本期精讀的文章來自The Economist關於威尼斯街頭小偷的報導Volunteers are nabbing Venice’s pickpockets
作為著名旅遊城市，威尼斯每年吸引了數以萬計的遊客前去參觀，但威尼斯街頭的小偷也盯上了遊客。由於當地警力不足，一個名為Undistracted Citizens的志願者組織也應運而生。他們幫助警方抓住了很多小偷，但他們的行動本身有一定的風險，有的志願者被小偷襲擊，還有的被指控性騷擾。光靠志願者解決治安問題並不是長久之計。
這篇文章的小標題很有意思：Police cannot cope with petty thieves. Enter the 「undistracted citizens」
在劇本中說「（某人）上（場）」，英文是enter somebody 比如：Enter Othello. 奧賽羅上。因此小標題的意思是：警方無法應對小竊賊，有請「不分心市民」這一組織上場。
這篇文章同樣是短文，其中有一些值得學習的語言知識點，下面是全文分析：
開頭段介紹了威尼斯街頭扒手眾多的現象，交代了CND這一組織出現的背景。
With hordes of distracted tourists crowding its labyrinthine streets, Venice offers rich pickings for pickpockets, especially during the summer crush.眾多遊客擠在威尼斯迷宮般的街道上，他們東張西望，注意力不集中，這為扒手提供了豐富的獵物，特別是在夏天遊客高峰期。
pickings意思是「不義之財」（money which can be earned easily or dishonestly），例如：The street-sellers are lured to the town by the rich pickings that are to be had from foreign tourists. 因為可以從外國遊客那裡賺到大量的錢財，街邊小販被吸引到鎮上來了。
crush在這裡意思是「擁擠的人群」（a crowd of people forced to stand close together），單詞還有一個更加常見的意思「迷戀」，比如A喜歡上了B，可以說：A has a crush on B
crowd在文中的用法也值得注意，我們比較熟悉的是它的名詞用法，這裡它是作為動詞使用，意思是「擠滿，塞滿」，例如要表達「海灘上擠滿了遊客」，我們可以說：Tourists crowded the beaches.
The police cannot cope. So volunteers known as Cittadini non distratti (CND), or Undistracted Citizens, help them out.威尼斯警察無法對應這些小偷，於是被稱為Cittadini non distratti（不分心市民）的志願者們出來幫警察分擔工作。
help somebody out意思是「幫某人分擔工作，幫某人一把」，比如：When I bought the house, my sister helped me out with a loan. 我買這所房子時，我姐姐借給了我一筆錢救急。短語的另一個替換說法是give somebody a hand
這一段介紹了志願者組織在抓捕扒手方面的貢獻。
Most of CND’s roughly 60 members just take pictures of suspects, using WhatsApp to pass along leads to cops.「不分心市民」大約60名成員中，大多數只是拍攝嫌疑人的照片，然後用WhatsApp將線索傳給警察。
lead在這裡用得很準，它是熟詞生義，意思是「線索」（a piece of information that may help you to solve a crime or mystery），相當於clue
cop在這裡意思是「警察」，但注意這是一個非正式用法，考場寫作不要用這個詞。
Some only grab the thieves they spot in the shops and bars where they are employed. Even so, cnd is behind a third of pickpocket arrests in Venice, says Francesco Livieri, a deputy police commissioner.一些人只抓他們工作的商店和酒吧裡發現的小偷。副警察專員弗朗西斯科·利維裡表示，即便如此，威尼斯被捕的小偷中仍有三分之一是「不分心市民」組織貢獻的。
Collaboration between cnd and the cops is so tight, Mr Livieri jokes, that he spends more time with the volunteers than with his wife.利維裡先生開玩笑說，「不分心市民」與警察之間的合作是如此密切，以至於他與志願者們相處的時間比他和妻子的還長。
這一段進一步介紹了志願者團隊的貢獻。
Cops are thin on the ground but 「we have eyes everywhere」, says Franco Dei Rossi, an affable 68-year-old street painter who founded the group nearly three decades ago.弗蘭科·德伊羅西是一位和藹可親的68歲街頭畫家，他在大約三十年前成立了這個團隊。他說，警察寥寥無幾，但「我們到處都有耳目」。
thin on the ground是一個英式短語，可以用來形容某事物很少見，不常有（to exist only in small numbers or amounts），比如我們可以說：
Fifteen years ago, smartphones were thin on the ground, but thanks to rapid technological advances, they are now ubiquitous.
Members must decline any rewards from victims (including, says Mr Dei Rossi, the occasional come-on).志願者成員必須拒絕受害者的任何獎勵（德伊羅西先生說到，包括偶爾來自女性失主的挑逗）。
come-on是一個非正式說法，意思是「挑逗，勾引，賣弄風情」。
As he is speaking, two men who the group says have been picking pockets for weeks stroll past and, upon recognising Mr Dei Rossi, smile wryly. He shouts back: 「Get a job!」正當他在講話的時候，兩名男子晃悠悠走過。當他們認出了德伊羅西先生時，兩個人露出了苦笑。志願者團隊說這兩個人最近數周一直在扒竊。他朝他們大喊：「去找個工作！」
要表達「他離開學校後就加入了軍隊」，我們可能會想到：
He joined the army after he left school.
