英语听力精选进阶版 14101

Parisian shop sues crime writer

Summary

9 April 2010

Lalie Walker, the author of a crime thriller¹, is being taken to court because the action of her new book takes place in a well-known shopping emporium in Paris. The owners of Marché Saint-Pierre say her book damages its reputation.

Reporter:

Hugh Schofield

Report

It's a highly unusual legal situation where the author of a piece of fiction is taken to court because the action takes place in a particular locality, and the owners of that locality feel their name has been dragged through the mud. Yet that's what's happened in the case of Lalie Walker's book, Aux Malheurs des Dames².

The Marché Saint-Pierre, where the murder story unfolds, is a well-known fabric³ store near Montmartre. In the book, staff members go missing as voodoo dolls are pinned to the walls and rumours⁴ swirl⁵ around the behaviour of the shop's managers.

In their plea, the real-life owners of the Marché Saint-Pierre say it's a registered trade mark and that no one can write about it without prior permission. They say their image has been seriously harmed by the book, and they want damages of two million euros - more than two and a half million dollars.

The author Lalie Walker is mystified. "If you can't set stories in real-life places," she says, "then you might as well just give up."

Hugh Schofield, BBC News, Paris

1 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

2 dames   

n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人

参考例句：

• Dames would not comment any further. Dames将不再更多的评论。 来自互联网
• Flowers, candy, jewelry, seemed the principal things in which the elegant dames were interested. 鲜花、糖果和珠宝看来是那些贵妇人的主要兴趣所在。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

3 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

4 rumours   

n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传

参考例句：

• The rumours were completely baseless. 那些谣传毫无根据。
• Rumours of job losses were later confirmed. 裁员的传言后来得到了证实。

5 swirl   

v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形

参考例句：

• The car raced roughly along in a swirl of pink dust.汽车在一股粉红色尘土的漩涡中颠簸着快速前进。
• You could lie up there,watching the flakes swirl past.你可以躺在那儿，看着雪花飘飘。