英语voa阅读材料.pdf

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1、 The third Monday in January is a federal holiday in the United States,markingthe birthday of renow ned civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.This year,theholiday has special meaning for m any,after the events of recent months inFerguson,Missouri,and New York.If King were alive today,they wond

2、er,what would he say about the deaths of Michael Brownin Ferguson and of Eric Garner in New York City both unarmed and killed in confrontationswith police and about the anger and demonstrations that have followed?Kings famous I have a dream*speech,delivered during the 1963 March on Washington,wasan

3、iconic event in the struggle to end racial segregation and establish equal rights for allcitizens of the United States.Last month there was another March on Washington.Tens of Thousands of demonstratorsin the nations capital called for justice in the deaths of Brown and Garner.This demonstration was

4、 peaceful.And Kings niece Alveda King whose father,A.D.King,was also a civil rights activist suggested the violent protests that occurred in Ferguson aftera grand jury did not indict the police officer involved in Browns death were not the rightapproach.She called the Ferguson protest slogan No just

5、ice,no peace aggressive and said thatonly peaceful protest can lead to any positive resultsAlveda King recalled the day in 1963 that her own home was bombed.People wanted to do just what they did in Ferguson,she said.They were trying to turn overpolice cars,throw stones.They were trying to be very v

6、iolent.And I remember Daddy wasstanding on the car with a megaphone,and he was saying:Dont riot!Don*t be violent!Myfamily and I are OK.Please,go home and pray.Some critics of the protests suggest the demonstrations have created animosity towardspolice,and that they may have led to the killing of two

7、 New York City police officers,RafaelRamos and Wenjian Liu.But one of the positive things to emerge is a peaceful discussionabout racial discrimination thafs taking place in social media.When I see#BlackLivesMatter,I believe that black lives from conception and to themoment of natural death,the sick

8、,the elderly,the young,the old,the educated,those whoneed things in communities all black lives and all human lives matter,she said.In honor of the holiday,parades are organized in many cities,and hymns are sung inchurches across the country.Americans,including President Barack Obama and his family,

9、take part in community projects aimed at bringing Americans together.Alveda King said that this was her uncles dream:to see this nation peaceful and united.乙 一 BEI JI NG I n his previous State of the Union address,President BarackObama highlighted w hat he called the urgent need to address climate c

10、hange 一 atopic th at is likely to co me up again this year.Th eworld*s two biggest polluters,theUnited States and China,recently announced a landmark deal aimed at breathingnew life into global efforts to address dim ate change.In China,where choking smog frequently fills the air,there is little deb

11、ate about the need tocurb emissions.In China,the awareness of climate change and the consensus that this is a real problem thatwe need to crack is much higher than in the United States,said Li Yan,who headsGreenpeaces energy and climate change campaign in Beijing.Also,in the government,theleadership

12、,there arent so many critics,there arent so many skeptics/*Weaning China off its biggest source of energy,coal,will not be easy.In the deal reached lastyear,China pledged for the first time to peak its emissions by 2030.Li says there are signs Beijing could move even faster,despite its heavy relianc

13、e on cheapfuel.“Its possible that China could have an economy-wide coal control scheme in its nextfive-year plan,next year.And if China does so,we have a much better chance of turning theclimate curve sooner.MIn Washington,Republican lawmakers call the deal a job-killing agreement that threatensmidd

14、le class workers.“The agreement requires China to do nothing at all for 16 years,while these carbon emissionregulations are creating havoc in my state and other states around the country,said U.S.Senator Mitch McConnell(R-Ken.).China also has economic concerns about the deal.Beijing may have pledged

15、 to peak itsemissions by 2030,but it is already taking steps to reduce polluting industries and thatmeans job losses,at a time when the countrys economy is already slowing.But having the worlds two biggest emitters in agreement is important for global climatechange efforts,says Li Yan.And the hope i

16、s that is that their example,if successful,will helpspur other countries to aggressively curb their own emissions.O -WHITE HOUSE-With his popularity ratings starting to improve as a result ofan im proving econom y and low er unem ploym ent,President Barack Obam a ispreparing to focus on his domestic

17、 accom plishments in his upcom ing State of theUnion address.But analysts say the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Americans1uneasiness about threats by extrem ists will be reason for him to speak about hisforeign policy as well.In the days before the annual address,President Obama has been hig