這裡也可以參考句子中upon的用法「一……就……」，寫成：
He joined the army upon leaving school.
這一段提到了威尼斯政府的不作為以及志願者遇到的抵抗。
Some members accuse city officials of neglecting pickpockets and pursuing illegal picnickers instead, who are much easier to catch and fine. Slow, lenient courts fuel street crime, says Monica Poli, a cnd member.一些志願者成員指責城市官員對扒竊者視而不見，只關心抓捕非法野餐者，因為這些野餐者更容易抓住和罰款。一名「不分心市民」成員莫妮卡波莉說，遲緩、仁慈的法院助長了街頭犯罪。
fuel一詞在這裡用得很形象，很容易讓人聯想起火上澆油的意象，它的意思是「使……更強烈」。舉個例子，蘋果最新的發布會缺乏新意，這加劇了投資者對蘋果創新能力的擔憂。我們可以說：
Apple's lackluster launch event fuels investors' worries about the company's ability to innovate.
A cleaner, she hunts pickpockets after work near Venice’s train station, where apprentice thieves learn their trade by relieving newly arrived tourists of their wallets.作為一名清潔工，她下班後在威尼斯火車站附近抓小偷，那裡很多剛入行小偷通過幫新來遊客「減輕錢包負擔」來學習偷竊這一行當的本事。
learn your trade是一個常用搭配，意思是「學習某個行業的手藝，本事」，這裡trade是熟詞生義，意思是「（尤指需要特殊技術和手工勞動的）職業，行當」，比如：After she left school, she went to college to learn a trade. 她中學畢業後去一家技術學院學一門手藝。
…relieving newly arrived tourists of their wallets 這裡使用了諷刺的手法，將偷走遊客錢包說成是幫助他們減輕錢包的負擔。
「Here, I run things,」 Ms Poli says. Perhaps, but Ms Poli was recently beaten twice by packs of female pickpockets. In Venice, they outnumber their male colleagues.波莉女士說，「在這裡，我是管事的」。事實可能是如此，但她最近被一群女性扒手打了兩次。在威尼斯，她們的人數超過男性同行。
"I run things" 意思相當于于 "I am in charge of things"；在對兩個事物進行比較時，可以使用out-這一詞綴來使表達更加簡潔。比如：
As a child, he was smarter than his peers.
我們可以用outsmart來簡化句子：
As a child, he outsmarted his peers.
又比如：
In recent years the Austrian economy has performed better than most other industrial economies.
可以簡化為：
In recent years the Austrian economy has outperformed most other industrial economies.
其他類似的單詞還有outlast/outshine/outwit等，各位同學平時遇到這類用法可以多加積累。
最後一段介紹了目前志願者組織遇到的問題。
The crusade is getting harder. Pickpockets circulate photos of CND volunteers, eroding their element of surprise.打擊小偷的運動變得越來越難。扒手們將志願組織成員的照片放在網上流傳，這使得他們出其不意抓人的方法失效。
crusade意思是「（長期堅定不移的）鬥爭，運動」（a long and determined attempt to achieve something which you believe in strongly），例如：They have long been involved in a crusade for racial equality. 他們長期以來一直致力於爭取種族平等的運動。
element of surprise是一個固定搭配，意思是「出其不意（出人意料）的方法」（the use of methods which are intended to cause surprise），例如：An element of surprise is important to any attack. 出其不意在任何進攻中都很重要。
Also, it is no longer advisable for volunteers to restrain someone with a hand in a stranger’s purse. The courts now prefer that volunteers wait until the hand has emerged clutching valuables.而且，現在也不建議志願者去制止那些手剛伸到陌生人錢包的小偷。司法機構更願意讓志願者等到扒手偷到貴重物品時才動手。
the courts是一個固定說法，它的意思是「司法機構」（the system of courts that decide legal cases）。Valuables是一個複數名詞，意思是「貴重物品」，例如：Guests should leave their valuables in the hotel safe. 客人應把貴重物品存放在酒店保險柜中。
And female thieves have a dastardly tactic to thwart their pursuers. When caught, they routinely scream that they are being groped or raped.而且女盜賊還採取了一個卑鄙的策略來阻撓她們的追捕者。被抓住時，她們經常尖聲喊道自己正遭到猥褻或強暴。
He says he recently grabbed a thief who promptly ripped her own shirt and screamed that she was being attacked. Says Damiano Gizzi, a volunteer: 「we risk a lynching.」他說他最近抓住了一名小偷，這名小偷被抓後迅速將自己的襯衫撕開，並大聲喊道自己正遭受襲擊。一名叫達米亞諾吉茲的志願者說到：「我們冒著被私處絞刑的風險（去抓小偷）」。
總結：
今天我們學習了以下幾個重點句型和表達：
(1) thin on the ground
(2) upon doing something
(3) fuel
(4) outnumber/outperform/outsmart
感興趣的同學可以使用這些句型造句以加深印象。
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