365个英语简短小故事-145. The Starbucks Robbery

It is a crime that is getting to be common in Los Angeles. Customers are enjoying their meals at a restaurant. Two or more criminals stroll in and start waving their guns at everyone. They demand that everyone put their wallets or empty their purses into a bag, and then the gunmen stroll out. They usually wear hoodies or baseball caps with sunglasses to thwart¹ identification.

At 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, the business establishment was a Starbucks. Three young men walked in, emptied the cash register, robbed the employees and the customers, and walked out to their stolen SUV. The police were able to respond quickly. A chase ended with one police car ramming² the SUV from behind on the Third Street overpass³. The SUV came to a stop, but, as usually happens, the three criminals were unhurt. They immediately hopped⁴ out of the SUV and started running in three different directions. It took about 10 minutes to catch two of them; one had hidden in a dumpster, and the other had broken a car window and hidden in the car.

The third one, instead of running, had decided⁵ it was quicker to jump off the overpass onto the freeway 20 feet below. He landed in an emergency lane, but did not get up and run. He did not get up at all. When police got to him, he was dead. “Too bad he wasn’t holding hands with the other two when he jumped,” said one officer, who asked to remain nameless.

 

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 ramming   

n.打结炉底v.夯实（土等）( ram的现在分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• They are ramming earth down. 他们在夯实泥土。 来自辞典例句
• Father keeps ramming it down my throat that I should become a doctor. 父亲一直逼我当医生。 来自辞典例句

3 overpass   

n.天桥，立交桥

参考例句：

• I walked through an overpass over the road.我步行穿过那条公路上面的立交桥。
• We should take the overpass when crossing the road.我们过马路应走天桥。

4 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。