VOA标准英语2011--British Community Cleans Up After Night

British Community Cleans Up After Night of Looting

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday that 16,000 police would be in London Tuesday night to defend the capital from rioters. It comes after three straight days of violent demonstrations² in the capital. And it’s not just London that’s been hit.
Sivaharan Kandiah is a shopowner in the north London burrough Hackney. His business was looted Monday night when riots hit the area. He says he watched it happening on the television.
“Eleven years work is gone just like that. I work 80, 90 hours a week and it was just wiped out in one or two hours. Everything was gone. Everything wiped out,” Kandiah said.
Kandiah’s shop is one of many looted in a wave of riots that have raged for three nights now.
It began on Saturday with a peaceful demonstration¹ to mark the death of a 29-year-old man who was reportedly shot dead by police.
That turned into violent upheaval³ in north London. Since then similar riots have raged across London and beyond the capital in large cities like Birmingham and Liverpool.
Rioters have smashed windows and broken into shops, attacked city buses and set cars and buildings on fire.
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron has returned from holiday to deal with the upheaval. He has recalled parliament from its summer recess⁴ and says London will be reinforced with thousands of extra police officers in case rioting continues.
That would come as good news for some residents in Hackney. Many said they felt the police had not done enough to protect the area.
Local resident Basani Mabyalane described how she worried for herself and her children.
“I was very, very scared. I felt helpless. And I could see on the TV that the police were doing their best to deal with the situation but I could also see it was something too much for them. I felt scared in that way because I could see that the people who were supposed to protect me were outnumbered or outstretched,” Mabyalane said.
Local teenager Shine said many people had been frightened. “I guess a lot of the neighborhood people who were in that area all locked their doors because it was quite dangerous with all the fires and all the cars that were exploding,” he said.
The Member of Parliament for Hackney, Diane Abbott, was there Tuesday to speak with her constituents⁵.
She said a curfew may be the best way to contain the situation.
She said there is an underlying⁶ cause for the unrest, which is partly social and economic.
“There’s no question that there’s a section of our young people who feel they have absolutely no stake in society, no stake at all and they are also seeing in their wider communities the social capital disappearing,” Abbott said.
Police say they have arrested more than 500 people since the riots began.

1 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

2 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

3 upheaval   

n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱

参考例句：

• It was faced with the greatest social upheaval since World War Ⅱ.它面临第二次世界大战以来最大的社会动乱。
• The country has been thrown into an upheaval.这个国家已经陷入动乱之中。

4 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

5 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。