英语听力精选进阶版 13666

Twitter faces Brazilian lawsuit¹

The Brazilian government has filed a lawsuit against the Twitter, demanding the removal of the accounts of users that give the location of police road blocks and speed traps. Twitter has already said it could block messages that broke local laws if requested to by governments.

Reporter

Paulo Cabral

Report

The use of Twitter to alert drivers about police road blocks became widespread after Brazil adopted tougher laws against drink-driving about three years ago.

The Attorney General's office claims the Twitter information allows drivers to violate both traffic and criminal laws. According to the authorities the road blocks make the roads safer and help to fight other types of crime, such as drug dealing².

One of the largest of these illegal Twitter accounts is based in Rio de Janeiro and has almost 300 thousand followers³.

The lawsuit demands that Twitter must block all these accounts and if it doesn't it must pay almost 300 thousand dollars for each day of non-compliance.

Statistics from the Ministry⁴ of Justice place Brazil among the 10 countries with the highest proportion of deaths caused by road traffic accidents.

1 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 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。

4 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。