曾几何时,开着小车兜风逛街被视为富豪们才有的享受。如今,拥有一辆自家小轿车已经不是什么难于登天的事。但随着私家车越来越普及,问题也接踵而来,这其中最严重的就是醉酒驾车问题了。前不久闹得沸沸扬扬的“奔驰撞人”、“保时捷撞人”事件大家应该还记忆犹新,在关心事件进程的时候我们是否也应该反省一下,我们的公共交通安全意识是否足够?醉酒驾车,到底离我们有多远?
发音：美式发音 语速：160词/分钟 使用方法：泛听+一分钟演讲
Drunk driving kills more than 13,000 Americans a year—that’s one every 39 minutes. Authorities call it an 1)epidemic. They say that despite all the publicity, all the education campaigns, and all the advertising over the past decade, the number of drunk-driving 2)fatalities has not gone down.
Some 3)prosecutors have started taking a different approach to the problem, getting so tough on drunk drivers who kill people that the penalties they 4)exact were unheard of in the past. One of these pioneers is Kathleen Rice, 5)district attorney of Nassau County in New York. She believes that if you want to stop drunk driving, you have to treat it as a serious crime with serious jail time. Our story begins, however, not in a courtroom but at a wedding in Nassau County—a wedding and the tragic loss of a 7-year-old girl.
Her name was Katie. She was adored by family and friends. She was to them, a 7-year-old fairy princess with 7 teeth missing.
Katie on a video: I lost 7. This is my eighth.
Man on a video: That’s the eighth one that’s gonna go? Let me see.
She and her little sister—the Flynn girls—were flower girls at their aunt’s wedding on July 1, 2005. It was a 6)glorious day for the Flynn family, including Katie’s parents Jennifer and Neil.
Jennifer: It’s like yesterday to us.
Neil: It was a great day. It was a beautiful wedding. It was a fun time all day long and it couldn’t have turned out worse.
The family had hired a 7)limo to take them home from the wedding so they could dance and party with no worries. But as they were being driven home on a parkway on Long Island, a pickup truck came 8)barreling straight at them in the wrong direction. Chris and Denise Tangney, Katie’s grandparents, saw the truck coming from the back of the limo.
Denise: I saw this light come towards me. And I had to think for a second of what that was, ’cause that, it was just out of place. I watched this single light come toward me and all of a sudden it went from a single light to a double light. It happened so quickly I remember saying, “Oh my God, we’re gonna get hit.”
They got hit with incredible force. Both cars were totally destroyed, but that was the least of it. Stanley Rabinowitz, the limo driver, was killed instantly. The limousine was so mangled that members of the Flynn family had to be cut out of the 9)wreckage. Virtually everyone suffered severe, life-threatening injuries, and then there was Katie.
尼尔:我听到的第一个声音就是我妻子的尖叫:“尼尔,凯蒂死了。”而我不停地说:“不,她不会死的,她只是受了很重的伤而已。”但我并不知道詹当时看到的情景是怎么样的。
詹妮弗:我朝着凯特靠过去,她就躺在地上。而她身上唯一完整的地方、我能拿得到的地方……就是她的头。
24岁的保险推销员马丁·海德根当时正驾驶这辆载货卡车,受了一些轻伤。他接受了血液酒精浓度测试,结果超过了合法标准指数的3倍。在弗林一家参加婚礼的当天晚上,海德根在位于长岛的朋友家中参加派对并喝了酒。他的朋友告诫他不要开车,但他还是开了。在撞上弗林家的豪华轿车、把他们的人生弄得支离破碎之前,他已经逆向行驶了整整3公里。
詹妮弗:我每天所承受的悲伤和绝望,无法用言语表达。
尼尔:我脑中会回放整个车祸过程,每天都想着它,每天晚上都做与它有关的噩梦。而我因为这场车祸,失去了我的女儿。
凯思林:这宗案件引起大家关注的其中一个原因,就是它揭开了醉酒驾车的面纱。
凯思林·赖斯恰好就是这个案子的检控官。
电视宣传片中的凯思林:作为一名职业检控官,我明白对醉酒驾车者进行严惩能拯救生命。
自2005年竞选上任成功之后,对醉酒驾驶者进行严厉的惩罚一直是她工作的重点。这宗案件正好说明了原因。
凯思林:一个7岁的小孩(因车祸)而身首异地,而司机则被活活压死。我想很多人都会觉得这种醉酒撞车事故,或者他们口中常说的意外,就是,你知道,开车冲下公路,或是闯个红灯。但这些事故是会置人死地的。
凯蒂·弗林的葬礼吸引了超过1000人参加。她与斯坦
利·拉比诺维茨的死拉响了打击醉酒驾车行动的号角。
马丁·海德根被捕,并且不像以往那样被指控一般杀人罪——即过失致人死亡,这也就是一般醉酒驾车案例中惯用的——而是被严厉地指控谋杀罪。这在美国几乎从未发生过。
记者:海德根的案子为何是一宗谋杀案?
