美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-08-10

 We start, though, tonight with the beginning of one of the most unusual and possibly most traumatizing murder trials in a very long time. The defendant¹, U.S. Army psychiatrist² Major Nidal Hasan, shot and killed 13 people nearly four years ago at Fort Hood³ in Texas. He wounded 32 more.

 

He went on his rampage, three weeks before he was scheduled to deploy⁴ to Afghanistan, walking into a troop processing center, shooting unarmed soldiers and officers. He says he did it for Allah. Did it as a soldier in the war against America and the West. He admits all this, by the way, but he legally cannot plead guilty. 

 

So today in opening statements on day one of his court martial⁶ acting⁷ in his own defense⁸, if you want to call it that, he made a case for the prosecution⁹, and that only begins to cover the strangeness of these proceedings¹⁰. 

 

As for how traumatizing it may be, Major Hasan will shortly be questioning some of the very people that he himself shot. And on top of that, get this, he's still pulling down a paycheck from the Army. He's earned hundreds of thousands of dollars while awaiting trial. 

 

We'll explore that outrageous¹¹ angle in just a moment. But first Ed Lavandera who's covering the court martial. 

 

Ed, you were there in court today. Take us inside. What was it like? 

 

Well, Anderson, in many ways it was really intense. I think many people are anticipating to see what Major Nidal Hasan, how he was going to act, how he was going to behave, but it was the prosecutors¹² that started off with an incredibly vivid and dramatic picture, methodically going through the steps that Major Hasan took in this massacre¹³. 

 

And you know, it was very powerful and poignant¹⁴ at many times the prosecutors talking about the screams of a pregnant victim who was dying, screaming, my baby, my baby, and then another witness describing how soon her voice went quiet, and that was the moment that she had died. 

 

So very powerful testimony¹⁵ and descriptions of what happened in those brief moments when this massacre took place. 

 

And it is incredible that he's going to be able to question the very people that he shot. And he offered to plead guilty both to the prosecutors and the judge. His offers were denied. Can you explain why? 

 

Well, those are the rules of the Code of Military Justice. And it is, when that someone is eligible¹⁶ for the death penalty, and that is what prosecutors are pursuing in this case, the defendant is not allowed to plead not guilty. They have to put on a not guilty defense, but it was really strange. 

 

The judge started off the day by saying that Major Nidal Hasan has pleaded guilty and not an hour later you saw Hasan there in the courtroom claiming that he was the shooter and the evidence will clearly point to all of that. So in many ways it was all kind of surreal. It doesn't seem like Major Hasan is interested in any way in defending his guilt⁵ or innocence¹⁷. He seems bent¹⁸ on trying to justify¹⁹ what he had done.

1 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

2 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

3 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

4 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

5 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

6 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

7 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

8 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

9 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

10 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

11 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

12 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

13 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

14 poignant   

adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的

参考例句：

• His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
• It is especially poignant that he died on the day before his wedding.他在婚礼前一天去世了，这尤其令人悲恸。

15 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

16 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

17 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

18 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

19 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？