18、hlighting his domesticsuccesses,flying around the United States and,in a largely unprecedented move,givingpreviews of the announcements he will make in the areas of jobs,housing,cyber security,and education.But the terrorist attacks in France are a sobering reminder for the president that the fighta

19、gainst extremists is far from over and remains at the top of his global agenda.wln the streets of Paris,the world has seen once again what terrorists stand for.They havenothing to offer but hatred and human suffering.And we stand for freedom and hope and thedignity of all human beings.And that is wh

20、at the city of Paris represents to the world,and thatspirit will endure forever,long after the scourge of terrorism is banished from this world,saidObama.Obama in 2014 launched a bombing campaign and sent in U.S.troops to help combat IslamicState militants.But that fight,he has said,will take years.

21、The legacy he will want to talkabout is more likely to be his effort for a deal to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons.Analyst Larry Korb,who served as Obamas campaign foreign policy adviser,said thepresident sees more reason to focus on domestic issues than global matters.“He will talk about t

22、hose issues,but I think he recognizes that we have got to get strong athome before we can be strong in the world,said Korb.Relations with Russia have been at a low point since the invasion of Ukraine,but Korb doesnot expect too much focus on what the administration is finding to be an especially com

23、plexrelationship.That complexity became apparent Wednesday,when the Russians assisted U.S.astronauts during an emergency aboard the International Space Station.Everybody is upset about the Russians in Ukraine.Who saved our astronauts today up inspace?The Russians!We need the Russians.They helped us

24、get stuff in and out ofAfghanistan.So,yeah,you are not happy with them in Ukraine and so it is not like,We,gee,we ought to have a strategy that is anti-Russian.1 No,we need the Russians and we haveworked with them in a couple of areas,said Korb.Among the foreign policy successes for Obama to highlig

25、ht:a landmark climate change dealwith China,and the deployment of hundreds of U.S.troops to fight Ebola in West Africa.I NDI ANAPOLI S The use of deadly force by law enforcement officers in Ferguson,Missouri and elsew here in the United States in recent months has focused newattention on the procedu

26、res available to citizens to file concerns and com plaintsagainst the police.I n I ndiana,efforts are being m ade by the I ndianapolisMetropolitan Police Department to give citizens a voice in the effort to police thepolice.Justin Henry is one of about 1500 police officers patrolling zones in and ar

27、ound the city ofIndianapolis,where about one million people either live or work.Henrys job puts him in contact with some of these citizens every day.For a policeman,each encounter is different,often uncertain and sometimes dangerous.Police Chief Richard“Rick”Hite said his officers work to deal with

28、that uncertainty by beingproactive about knowing the people they police.Meet some of the residents before an issue occurs,so that you are no stranger whensomething happens in the community when you show up.Your job is to go out there and bea problem solver/said Hite.But when a citizen has a complian

29、t with an Indianapolis police officer,Chief Hite will knowabout it,thanks to the Citizens Police Complaint Office.“We offer that citizen an avenue to say your voice is valuable,and you do have a voice in thisprocess,and that police cant come in and treat people however they want,said Laura White,hea

30、d of the Citizens5 Police Complaint Office.Whites complaint board is made up of nine appointed civilians.It also includes three lawenforcement officers,but they dont vote on cases under review.“We are an independent agency of the police department,but we are there as an avenue forthe citizens of Ind

31、ianapolis to articulate complaints that they may have had in a lawenforcement engagement with a police officer,said White.The complaint process in Indianapolis was established in 1989 by city ordinance to ensureindependent accountability.“They review the case,the complaint,the investigation,and then

32、 they render a decision onthe findings,whether they sustain the finding,or they don*t sustain it,theres not enoughproof one way or the other to say this complaint is valid,White explained.But the results of a 2012 audit,conducted by a consulting firm contracted by the city,foundthat there were serio

33、us restrictions on how the complaints were filed.White,who took over the office after the audit,said she believes recent figures for 2014indicate the process is working.“We had a total of 110 officers that had complains filed against them,and out of that wehad 45 disciplines that came out of that,so

