PBS高端访谈:军队性侵犯的曝光是好事,但还有更多需要关注

 　　GWEN IFILL: The U.S. military, under heavy fire in recent years over its handling of sexual assaults, released its latest report today on how it's managing the problem, drawing criticism from some.

　　Hari Sreenivasan has the story.

　　CHUCK HAGEL, Secretary of Defense¹: Good afternoon.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel laid out the new numbers at the Pentagon, based on a survey of the ranks by the RAND Corporation.

　　Estimated cases of sexual assault fell to about 19,000, down 25 percent from two years ago, but actual reports of assault increased 8 percent from last year. Hagel said the findings show both progress and the need for much more work.

　　CHUCK HAGEL: After last year's unprecedented² 50 percent increase in reporting, the rate has continued to go up. That's actually good news. Two years ago, we estimated about one in 10 sexual assaults were being reported. Today, it's one in four.

　　These crimes, however, are still heavily under-reported, both nationally and in the military, so we must maintain our focus throughout the ranks and continue to earn the confidence of survivors³.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Forty-three percent of the assaults reported by women and more than a third by men were penetrative sexual assaults. Those include rape⁴ and penetration⁵ with an object. The survey also found more than 60 percent of victims said they faced retaliation⁶ after they reported assaults.

　　But Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, who sponsored a new law on military sexual assaults, suggested a different way of looking at that result.

　　SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL, (D) Missouri: I would be much more concerned about flat retaliation if we were getting numbers back saying, I don't have confidence in the command, the climate has not changed, we're not getting the support, and I wouldn't recommend other people coming forward.

　　But we got just the opposite numbers, high levels of satisfaction with command climate, high levels of satisfaction with their special victims counsels and their victim advocates.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: The Pentagon report does call for additional enforcement procedures to prevent retaliation. It also recommends increasing unit leaders' knowledge and understanding of the issue.

　　But New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand branded the study a failure of leadership. She's pushed to take sexual assault investigations⁷ outside the military chain of command.

　　SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, (D) New York: What we have today is not zero tolerance⁸. We have zero accountability. And if they continue to retain all decision-making in the hands of the smallest number of commanders, they're just — they're not recognizing the flaws in their own system. They're trying to cover it up. They're trying to shove it under the rug.

　　They're not seeking justice, and they're not protecting the men and women who are being raped⁹. To have retaliation be unchanged, untouched is an egregious¹⁰ failure.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Gillibrand said she and other senators will try to amend¹¹ the defense authorization¹² bill this month, to make sexual assault investigations independent of commanders.

1 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。

2 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

3 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

4 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

5 penetration   

n.穿透，穿人，渗透

参考例句：

• He is a man of penetration.他是一个富有洞察力的人。
• Our aim is to achieve greater market penetration.我们的目标是进一步打入市场。

6 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

8 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

9 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

10 egregious   

adj.非常的，过分的

参考例句：

• When it comes to blatant lies,there are none more egregious than budget figures.谈到公众谎言，没有比预算数字更令人震惊的。
• What an egregious example was here!现摆着一个多么触目惊心的例子啊。

11 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

12 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。