新奇事件簿 多伦多市长承认曾吸食毒品

The beleaguered¹ mayor of Toronto Rob Ford² has finally admitted he smoked crack cocaine³. After weeks of allegations from the press and denials by Mr Ford, Toronto's leader confessed in an emotional press conference yesterday. Fighting back the tears, Ford apologised to all citizens of Toronto, whom he felt he had let down. He admitted smoking the drug while he was in a "drunken stupor⁵" and added that a one-time mistake did not make him a drug addict⁶ or an alcoholic⁷. Mr Ford finally came clean after his own police force announced it had video of him at a Toronto drug den⁴, apparently⁸ of him actually smoking the drug. The media had been running stories of the allegations for months but Ford continually denied them.

备受困扰的多伦多市长罗柏特·福特承认他曾吸食可卡因。经过媒体数周的猜测，以及福特先生本人的否认，多伦多市长昨天在新闻发布会上承认了这一点。忍住泪水，福特先生向所有多伦多市民致歉，他让市民失望了。他承认曾经因喝酒而吸食了毒品，但称一次错误并没有让他成为瘾君子或是酒鬼。福特先生的警卫队称他们有福特先生在多伦多吸毒窝点的录像，很显然他正在吸食毒品，这让福特最终和盘托出。媒体就他的传闻报道了数月，但是福特一直否认。

In spite of his confession⁹ and amid calls for his resignation, Mr Ford told reporters he would stay in office. Furthermore, he vowed¹⁰ to fight for a second term in office at the next election. He announced: "I was elected to do a job and that's exactly what I'm going to continue doing." He added: "I know I have to regain¹¹ your trust and confidence." He tried to reassure¹² the public that there would be no repeat occurrence of his misdemeanour. He told the packed press conference: "Folks, I have nothing left to hide. I would do anything, absolutely anything to change the past, but the past is the past and we must move forward. I want to be crystal clear. These mistakes will never, ever, ever happen again."

尽管他自己做出了承认，并陷入了辞职的呼声之中，但是福特先生对记者说他将继续担任市长一职。此外，他承诺将在下届选举时继续竞选市长。他称：“人们选择我来担任此项工作，这就是我要继续做的。”他还说：“我知道我必须要重新获得信任和自信。”他试图要让公众放心的是这样的行为将不会再次发生。他在新闻发布会上说：“朋友们，我没什么可隐瞒的。我愿意为改变过去做一切事情，但是过去就是过去，我们必须向前走。我希望我是干净的。这些错误将永远不会发生。”

1 beleaguered   

adj.受到围困[围攻]的；包围的v.围攻( beleaguer的过去式和过去分词)；困扰；骚扰

参考例句：

• The beleaguered party leader was forced to resign. 那位饱受指责的政党领导人被迫辞职。
• We are beleaguered by problems. 我们被许多困难所困扰。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

3 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

4 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

5 stupor   

v.昏迷；不省人事

参考例句：

• As the whisky took effect, he gradually fell into a drunken stupor.随着威士忌酒力发作，他逐渐醉得不省人事。
• The noise of someone banging at the door roused her from her stupor.梆梆的敲门声把她从昏迷中唤醒了。

6 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。

7 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

8 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

9 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

10 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

11 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

12 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。