VOA标准英语2010年-Social Networking Could Land You in Ja

Law enforcement officers in Olympia, Washington are cruising social networking sites like YouTube to find evidence of potential criminal activity, such as off-roading on public lands.

Social networking websites such as Facebook or YouTube are filled with images of people exercising poor judgment¹ in the real world and then compounding it, by posting those videos online.

Now, these self-incriminating Internet postings are helping² cops like Larry Raedel fight crime on public land.

Cruising YouTube

Raedel, the police chief for Washington state forests, surfs over to YouTube and enters "4x4... off road... in Capitol Forest" into the search window.

Up pop dozens of short videos. They depict³ customized Jeeps, Toyotas and Broncos spinning their over-sized tires in the mud, scaling stumps⁴, or driving down creek⁵ beds.

He clicks on one, and watches it for a moment. "They're going through water here which is habitat in some cases," he explains, pointing to the screen. "They're eroding⁶ the soils. Eventually, this may work its way down into a stream that may be fish-bearing and could cause some problems that way with erosion and habitat."

Making a case against illegal off-roading

Many public forests include designated trails for off-road vehicles, but this doesn't look like one. Blazing rogue⁷ trails is a misdemeanor and Raedel can also pursue a driver for civil damages.

To make a case with YouTube, officers need to extract a license⁸ plate and identify some landmark⁹ that confirms the illegal off-roading is happening in their jurisdiction¹⁰.

"There was clearly a plate on that vehicle going by," Raedel says, as he replays the video. "Here's another one, on here. It's a Washington license plate on it. We can clearly make that particular plate out. So this is what we're looking for on these sites."

Larry Raedel has yet to test the admissibility of a self-incriminating internet video in court.

Tracking offenders¹¹

But YouTube detective work cracked one recent case. It began with a tip from a web-surfing Fish and Wildlife officer in Arizona.

What caught that officer's eye was a post seeking helpers to blaze a new unauthorized trail. The cops traced the item to a 17-year-old boy in southwest Washington.

A phone call from Chief Raedel resolved the case.

"We were able to talk to him, educate him and he has apologized several times. As a result, we have now been able to put him to work for [the Washington State Department of Natural Resources]. Instead of creating an enemy now, we have an ally that's going to be helping us."

Growing demand

This episode and others reflect pent-up demand for legitimate¹² trails for all-terrain vehicles.

Crystal Crowder is president of an off-road club in Clark County, Washington, called Piston's Wild. She's frustrated¹³ by the painfully slow process to establish new routes. The club website includes an online forum¹⁴ and user videos.

"The Internet has been a tremendous boon¹⁵ for us to be able to reach out to thousands of people and share the word with them. You know, tread lightly. Stay on the trail. Don't build new trails," she says, adding that following the rules will be rewarded with more areas to ride in or more areas being opened up.

Crowder says she doesn't have a problem with cops perusing¹⁶ her site, noting that members already police each other to put their sport in the best possible light.

"Where someone may post up and say, 'Look what I did! I did this horrible thing I should not have been doing,' a large group of peers will generally jump on that and discipline that person online and kind of teach them a lesson about what's right and what's wrong."

Crowder doesn't want the face of her sport to be defined by YouTube postings depicting¹⁷ questonable activity.

It's also not a failsafe crimefighting method for the cops. Some people who post on YouTube do cover their license plates or otherwise conceal¹⁸ their identity. Which goes to show why officers consider the Internet useful, but it's no substitute for getting out into the woods.
 

1 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 depict   

vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述

参考例句：

• I don't care to see plays or films that depict murders or violence.我不喜欢看描写谋杀或暴力的戏剧或电影。
• Children's books often depict farmyard animals as gentle,lovable creatures.儿童图书常常把农场的动物描写得温和而可爱。

4 stumps   

（被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分

参考例句：

• Rocks and stumps supplied the place of chairs at the picnic. 野餐时石头和树桩都充当了椅子。
• If you don't stir your stumps, Tom, you'll be late for school again. 汤姆，如果你不快走，上学又要迟到了。

5 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

6 eroding   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的现在分词 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
• Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。

7 rogue   

n.流氓；v.游手好闲

参考例句：

• The little rogue had his grandpa's glasses on.这淘气鬼带上了他祖父的眼镜。
• They defined him as a rogue.他们确定他为骗子。

8 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

9 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

10 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。

11 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

12 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

13 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

15 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

16 perusing   

v.读（某篇文字）( peruse的现在分词 )；（尤指）细阅；审阅；匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览（某篇文字）

参考例句：

• She found the information while she was perusing a copy of Life magazine. 她在读《生活》杂志的时候看到了这个消息。 来自辞典例句
• Hence people who began by beholding him ended by perusing him. 所以人们从随便看一看他开始的，都要以仔细捉摸他而终结。 来自辞典例句

17 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

18 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。