VOA标准英语2012--Indian Mobile Phone App Aims to Thwart Sexual Assaults

Indian Mobile Phone App Aims to Thwart¹ Sexual Assaults

Cheena Sikka is typical of the modern, professional Indian woman. She works hard. She works late.
When her shift is finished, a company cab takes her part of the way home. But she worries about the five to 10 minutes she has to walk alone to reach her door.
"It's dark and the kind of people who are around, you cannot feel safe with them. I'm not very comfortable walking all alone," said Sikka.
'Fight Back' tracks location
So, before the cab even starts moving, Cheena activates² a recently launched mobile phone application called "Fight Back." It begins tracking her exact location via GPS.
"The moment you feel uncomfortable, you really don't need to do anything else but press one button," said Sikka.
Jagdish Mitra is CEO of Canvasm Technologies, the tech company that developed Fight Back.
When a user presses the panic button, she has a few seconds to cancel her decision. If she doesn't, a location-specific alert is sent out via text message, email, and on Facebook to any friends and family she has chosen to include in a list.
Data from users is collated³ into an interactive⁴ map. Mitra said his company keeps an eye on the map - but does not serve as a public monitoring center.
"We are not in the provision of managing the law, if you may. The law has to be managed by the people who actually are authorized⁵ to do it, which is the police and so on and so forth," said Mitra.
Making cities safer
Delhi's poorly lit streets can be forbidding. Official 2010 statistics, with more than 400 reported sexual assaults, have led many media organizations to label the city "India's rape⁶ capital."
"While the app to me is very important and has a good role to play, I think what we have to be careful about is that it doesn't again fall back on women to solve their problem," said Kalpana Viswanath, a researcher with the women's advocacy organization Jagori, which focuses on making cities safer for women. Her research includes recommendations on better lighting⁷, wider sidewalks, more thoughtful zoning - and what she calls a more "holistic⁸" approach to designing city life.
"What kind of a city do we want? How are we urbanizing? If we are saying that in another 15-20 years India is going to be more urban than rural, what kind of cities do we want? So if the problem is that societies and cultures and our police and our infrastructure⁹ is wanting, then that is what we need to address," said Viswanath.
Using, improving tools
"Most women don't go to the police because in most parts of the country, the police are seen as more part of the problem than part of the solution," said Hindol Sengupta, a founder¹⁰ of Whypoll, the civic¹¹ trust partner in the Fight Back project. He said police often are "lackadaisical¹²" in enforcing complaints about safety from women.
"We're saying here's a tool - you can go to the police if you want, and so you should, and so you must," said Sengupta. "But in case you choose not to, and in case you can't reach them, you can directly reach out to your friends and family. And together, you can propel the system. You can propel the security apparatus¹³, so to speak, to act."
The makers¹⁴ of Fight Back say senior police officials in Delhi and other Indian cities have expressed a keen interest in establishing formal links to the system. The approval and implementation¹⁵ process is likely to delay that step for several months.

1 thwart   

v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的)

参考例句：

• We must thwart his malevolent schemes.我们决不能让他的恶毒阴谋得逞。
• I don't think that will thwart our purposes.我认为那不会使我们的目的受到挫折。

2 activates   

使活动，起动，触发( activate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Activates the window and displays it in its current size and position. 激活窗口，保持当前的大小及位置不变。
• Pulling out the alarm switch activates alarm and pushing it deactivates it. 闹钟的开和关是通过拔出和按入闹铃开关实现的。

3 collated   

v.校对( collate的过去式和过去分词 )；整理；核对；整理（文件或书等）

参考例句：

• When both versions of the story were collated,major discrepancies were found. 在将这个故事的两个版本对照后，找出了主要的不符之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Information was collated from several data centers around the country. 信息从城市四周的几个数据中心得到校对。 来自互联网

4 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

5 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

6 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

7 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

8 holistic   

adj.从整体着眼的，全面的

参考例句：

• There is a fundamental ambiguity in the use of word "whole" in recent holistic literature.在近代的整体主义著作中，“整体”这个词的用法极其含混。
• In so far as historicism is technological,its approach is not piecemeal,but "holistic".仅就历史决定论是一种技术而论，它的方法不是渐进的，而是“整体主义的”。

9 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

10 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

11 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

12 lackadaisical   

adj.无精打采的，无兴趣的；adv.无精打采地，不决断地

参考例句：

• His will was sapped and his whole attitude was lackadaisical.心里松懈，身态与神气便吊儿啷当。
• Lao Wang is very serious with work,so do not be lackadaisical.老王干活可较真儿啦，你可别马马虎虎的。

13 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

14 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。