teenage pornographers themselves, as they offered services to help efficiently²⁰ run for pay sites," he said.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, about 1,500 tips are received each week by its "cybertip line" about suspected online child pornography.

Its director, Ernie Allen, says Internet service providers need to be held to legal requirements to report the use of their systems by pornographers, while credit card companies and banks need to work together. "At a minimum, what we can do is follow the money, stop the payments under existing terms of service agreement[s], and under existing law and shut these sites down. If we take away the profitability, it's going to be very difficult for them to sustain themselves," he said.

Allen says while there is no quick and easy solution, major credit card companies have agreed to cooperate with the center's efforts.

Tuesday's hearing also touched on efforts to crackdown on Internet child exploitation around the world.

Parry Aftab heads Wired Safety, an organization devoted²¹ to Internet safety and fighting child exploitation, with 11,000 volunteers in 76 countries. "We have been working very closely with the National Crime Service in the U.K. for the last seven years. Together we infiltrated²² some of the leading sex trafficking groups in the world, and hundreds of people have gone to jail because of our work," he said.

"A lot of teens I see are posting very explicit²³ pictures of themselves on the Internet, and they don't realize how that can hurt them," said Shannon Sullivan, a teenager working with Wired Safety:

Some lawmakers are pushing for legislation to help U.S. law enforcement agencies improve their ability to crack down on sexual predators and Internet pornography.

1 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

3 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

4 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

5 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

6 anonymity   

n.the condition of being anonymous

参考例句：

• Names of people in the book were changed to preserve anonymity. 为了姓名保密，书中的人用的都是化名。
• Our company promises to preserve the anonymity of all its clients. 我们公司承诺不公开客户的姓名。

7 untold   

adj.数不清的，无数的

参考例句：

• She has done untold damage to our chances.她给我们的机遇造成了不可估量的损害。
• They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort.他们遭受着黑暗中的难以言传的种种恐怖，因而只好挤在一堆互相壮胆。

8 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

9 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

10 seduced   

诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷

参考例句：

• The promise of huge profits seduced him into parting with his money. 高额利润的许诺诱使他把钱出了手。
• His doctrines have seduced many into error. 他的学说把许多人诱入歧途。

11 molesting   

v.骚扰( molest的现在分词 )；干扰；调戏；猥亵

参考例句：

• He was accused of sexually molesting a female colleague. 他被指控对一位女同事进行性骚扰。 来自辞典例句
• He was charged with molesting a woman. 他被指控调戏妇女。 来自辞典例句

12 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

13 subpoenaed   

v.（用传票）传唤（某人）( subpoena的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The court subpoenaed her to appear as a witness. 法庭传唤她出庭作证。
• The finance director is subpoenaed by prosecution. 财务经理被检查机关传讯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

15 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。

16 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

18 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

19 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

20 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

21 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

22 infiltrated   

adj.[医]浸润的v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The headquarters had been infiltrated by enemy spies. 总部混入了敌方特务。
• Many Chinese idioms have infiltrated into the Japanese language. 许多中国成语浸透到日语中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

23 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。