英语听力精选进阶版 13599

Tracking crime on Twitter

Summary

28 August 2012

Growing numbers of residents of the American city of Los Angeles are taking an active interest in tracking crime. More and more of them are now tuning¹ in to private radio conversations between police officers and spreading what they hear throughout the city.

Reporter:

Janet Barrie

Report

Scanning the airwaves for police radio conversations is something professional crime reporters have done for decades. But now a whole new group of people are embracing this old-school technique. 

In Los Angeles a growing band of residents has invested in scanners to monitor police conversations and spread what they learn across the city on the social networking site Twitter. Between them they now have over thirty thousand Twitter followers². 

Alex Thompson decided³ to buy a scanner when she realised how little she actually knew about crime in her area. She says she now never switches it off, even listening late at night in bed.

It's been an absolute revelation, she says, to find out what's really happening in her area, the crimes her fellow residents would normally never hear about.

Alex Thompson:

"When I first got the scanner for listening I was in shock – the way I described it I hid under my desk sucking my thumb for two weeks in disbelief of what I heard. But the reality is this is what is going on in my neighbourhood."

1 tuning   

n.调谐，调整，调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• They are tuning up a plane on the flight line. 他们正在机场的飞机跑道上调试一架飞机。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The orchestra are tuning up. 管弦乐队在定弦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。