VOA标准英语2014--Malaysian Jet's Disappearance Exposes Security Gaps 马来西亚飞机失踪的暴露安全漏洞

 

Malaysian Jet's Disappearance¹ Exposes Security Gaps 马来西亚飞机失踪的暴露安全漏洞

The investigation² into the Malaysian airliner³ which disappeared last Saturday has brought up questions about security, especially since two of the plane's passengers were traveling with stolen passports.  A data base for passports does exist but it’s not clear why it was not checked by Malaysian officials.

An Italian man’s passport was on the Malaysia Airlines flight, but he was not.

Luigi Maraldi reported his passport stolen two years ago.  The information went into an international database of 40 million stolen or lost passports monitored by Interpol.  But the database was not checked before the flight took off and then disappeared on Saturday. 

In fact, Interpol says passengers worldwide last year were able to board planes one billion times without having their passports checked against the database.

Congressman⁴ Adam Schiff, a senior member of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee expressed concern.

"The fact that two people traveling with fake passports on a flight of this size, and it's not uncommon⁵, reveals a glaring hole in our security," said Schiff.

Two stolen passports and other unknowns are why CIA Director John Brennan has not ruled out terrorism.

“Were these individuals with stolen passports in any way involved?” – he asked.

The database is available to Interpol’s 190 member countries and will be accessible to others.

The United States is one of the largest contributors - with three million records - and does not permit flights to enter or leave the U.S. without checking it.  But, Shawn Dray, Interpol’s Washington director, told VOA in this exclusive interview the database gets limited use from most other countries.

"Sometimes over-classification can get in the way, sometimes diplomacy⁶ can be an issue between countries,  political issues can come up. But if you take a look at Interpol and its services that it provides, it’ll just be a matter of increasing those services, and doing what we already do. We will just do it better and we will do more of it.”

Aviation consultant⁷ Vahid Motevalli says the size of the database is a problem.

“Sometimes passports are reported stolen and maybe they’re lost and they may be found. “But there is cost and time involved in all of that and that’s perhaps why [the databases] aren’t widely used,” 

The Interpol database was created in 2002, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. It was hoped that the database would help prevent future attacks. 

 

But as CIA director Brennan says, there are too many “curious anomalies” to know what really happened to Malaysia Airlines flight 370.

1 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

2 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

3 airliner   

n.客机，班机

参考例句：

• The pilot landed the airliner safely.驾驶员使客机安全着陆。
• The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.旅客们被引导走过跑道去上飞机。

4 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

5 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

6 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

7 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。