Take Away English-Diana Verdict 戴安娜案判决

Over a decade after her death, Diana still makes headlines

Was Princess Diana murdered?

The verdict is no, according to an inquest held into the cause of her death over the last six months.

The big question was whether the deaths of Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed in a fatal car crash in 1997 had been accidental, or whether there was some kind of conspiracy¹ to have them killed.

Dodi’s father Mohamed Al Fayed, owner of London’s world-famous department store Harrods, has insisted for the last decade that the pair were assassinated² by agents of the British state who did not want them to marry.

But his theories now look to have been blown out of the water. The court found that Princess Diana and her boyfriend were not murdered but unlawfully killed due to the "gross negligence³" of her driver and the paparazzi. Her driver was drunk at the time of the crash and the paparazzi had been chasing their car.

So is this the end of the Diana story?

British taxpayers⁴ may hope so. The inquest has cost them an estimated £10m (140m RMB). "Thank God it’s over", was the headline in The Guardian⁵ newspaper. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it was time to "draw a line" under the death of the Princess.

But Mohamed Al Fayed has refused to accept the verdict. He says the result will come as a "blow" to millions of his supporters around the world, and has not ruled out launching another investigation⁶.

Whatever happens next, the special place Princess Diana has in the hearts of people around the world is not likely to be forgotten.

GLOSSARY 词汇表

murdered 被谋杀 inquest 调查、审讯 fatal 致命的 accidental 意外的 assassinated 被暗杀的 blown out of the water 不成立、落空 gross negligence 明显的疏忽、大意 taxpayers 纳税人 thank God it’s over 老天，终于结束了 blow 打击

verdict 判决 cause of her death 她的死因 car crash 车祸 conspiracy 阴谋 agents 间谍 unlawfully killed 非法杀害 paparazzi 狗仔队 estimated 估计(大约) draw a line 划清界线、到此为止 ruled out 排除

1 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

2 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

3 negligence   

n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意

参考例句：

• They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
• The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。

4 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

5 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。