ＶＯＡ标准英语２０１３－－Egyptian Man's Police Beating Reignites Outrage

 

Egyptian Man's Police Beating Reignites Outrage¹

The violence that has seized Egypt since late last month is, to many, sadly familiar: Angry young men provoke police, police respond with excessive force. Both sides are counted among the dead and wounded, as are bystanders.

But it was the image of one protester, broadcast live last week, which renewed outrage in a country long used to police brutality².

In the video, 48-year-old Hamada Saber is stripped naked, kicked and beaten by police outside the presidential palace.

At first, after being taken into custody³, Saber said it was protesters who beat him. The police, he said from a police hospital bed, had helped him. But Saber later recanted, blaming police for the beating.

Saber's hospital statement brought to mind countless⁴ cases of police coercion⁵, part of a larger system of injustice⁶ that helped fuel Egypt's uprising two years ago.

“This oppressive apparatus⁷ has not changed a bit, at all," said political activist⁸ and blogger Wael Khalil. "I mean, it is working with the same rule book. It is still untouchable. No one is accountable."

Investigation⁹ promised

The interior minister warned that without the police, Egypt could become a militia-state, like some of its neighbors.

But in a rare move from on high, President Mohamed Morsi's office has promised an investigation into the beating.

The president's supporters say there is a sincere drive to overhaul¹⁰ the police.

A senior official of the Muslim Brotherhood's political party, Amr Darrag, said they inherited a system whose role was to protect the government from opposition¹¹.

“We are going in the right direction, but still there is a lot for the police force to learn and to get rehabilitated¹² to deal with that,” Darrag said.

But how much influence Morsi has or is willing to use is unclear. Interior Ministry¹³ reform has been slow — even as simple a change as emphasizing riot control over confrontation¹⁴.

One opponent of the president mocked his apparent inability to control the police, in a message on Twitter.

“The only thing worse than a dictator” he wrote, “is a dictator who cannot dictate¹⁵."

But even as Egypt's police are heavy-handed in some crowds, they are absent in others.

In Cairo's Tahrir Square, violence has increased — in particular, the sexual assault of women by mobs of men. Only civilian¹⁶ volunteers — not police — are trying to protect them. 

1 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

2 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

3 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

4 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

5 coercion   

n.强制，高压统治

参考例句：

• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions.既不诱供也不逼供。
• He paid the money under coercion.他被迫付钱。

6 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

7 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。

8 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

10 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

11 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。

12 rehabilitated   

改造（罪犯等）( rehabilitate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使恢复正常生活； 使恢复原状； 修复

参考例句：

• He has been rehabilitated in public esteem. 公众已恢复对他的敬重。
• Young persons need to be, wherever possible, rehabilitated rather than punished. 未成年人需要受到尽可能的矫正而不是惩罚。

13 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

14 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

15 dictate   

v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令

参考例句：

• It took him a long time to dictate this letter.口述这封信花了他很长时间。
• What right have you to dictate to others?你有什么资格向别人发号施令？

16 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。