英語趣味課堂：犯罪的類型-Types of Crime

Gareth: So, Rebecca, where are you from?

Rebecca: I'm from America, actually, yeah.

Gareth: I've never been to America. What's crime like in America?

Rebecca: I think it probably depends a lot, city to city. It varies a lot, depending on the city. I actually lived for a while in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Living there, I never actually thought it was unsafe or anything, but looking back, it makes me go like, - We actually lived with that? That's insane! Like there are certain areas in town you just don't drive, because if you stop your car in that area, you know, it's extremely dangerous.

Gareth: So, what's the most common kind of crime?

Rebecca: Um, we had a lot of gang problems, a lot of robberies, a lot of guns, and there are a lot of shootings in Albuquerque, especially in the - I can't remember the name of the area now, but down in this one area, there were a lot. Down in the valley, there were a lot of gang problems.

Gareth: Really? What's the best way to stop it, do you think?

Rebecca: Oh, God, I have no idea. Like the only thing we can say is, you know, - Trust the police to do their job and save us all. But even just that, like to be honest, a lot of the problem in the States come from the fact that we're allowed to have guns.

Gareth: Hm.

Rebecca: And as an American, like yeah, it's part of our, you know, national right to have guns. And if you say, - You can't have guns, then it would be very upsetting, as an American, because it's like part of, you know, what built the country.

Gareth: Yeah.

Rebecca: But because we have so many guns, that makes crime a whole lot easier to do.

Gareth: Yeah. In England, they've banned guns. You can only keep like a shotgun if you keep your shots away from the gun. But still, they smuggle pistols into the country -

Rebecca: Yeah.

Gareth: --and there are gangs that have guns. And if they don't have guns, they have knives.

Rebecca: Right. So it's like I think maybe if they were to ban the guns in America, I wonder if it would help or just make it so like the normal people who have these weapons no longer have them, and the bad people who had the - (the bad people), the criminals, or whatever, you know, the gangs - who had the weapons before, I don't think they'll not have the weapons anymore. I think they'll still have them.

Gareth: Yeah.

Rebecca: They'll smuggle them in. Because they're doing all these other bad things, why would it matter? So, I don't know. it just leaves the innocent people a little more defenseless, but I don't - I don't know; I really don't know.

重點詞匯：

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

insane

I thought it insane that we lived in those areas!

Here, the word insane is used informally to express surprise. Notice the following:

That's insane!

No way! Are you insane?

upsetting

It would be very upsetting.

Something that is upsetting makes us angry. Notice the following:

His drunken behavior at the party was upsetting.

That's upsetting news.

banned

In England, they banned guns.

Something that is banned is forbidden, usually by the government. Notice the following:

In my hometown, smoking has been banned in all public places.

There's an alcohol ban at all school functions.

smuggle

People smuggle pistols into the country.

The word smuggle means to secretly and illegally move people or things from one place to another. Notice the following:

Alien smuggling is a big problem at the border.

The gang was arrested for drug smuggling.

matter

Why would it matter?

Something that matters is important to us. Notice the following:

Your opinion matters to me.

Does it matter what I say?