2-73

 

73.

But the universe was just getting warmed up. Soon after I got back to Britain, the main villain¹ inthe phone-hacking scandal, Rehabber Kooks, was acquitted² at trial.

June 2014.

The evidence had been strong, everybody said.

Not strong enough, the jury said. They believed what Rehabber Kooks testified on the witnessstand, even though she’d strained credulity. No, she’d abused credulity. She’d treated credulity asshe’d once treated a redheaded teenage royal.

Likewise her husband. He’d been caught on video throwing black bin³ liners full of computersand thumb drives and other personal belongings⁴, including his porn collection, into a garagedustbin, just hours before the police searched their place. But he swore it was all a sillycoincidence, sooo…no evidence-tampering here, sayeth the justice system. Carry on. As you were.

I never believed what I read, but now I truly couldn’t believe what I was reading. They wereletting this woman walk? And there was no furor⁵ from the general public? Did people not realizethat this was about more than privacy, more than public safety—more than the Royal Family?

Indeed, the phone-hacking case first broke wide open because of poor Milly Dowler, a teenagerwho’d been abducted⁶ and murdered. Rehabber Kooks’s minions⁷ broke into Milly’s phone aftershe’d been declared missing—they’d violated her parents at the moment of their worst pain andgiven them false hope that their little girl might be alive, because her messages were listened to.

Little did the parents know that it was Team Rehabber listening. If these journalists werevillainous enough to go after the Dowlers in their darkest hour, and get away with it, was anyonesafe?

Did people not care?

They didn’t. They did not care.

My faith in the whole system took a serious hit when that woman got off scot-free. I needed areset, a faith refresher. So I went where I always went.

The Okavango.

To spend a few restorative days with Teej and Mike.

It helped.

But when I returned to Britain, I barricaded⁸ myself into Nott Cott.

 

1 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

2 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。

3 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

4 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

5 furor   

n.狂热；大骚动

参考例句：

• His choice of words created quite a furor.他的措辞引起了相当大的轰动。
• The half hour lecture caused an enormous furor.那半小时的演讲引起了极大的轰动。

6 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

7 minions   

n.奴颜婢膝的仆从( minion的名词复数 )；走狗；宠儿；受人崇拜者

参考例句：

• She delegated the job to one of her minions. 她把这份工作委派给她的一个手下。 来自辞典例句
• I have been a slave to the vicious-those whom I served were his minions. 我当过那帮坏人的奴隶，我伺候的都是他的爪牙。 来自辞典例句

8 barricaded   

设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守

参考例句：

• The police barricaded the entrance. 警方在入口处设置了路障。
• The doors had been barricaded. 门都被堵住了。