凯思林:根据法例,我们必须找到证据,来证明从他的行动中看出他完全无视生命。
她说,海德根被控告道德冷漠杀人罪,是因为他的行为鲁莽至极,随时可能导致他人死亡。
凯思林:他的行为无可避免地造成凯蒂和斯坦利·拉比诺维茨的死亡。这跟拿着枪对准一个离你5英尺远的人开枪没什么两样。
记者:你真的这么认为。
凯思林:我的确是这么想的。的确。
Neil: The first thing I heard was my wife screaming, “Neil, Katie’s dead.” And I kept saying, “No she can’t be dead. She’s just gotta be hurt real bad.” But I didn’t know what Jen was looking at, what Jen saw.
Jennifer: I reached for Kate and she was on the floor. And all that was left of Kate Marie was her head…that I was able to take.
Martin Heidgen, a 24-year-old insurance salesman, was driving the pickup truck. He suffered minor injuries. He had a blood alcohol content over three times the legal limit. On the night of the Flynns’ wedding, Heidgen was drinking at a friend’s party in a house on Long Island. His friends told him not to drive. He did anyway, for about three miles the wrong way on the parkway before 10)slamming into the Flynns’ limousine and tearing their lives apart.
Jennifer: The sadness and despair that is with me every day, I can’t even put into words.
Neil: I relive the crash. I think about it every day. I have nightmares about it every night. And I live my life without my daughter because of it.
Kathleen Rice: One of the 11)compelling things about this case is that it really ripped the mask off drunk driving.
Kathleen Rice is the district attorney who prosecuted the case.
Kathleen on a TV Promotion: As a career prosecutor, I know that tough penalties for drunk driving save lives.
Getting tough on drunk drivers has been the centerpiece of her platform since she was elected in 2005. This case showed why.
Kathleen: A 7-year-old girl is 12)beheaded. The driver of the car is crushed to death. I think too many people think about drunk driving crashes, or accidents as people like to call them, as, you know, driving off the road. Or rolling through a red light. These crimes are incredibly violent.
Katie Flynn’s funeral attracted more than 1,000 people. Her death, along with that of Stanley Rabinowitz, became rallying points for the campaign to crack down on drunk driving.
Martin Heidgen was arrested and charged not with 13)manslaughter—meaning accidental killing, as is 14)customary in drunk driving fatalities—but with the more severe charge of murder. That hardly ever happens in America.
Reporter: Why did Heidgen fit as a murder case?
Kathleen: The 15)statute under which he was charged required us to prove that through his actions, he had a completely 16)depraved indifference to human life.
Heidgen was charged with murder by depraved indifference, she says, because he acted so 17)recklessly others were likely to die.
Kathleen: His actions made the deaths of Katie Flynn and Stanley Rabinowitz 18)inevitable. It was as inevitable as taking a gun and firing it at an individual who’s standing five feet away from you.
Reporter: You really believe that.
Kathleen: I do believe that. I do.
每一年,大概有13000个美国人死于醉酒驾车事故——平均每39分钟一人。专家把它称为一种瘟疫。他们说尽管在过去十年间,醉酒驾车更加透明化,酒后驾车的教育、宣传广告也进行得如火如荼,但醉酒驾车事故的数量并没有下降。
有些检察官对这个问题开始采取其他措施,他们严惩那些因醉酒驾驶而致人死亡的人,处罚力度之强在过去闻所未闻。这其中的一个先锋人物就是凯思林·赖斯,纽约州纳苏县的一名检察官。她认为,要想阻止醉酒驾车行为的发生,就应该把它定义为一项严重罪行,处以长时间监禁。然而,我们要讲的故事开始的地方,不是在法庭,而是在纳苏县的一个婚礼上——一对新人的结合和一个7岁小女孩离开人间的悲剧。
她的名字叫凯蒂,深受家人和朋友的宠爱。对于他们来说,她就是掉了7颗乳牙的7岁童话公主。
录像中的凯蒂:我已经掉了7颗牙了。这是我的第8颗。
录像中的男人:这快要掉下来的是第8颗了吗?让我看看。
她和她妹妹——弗林家的两个小公主——在2005年7月1日举行的她们阿姨的婚礼上担任花童。对包括凯蒂的父母詹妮弗和尼尔在内的弗林一家来说,这本是美好的一天。
詹妮弗:对我们来说,事情就好像昨天发生的一样。
尼尔:那真的是美好的一天,婚礼相当美好。一整天都充满欢乐,没有比这一天更好的了。
弗林一家租了一辆豪华轿车将他们从婚礼接回家,这样他们就可以没有后顾之忧,整天跳舞和狂欢。然而,就在他们乘车前往位于长岛的家的途中,一辆小型载货卡车逆向行驶径直撞向他们。凯蒂的外祖父母,克里斯·唐尼和丹尼斯·唐尼,在后座目睹了货车撞向豪华轿车的一幕。
丹尼斯:我看到有一束光射向我,我反应了好一会儿,在想那是什么,因为它的位置相当奇怪。我看着这一束光,突然它从一束变成两束。事情发生得太快了,我只记得我当时喊了声:“哦,天啊,我们要被撞上了。”
一股强大的力量朝他们撞来。两辆车都毁不成形,但那还是损失最小的。豪华轿车司机斯坦利·拉比诺维茨当场死亡。而车子则几近粉碎,必须破开车子残骸才能把弗林一家解救出来。实际上,每个人都遭受了极其严重、甚至有生命危险的创伤,再之后就是凯蒂了。
Discussion Forum
七嘴八舌讨论区
醉酒驾车:别把生命当儿戏!
