Unit 4

T1

After twenty years

1 The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. The impressiveness was habitual and not for show, for spectators were few. The time was barely ten o'clock at night, but chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had well nigh de-peopled the streets.

2 Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace. The vicinity was one that kept early hours. Now and then you might see the lights of a cigar store or of an all-night lunch counter; but the majority of the doors belonged to business places that had long since been closed.

3 When about midway of a certain block the policeman suddenly slowed his walk. In the doorway of a darkened hardware store a man leaned, with an unlighted cigar in his mouth. As the policeman walked up to him the man spoke up quickly.

4 "It's all right, officer," he said, reassuringly. "I'm just waiting for a friend. It's an appointment made twenty years ago. Sounds a little funny to you, doesn't it? Well, I'll explain if you'd like to make certain it's all straight. About that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store stands – 'Big Joe' Brady's restaurant."

5 "Until five years ago," said the policeman. "It was torn down then."

6 The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a pale, squarejawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His scarfpin was a large diamond, oddly set.

7 "Twenty years ago tonight," said the man, "I dined here at 'Big Joe' Brady's with Jimmy Wells, my best chum, and the finest chap in the world. He and I were raised here in New York, just like two brothers, together. I was eighteen and Jimmy was twenty. The next morning I was to start for the West to make my fortune. You couldn't have dragged Jimmy out of New York; he thought it was the only place on earth. Well, we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty years from that date and time, no matter what our conditions might be or from what distance we might have to come. We figured that in twenty years each of us ought to have our destiny worked out and our fortunes made, whatever they were going to be."

8 "It sounds pretty interesting," said the policeman. "Rather a long time between meets, though, it seems to me. Haven't you heard from your friend since you left?"

9 "Well, yes, for a time we corresponded," said the other. " But after a year or two we lost track of each other. You see, the West is a pretty big proposition, and I kept hustling around over it pretty lively. But I know Jimmy will meet me here if he's alive, for he always was the truest, staunchest old chap in the world. He'll never forget. I came a thousand miles to stand in this door tonight, and it's worth it if my old partner turns up."

10 The waiting man pulled out a handsome watch, the lids of it set with small diamonds.

11 "Three minutes to ten," he announced. "It was exactly ten o'clock when we parted here at the restaurant door."

12 "Did pretty well out West, didn't you?" asked the policeman.

13 "You bet! I hope Jimmy has done half as well. He was a kind of plodder, though, good fellow as he was. I've had to compete with some of the sharpest wits going to get my pile. A man gets in a groove in New York. It takes the West to put a razor-edge on him. "

14 The policeman twirled his club and took a step or two.

15 "I'll be on my way. Hope your friend comes around all right. Going to call time on him sharp? "

16 "I should say not!" said the other. "I'll give him half an hour at least. If Jimmy is alive on earth he'll be here by that time. So long, officer."

17 "Good night, sir," said the policeman, passing on along his beat, trying doors as he went.

18 There was now a fine, cold drizzle falling, and the wind had risen from its uncertain puffs into a steady blow. The few foot passengers astir in that quarter hurried dismally and silently along with coat collars turned high and pocketed hands. And in the door of the hardware store the man who had come a thousand miles to fill an appointment, uncertain almost to absurdity, with the friend of his youth, smoked his cigar and waited.

19 About twenty minutes he waited, and then a tall man in a long overcoat, with collar turned up to his ears, hurried across from the opposite side of the street. He went directly to the waiting man.

20 "Is that you, Bob?" he asked, doubtfully.

21 "Is that you, Jimmy Wells?" cried the man in the door.

22 "Bless my heart!" exclaimed the new arrival, grasping both the other's hands with his own. "It's Bob, sure as fate. I was certain I'd find you here if you were still in existence. Well, well, well! – twenty years is a long time. The old restaurant's gone, Bob; I wish it had lasted, so we could have had another dinner there. How has the West treated you, old man?"

23 "Buddy; it has given me everything I asked it for. You've changed lots, Jimmy. I never thought you were so tall by two or three inches."

24 "Oh, I grew a bit after I was twenty."

25 "Doing well in New York, Jimmy?"

26 "Moderately. I have a position in one of the city departments. Come on, Bob; we'll go around to a place I know of, and have a good long talk about old times."

27 The two men started up the street, arm in arm. The man from the West, his egotism enlarged by success, was beginning to outline the history of his career. The other, submerged in his overcoat, listened with interest.

28 At the corner stood a drug store, brilliant with electric lights. When they came into this glare each of them turned simultaneously to gaze upon the other's face.