34、 almost half resulted in discipline,n she said.CamernMcEllhiney,a former member of the Indianapolis Citizens Complaint Board,and nowserves as the Director of Training for the National Association for Civilian Oversight of LawEnforcement,or NACOLE,cited the importance of an outsiders perspective.When

35、 you add the element of civilians to the process,they are able to look at it with anoutsiders perspective,and make sure that the investigation is done fairly,and consistentlyover time/*said McEllhiney.Ml think what Ferguson and other national cases have done foroversight is made not just law enforce

36、ment agencies but city leaders and members of thecommunity understand is that this isnt something that should be done after something hashappened,that maybe ifs time to start doing oversight ahead of time so that bad things donthappen in communities.HThough the complaint and review process can be in

37、trusive and disruptive for the officer ordepartment involved,Chief Hite welcomes the scrutiny.uWe have to have checks and balances.Ifs important to recognize they are qualitycompliance,M said Hite.A 2013 study by California State University Fullerton shows that more than 1 00 policedepartments,many

38、in large cities,have civilian oversight boards.While New York City hassuch oversight,the Ferguson,Missouri city council only voted last September to set up acivilian review board.4-INDI AN APOLI S The use of deadly force by law enf orcem ent officers inFerguson,Missouri and elsewhere in the United S

39、tates in recent months hasfocused new attention on the procedures available to citizens to file concerns andcom plaints against the police.I n I ndiana,efforts are being m ade by theI ndianapolis Metropolitan Police Departm ent to give citizens a voice in the effort topolice the police.Justin Henry

40、is one of about 1500 police officers patrolling zones in and around the city ofIndianapolis,where about one million people either live or work.Henry*s job puts him in contact with some of these citizens every day.For a policeman,each encounter is different,often uncertain and sometimes dangerous.Pol

41、ice Chief Richard“Rick”Hite said his officers work to deal with that uncertainty by beingproactive about knowing the people they police.“Meet some of the residents before an issue occurs,so that you are no stranger whensomething happens in the community when you show up.Your job is to go out there a

42、nd bea problem solver,*said Hite.But when a citizen has a compliant with an Indianapolis police officer,Chief Hite will knowabout it,thanks to the Citizens Police Complaint Office.“We offer that citizen an avenue to say your voice is valuable,and you do have a voice in thisprocess,and that police ca

43、nt come in and treat people however they want,said Laura White,head of the Citizens*Police Complaint Office.Whites complaint board is made up of nine appointed civilians.It also includes three lawenforcement officers,but they dont vote on cases under review.“We are an independent agency of the polic

44、e department,but we are there as an avenue forthe citizens of Indianapolis to articulate complaints that they may have had in a lawenforcement engagement with a police officer,said White.The complaint process in Indianapolis was established in 1989 by city ordinance to ensureindependent accountabili

45、ty.“They review the case,the complaint,the investigation,and then they render a decision onthe findings,whether they sustain the finding,or they dont sustain it,theres not enoughproof one way or the other to say this complaint is valid,White explained.But the results of a 2012 audit,conducted by a c

46、onsulting firm contracted by the city,foundthat there were serious restrictions on how the complaints were filed.White,who took over the office after the audit,said she believes recent figures for 2014indicate the process is working.“We had a total of 110 officers that had complains filed against th

47、em,and out of that wehad 45 disciplines that came out of that,so almost half resulted in discipline,H she said.CamernMcEllhiney,a former member of the Indianapolis Citizens Complaint Board,and nowserves as the Director of Training for the National Association for Civilian Oversight of LawEnforcement

48、,or NACOLE,cited the importance of an outsiders perspective.“When you add the element of civilians to the process,they are able to look at it with anoutsiders perspective,and make sure that the investigation is done fairly,and consistentlyover time/said McEllhiney.Ml think what Ferguson and other na

49、tional cases have done foroversight is made not just law enforcement agencies but city leaders and members of thecommunity understand is that this isnt something that should be done after something hashappened,that maybe its time to start doing oversight ahead of time so that bad things donthappen i

50、n communities.Though the complaint and review process can be intrusive and disruptive for the officer ordepartment involved,Chief Hite welcomes the scrutiny.“We have to have checks and balances.Its important to recognize they are qualitycompliance,n said Hite.A 2013 study by California State Univers