【英语语言学习】爱情与谋杀

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

The late Gabriel Garcia-Marquez once said that the inspiration for his books came from daily life in his region. Surrealism runs through the streets, he said in an interview in 1973. Surrealism comes from the reality of Latin America.

The story I'm going to tell you today that is one that could be ripped straight from one of his novels. It has a criminal, his lover, her lover, a murder, a court case and a medium. This is a story about Brazil. But it begins in the least romantic place you can imagine - a tiny office in an old building in a rural city called Uberaba northwest of Sao Paulo. Rondon de Lima is a lawyer with a wide, wolfish grin, slicked-back silver hair and the dapper dress sense of a man more suited to a Paris cafe than an agricultural city.

This tale begins as many do; with a relationship gone sour. In this case, her name was Lenira de Oliviera. Her man was a crime boss, the head of an illegal gambling¹ operation here.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Through translator) She was very much in love with Joao Rosa. But he couldn't be only with her. It was her and two, three other women.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Oliviera started seeing another man; an ex-cop.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Through translator) But Joao Rosa, although he had other women, he doesn't accept losing Lenira.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: He is consumed with jealousy². One night he follows Lenira de Oliviera and her new boyfriend. A shootout ensues but it is the crime boss and not the lovers who is killed. The ex-cop and Oliviera are charged with murder. And this is when things get otherworldly. Lenira is riven with guilt³. She still loved him, you see. And so she goes to see a medium, a very famous one. And she receives a letter from Joao Rosa, the gambling kingpin from the beyond, de Lima says.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Through translator) In the letter channeled by this medium the deceased confesses. He says his jealousy was the reason for his death. The letter includes details that only people close to him could have known.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And this letter is then submitted by the defense⁴ to the court to exonerate⁵ the accused. Let me repeat that - a letter, channeled by a medium, supposedly written by a murdered crime boss to his ex-lover is admitted in a Brazilian court of law.

PADILHA DE OLIVIERA: My name is Hertha Helena Rollemberg Padilha de Oliviera. I'm a judge.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Judge Hertha says, there are many cases involving spirits in Brazil.

PADILHA DE OLIVIERA: If the proof is not illegal - it's lawful⁶ - you have to accept it in the process.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So if I come with a letter written by a medium from a dead person purporting⁷ that this crime wasn't committed or saying that I wasn't the person who did the crime, the judge has to accept it?

PADILHA DE OLIVIERA: He has to accept it - the proof - in the process. He can't say, take the letter away from the process - in the process, no, he can't.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Why do you think this happens here in Brazil? Do think it's because Brazil is a more spiritual society?

PADILHA DE OLIVIERA: Yes. Of course. This is a - it's a very spiritual society. Probably 90 percent of the people probably will believe in something in - some kind of a spiritual influence. And most of the - I think most of the people believe in life after death.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Life after death is one thing - being able to communicate with the dead is another. But it's an accepted practice in Brazil. To understand why, you have to delve⁸ into religion called Spiritism. Brazil has more practitioners⁹ than any place in the world, almost four million and growing. And as it happens, its center is the city where the court case took place, Uberaba.

We arrive at a modest building in a residential¹⁰ neighborhood where a service is being held. Its 5 a.m.

Here this morning, 80 people are huddled¹¹ on this cold rainy predawn day under blankets in a sort of chapel¹². In the front of the room sits a man writing letters.

His name is Carlos Baccelli. He's the main medium here and he channeled the letter used in the recent court case. So briefly¹³, if you're thinking Victorian table rapping and séances, then actually, you aren't far wrong. But this isn't at all your neon sign advertising¹⁴ a palm reading for five bucks¹⁵. This is a religion. No money changes hands. Spiritists believe in reincarnation but also in Jesus's gospel.

Right now some of the associate mediums are coming around to the congregation and laying their hands on them and it's supposed to be transferring spiritual energy; this all to the the tune¹⁶ of "Feelings."

It's suddenly my turn. A woman waves her hands over my head and upper body - I don't know if it's the power of suggestion or the music, but I feel a buzzing. All eyes are now on the podium. Baccelli starts to read out the letters he has channeled from the dead. One in particular catches my attention, it has a lot of detail.

CARLOS BACCELLI: (Speaking foreign language).

GARCIA-NAVARRO: The spirit explains that he was drunk when he was hit by the car that killed him. The letter details exactly how it happened. As the message is read, a group of people next to me begin to cry.

Gisele Fernanda Bardasi tells me her husband was run over by a car four months ago. Next to her, one of her three daughters quietly sobs¹⁷.

GISELE FERNANDA BARDASI: (Through translator) It is my first time here. I was desperate. I wanted to know what happened. It was a big question because we were together and suddenly we found him dead on the road.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: The letter, she says, has given her comfort. At the end I ask Carlos Baccelli, the medium, if he remembers the letter he channeled that was used in the court case.

BACCELLI: (Through translator) No. Sincerely, I don't remember. The letter is given and the way the family uses it - if they keep it, throw it away or rip it - we don't know.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Baccelli says, he believes that letters should only be used as a last resort in a legal case. They are written to comfort the families and sometimes even bring a little clarification. Baccelli was trained as a dentist. But he's been a medium since his youth, when he started having out of body experiences. He explains that he never knows which spirit will speak through him, or why.

BACCELLI: (Through translator) I don't know what the spirit will say. For example, I don't know how he will end a sentence. Sometimes he is writing and I'm thinking, how is this sentence going to be finished?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Back at the lawyer's office, Rondon de Lima tells me he used the letter because it's not the judge who decides a criminal case, but the jury. And he says, everyone in the city believes in the spirits and will take a letter like that seriously.

In the end, the lovers were indeed acquitted¹⁸. But was it because of the letter? We'll never know. De Lima says there without overwhelming evidence - the forensic¹⁹ kind - that the ex-policeman acted in self-defense. I ask him if he believes that these letters from the dead are real.

RONDON DE LIMA: (Speaking foreign language).

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Do I believe, he says? I confess, I do.

You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.

1 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

2 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

3 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 exonerate   

v.免除责任，确定无罪

参考例句：

• Nothing can exonerate her from that.任何解释都难辞其咎。
• There is no reason to exonerate him from the ordinary duties of a citizen.没有理由免除他做公民应尽的义务。

6 lawful   

adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的

参考例句：

• It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
• We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。

7 purporting   

v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Cindy Adams (Columnist) : He's purporting to be Mother Teresa. 辛迪？亚当斯（专栏作家）：他无意成为德兰修女。 来自互联网
• To prohibit certain practices purporting to be sales by auction. 本条例旨在对看来是以拍卖方式作出的售卖中某些行为予以禁止。 来自互联网

8 delve   

v.深入探究，钻研

参考例句：

• We should not delve too deeply into this painful matter.我们不应该过分深究这件痛苦的事。
• We need to delve more deeply into these questions.这些是我们想进一步了解的。

9 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

10 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

11 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

12 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

13 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

14 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

15 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

17 sobs   

啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She was struggling to suppress her sobs. 她拼命不让自己哭出来。
• She burst into a convulsive sobs. 她突然抽泣起来。

18 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。

19 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。