英伦广角 2010-09-05 英特工家中遭暗殺

While Gareth Williams' family try to come to terms with his death, they're also trying to make sense of what they see as a smear¹ campaign. Their son’s body was found on Monday stuffed into a bag and left in the bath of his rented flat. Since then, police have been combing through the property in Pimlico, central London; detectives' looking to unravel² what is still officially an unexplained and suspicious death.
An inconclusive postmortem, and no sign of forced entry at the flat, have left gaps in the investigation³. That void has been filled with lurid⁴ suggestions, often from anonymous⁵ sources. His families in North Wales have said, “The continuous speculation⁶ in the press about his private life has been very distressing⁷. Gareth who is a generous,loving son, brother, and friend, and he was a very private person. He was a great athlete and loves cycling and music. They went on, his loss has devastated⁸ us. And we would ask anyone with information come forward to assist the police with their inquiry⁹.
The 30-year-old was just days from finishing his comment in London with MI6. He was about to return to his main job at GCHQ in Cheltenham.
It had been suggested that Mr. Williams had been dead for two weeks before his body was found. The police have established that he was in London a week and a half earlier on Wednesday the 11th of August. And they know that the last sighting of him was on Sunday the 15th, a weekend day before his body was discovered, what they haven't disclosed is who saw him, was it CCTV, a witness, or something else. By his nature and by necessity of his job, Gareth Williams was a private man; toxicology test results on his body will be the next step for detectives who will concentrate on the facts, rather on the speculations¹⁰. 

1 smear   

v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• He has been spreading false stories in an attempt to smear us.他一直在散布谎言企图诽谤我们。
• There's a smear on your shirt.你衬衫上有个污点。

2 unravel   

v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开

参考例句：

• He was good with his hands and could unravel a knot or untangle yarn that others wouldn't even attempt.他的手很灵巧，其他人甚至都不敢尝试的一些难解的绳结或缠在一起的纱线，他都能解开。
• This is the attitude that led him to unravel a mystery that long puzzled Chinese historians.正是这种态度使他解决了长期以来使中国历史学家们大惑不解的谜。

3 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。

4 lurid   

adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的

参考例句：

• The paper gave all the lurid details of the murder.这份报纸对这起凶杀案耸人听闻的细节描写得淋漓尽致。
• The lurid sunset puts a red light on their faces.血红一般的夕阳映红了他们的脸。

5 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

6 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

7 distressing   

a.使人痛苦的

参考例句：

• All who saw the distressing scene revolted against it. 所有看到这种悲惨景象的人都对此感到难过。
• It is distressing to see food being wasted like this. 这样浪费粮食令人痛心。

8 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

9 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

10 speculations   

n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断

参考例句：

• Your speculations were all quite close to the truth. 你的揣测都很接近于事实。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• This possibility gives rise to interesting speculations. 这种可能性引起了有趣的推测。 来自《用法词典》