VOA标准英语2009年-Violence in Mexican Border Towns Impedes Missin

Mexican President Felipe Calderon's fight against drug trafficking cartels in his country has produced an unprecedented¹ wave of violence, especially in Mexican border cities like Juarez, where more than 1,600 people were murdered last year. There are also many cases of people who have disappeared and, their friends and relatives fear they may never be found.

The violence in Juarez continues, despite government efforts to curb² the power of the drug cartels. In recent days headless bodies have turned up on the streets and signs have been posted around town threatening local police who try to interfere³ with drug smuggling⁴.
　
Jaime Hervella

The climate of fear has complicated the work of El Paso resident Jaime Hervella, who helped found the cross-border Association of Relatives and Friends of Disappeared Persons several years ago and now finds himself mostly on his own.

"Our people, the relatives of these people who disappeared, primarily between 1994 and 2002, are still afraid of the mafia," he said.

Hervella, who is 79 and somewhat disabled, still ventures across the border to Juarez on occasion, but he finds little support there. He says people who had once worked closely with him no longer communicate at all and that even some of his own relatives avoid him out of fear.

But Hervella says he and the people in his association pose no threat to drug gangs.

"We are not investigating anything, we simply want to locate whatever is left of them so that that mother and that wife and those relatives may stop wondering whatever happened to their loved one," he said.

Mexican authorities have discovered the remains⁵ of dozens of people in clandestine⁶ graves and are conducting DNA⁷ tests to identify them, but many families are reluctant to contact them out of fear or distrust of the officials who are supposed to be enforcing the law.

University of Texas at El Paso professor Howard Campbell says association members have often described abductors as being in police or military uniforms.

"The general assumption of people in that organization and social critics is that there are elements of the police and military that have been corrupted⁹ and, basically, have become a protection arm for drug cartels," he said. "But proving these things in specific cases is always very difficult."

While it is possible that kidnappers¹⁰ have obtained uniforms and can masquerade as police or soldiers, Campbell says Mexicans have good reason to be skeptical¹¹.

"The drug business has become so large and so extended; it is like this octopus¹² with something like 50 tentacles¹³ that has infiltrated¹⁴ every aspect of Mexican society today," he said.

Jaime Hervella was recently disappointed to find that one of the police officials he trusted most was corrupt⁸.

"The very chief of the people in charge of investigating criminal activity was himself jailed for connections with the mafia," said Hervella.

Hervella continues to seek informers who can provide information on missing persons, but the only reward he can offer is the moral satisfaction an informer would feel for having done the right thing. Despite the frustrations¹⁵ and the danger, Hervella still goes over to the Mexican side of the border now and then to further his cause.

"I have been afraid from day one, but you get used to it," he said. "You come to the point where you say 'what else am I going to do with my life?' Just talk about how things should be and what other people should do? Well, let us see what the hell am I doing?"

1 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

2 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

3 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

4 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 clandestine   

adj.秘密的，暗中从事的

参考例句：

• She is the director of clandestine operations of the CIA.她是中央情报局秘密行动的负责人。
• The early Christians held clandestine meetings in caves.早期的基督徒在洞穴中秘密聚会。

7 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

8 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

9 corrupted   

（使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏

参考例句：

• The body corrupted quite quickly. 尸体很快腐烂了。
• The text was corrupted by careless copyists. 原文因抄写员粗心而有讹误。

10 kidnappers   

n.拐子，绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were freed yesterday by their kidnappers unharmed. 他们昨天被绑架者释放了，没有受到伤害。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The kidnappers had threatened to behead all four unless their jailed comrades were released. 帮匪们曾经威胁说如果印度方面不释放他们的同伙，他们就要将这四名人质全部斩首。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

12 octopus   

n.章鱼

参考例句：

• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
• One octopus has eight tentacles.一条章鱼有八根触角。

13 tentacles   

n.触手( tentacle的名词复数 )；触角；触须；触毛

参考例句：

• Tentacles of fear closed around her body. 恐惧的阴影笼罩着她。
• Many molluscs have tentacles. 很多软体动物有触角。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 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》

15 frustrations   

挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意

参考例句：

• The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
• Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。