英闻天下——161 Couple Arrested for Helping Migrants Buy Tickets

 　　A couple in Guangdong was detained for booking train tickets online and selling them for 10 yuan extra to migrant workers who want to return home for Spring Festival.

 

　　But migrant workers say they feel sorry for the couple.

 

　　Last year China's railway system carried out an online ticket-booking system and a real name ticket purchasing system in an effort to crack down on train ticket scalpers and make it more convenient to buy train tickets.

 

　　However, migrant workers, who comprise the majority of the passengers find it even harder to book a train ticket because most of them don't have a computer or access to the internet.

 

　　What's worse, sale of tickets for a given date opens two days before they can be purchased from a ticket counter. Compared with people with easy access to the internet, migrant workers, who are most sensitive to prices and most eager to get a train ticket, lose out at the starting line in the race to buy a ticket.

 

　　Therefore in Guangdong Province, a man surnamed Zhong started to help computer illiterate¹ migrant workers navigate² the railway's ticketing website in November. Zhong used the workers' ID cards to purchase tickets in their name, charging 10 yuan, that's about 1.60 US dollars for his service.

 

　　As more migrants sought Zhong's help, his wife surnamed Ye was also recruited to make online purchases.

 

　　Local railway police discovered the couple's business this month and arrested the couple for scalping.

 

　　The railway police said on its Sina Weibo that the couple was arrested on criminal charges, which could bring a sentence of up to three years and a fine of up to five times the total value of the tickets.

 

　　The couple's ticketing service is considered serious because it involved more than 5,000 yuan.

 

　　But the case triggered a debate on whether the two are scalpers. Let's take a listen.

 

　　"The punishment for train ticket scalpers aims to crackdown on the disruption of normal social order. The couple didn't disrupt social order but helped migrant workers. What's more, under the real-name system, the ownership of the tickets hasn't been changed from the very beginning. So the couple just acted as a ticket agency."

 

　　"The law on ticket scalping was implemented³ before 1999. At that time, real-name system and online purchase didn't exist. The lawmakers couldn't predict how the methods of ticket purchase would change when they were drafting the law. So it requires the law enforcement officials to take these changes into consideration now."

 

　　"Personally, I don't support the couple's deeds. They've collected so many people's ID card to book tickets. What if they lost these ID cards? "

1 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

2 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

3 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句