Opinion 1
Sure, I’ve done it. When you are under the influence, you lose track of right and wrong.
Tips: 经历过醉酒驾车的人会有更加深刻的体会。这位说话者现身说法,说在酒精作用下(under the influence),人们根本无法保持理智,辨别是非。“lose track of sth./sb.”表示对某物失去控制、与某人失去联系,而“right and wrong”相信大家都很熟悉了,即“是非黑白”的意思。
Opinion 2
The penalties are not severe enough. Most governments are all bark and no bite.
Tips: 醉酒驾驶为何频频发生,有人说是因为处罚力度不够。与上文的美国女检察官Kathleen Rice一样,这位说话者也把原因归咎于惩罚力度上。她认为许多政府在处理类似案件的时候都是雷声大雨点小(all bark and no bite),没有实质行动。
Opinion 3
Of course they deserve more than a slap on the wrist, but I think saying it’s murder is a bit of a stretch.
Tips: 不知道大家有没有这样的体验?小时候犯了错,妈妈总会抓起我们的小手,在手腕上轻轻地打一下,以示惩戒。这个动作,用英语表达就是“a slap on the wrist”。比起那些恐怖的体罚,这个惩罚算是小儿科了。对于醉酒驾车这件事,这位说话者的态度是,现有的惩罚的确过于轻微,但把它归类到谋杀案件又有点夸张。“a bit of a stretch”表示稍显夸张,言过其实的事情或东西,它的动词形态为“stretch it a bit”。
Opinion 4
In Australia we have a national slogan that makes it plain as day: If you drink and drive you are a bloody idiot!
Tips: 前些日子全国各地出现了许多规劝大家不要酒后驾车的标语,与以往说教式标语不同,这些新的标语简单明了(plain as day)、句句在理却也多少有些雷人,比如说“酒后驾驶者医院给你开好了房间”、“酗酒开车是驶向死亡与坟墓的选择”等等,引起了强烈反响。不过大家有所不知,澳大利亚最大的广告标语之一也与醉酒驾车有关——“If you drink and drive you are a bloody idiot!”(醉酒驾车的人是十足的笨蛋!)
Opinion 5
You don’t realize how serious it is until it touches your life. These morons need a taste of their own medicine.
Tips: 我们都一样,只有当事情真真切切地在自己身上或周围发生时,才会有所触动。这位说话者显然有过类似经历,她直呼那些人是神经病、弱智儿(moron),认为必须得让他们也尝尝滋味才行。“(give) a taste of their own medicine”表示用相同的方法对付某人,也就是我们常说的“以其人之道还治其人
之身”。
Opinion 6
I see it all the time. Guys getting behind the wheel thinking they are Superman. They shouldn’t have a license, let alone a car.
Tips: 车祸见多了,兴许也能看出根本原因来。这些醉酒驾驶的人,跳上车、手握方向盘时估计都幻想着自己是超人,在拯救全世界呢。殊不知他们正是杀害无辜人们的罪魁祸首。说话者认为,这些人根本就不配领取驾照,更别说(let alone)拥有汽车了。“behind the wheel”正是驾驶车辆的意思。
Opinion 7
My best friend was killed by a drunk driver. You never really forget. You can never truly let bygones be bygones.
Tips: 这位说话者也有段心酸的回忆,他的好朋友就是在醉酒驾驶车祸中丧生的,她说她永远无法释怀,无法让过去真正成为过去。“Let bygones be bygones.”是一句相当有名的英语谚语,意思是“过去的事情就让它过去吧。”常用于宽慰他人。
Opinion 8
Of course it’s murder! Once they are in control of the vehicle, they are operating a weapon. There are no two ways about it.
Tips: 这位说话者认为,说醉酒驾车是谋杀也不为过。他说,那些喝醉的人开车,就跟举着一把枪之类的武器乱晃没什么两样。“There are/is no two ways about it.”表示这是显而易见、再明显不过的事情。注意,在美国英语中,人们更常用“There’s no two ways about it.”的说法,而不是上面这位说话者的“There are…”。