29 The man from the West stopped suddenly and released his arm.

30 "You're not Jimmy Wells," he snapped. "Twenty years is a long time, but not long enough to change a man's nose from a Roman to a pug ."

31 "It sometimes changes a good man into a bad one," said the tall man. "You've been under arrest for ten minutes, 'Silky' Bob. Chicago thinks you may have dropped over our way and wires us she wants to have a chat with you. Going quietly, are you? That's sensible. Now, before we go on to the station here's a note I was asked to hand you. You may read it here at the window. It's from Patrolman Wells."

32 The man from the West unfolded the little piece of paper handed him. His hand was steady when he began to read, but it trembled a little by the time he had finished. The note was rather short.

33 Bob: I was at the appointed place on time. When you struck the match to light your cigar I saw it was the face of the man wanted in Chicago. Somehow I couldn't do it myself, so I went around and got a plain-clothes man to do the job.

JIMMY

二十年后?

1 正在巡邏的警察沿街而行，神態(tài)威嚴。威嚴的神態(tài)是習慣性的而不是給別人看的，因為也沒幾個人在看。時間將近夜里十點鐘，但是，夾帶著一絲雨意的陣陣寒風已使街道近乎空無一人了。

2 警官邊走邊推門，看看沿街的店門關好了沒有。他以錯綜復雜的精妙動作熟練地擺弄著警棍，時不時轉身把警覺的目光投向安靜的街道，他健壯的身形和微微大搖大擺的樣子形成一幅和平守護者的美妙圖像。這一帶街區(qū)的人是習慣早睡早起的。時不時能看到一家雪茄店或一間通宵營業(yè)的便餐館還亮著燈；但大多數(shù)商鋪都早已關門了。

3 走到某一街區(qū)的中段時，警察突然放慢了腳步。在一家黑了燈的五金店門口倚著一個男人，嘴里叼著一根沒點著的雪茄。警察一走上前去，那人急忙開了腔。

4 “沒事兒，警官，”他說這話好叫警官放心?！拔抑皇窃诘扰笥选＿@是二十年前定的約會。聽起來您覺得有點兒滑稽，對吧？呃，如果您想弄清楚這是不是實話，我可以解釋。大約二十年前，這家店所在之處原是個餐館——‘大喬’布拉迪餐館?！?/p>

5 “直到五年前，”警察說?！拔迥昵氨徊鹆恕！?/p>

6 門口那人劃了一根火柴點燃雪茄。火光照出一張蒼白、方下巴、長著一雙銳利眼睛的臉，右眉邊上有一處微小的白色疤痕。他的別針是一塊大鉆石，鑲嵌的方式很奇特。

7 “二十年前的今晚，”那人說，“我在‘大喬’布拉迪這里和我最好的哥們兒、世上最棒的伙計吉米?威爾斯一起吃飯。我和他在紐約這塊兒一起長大，就像哥兒倆。我當時十八歲，吉米二十歲。第二天早上我就要動身去西部發(fā)財了。你沒法兒把吉米拽出紐約；他以為這是地球上唯一的一塊地兒。呃，那天晚上我們約定，我們將在二十年后的同一天、同一時間在這里再見面，無論我們混成什么樣子，或者得從多遠的地方來。我們估計二十年后，我們應該都已經知道了自己的命運，發(fā)了財。至于是好是壞都無所謂了。”

8 “聽起來很有趣，”警察說?！安贿^在我看來，兩次會面之間隔了相當長一段時間。自從離開后，你沒有聽到過你朋友的消息嗎？”

9 “呃，有的，我們通過一段時間的信，”那人說?！翱墒且粌赡旰?，我們彼此就失去了聯(lián)系。你知道，西部的生意相當大，我一直忙得團團轉。但我知道如果吉米還活著，他一定會到這兒來見我的，因為他始終是這世界上最忠實、最可靠的老伙計。他絕不會忘的。今晚我從千里之外趕到這個地方，如果我的老伙伴露面的話，一切都值得了?！?/p>

10 那個等候的人掏出一只漂亮的懷表，表蓋上鑲嵌著小鉆石。

11 “差三分鐘十點，”他宣布?！拔覀兪鞘c整在這餐館門口分手的。”

12 “你在西部混得相當不錯，對吧？”警察問道。

13 “當然啦！我希望吉米混得有我一半兒好。他是那種悶頭苦干的人，不過是個好人。我可得跟一幫打我錢財主意的最精明的人競爭。一個人在紐約容易墨守成規(guī)。西部則會讓他身處險境?！?/p>

14 警察轉動警棍，又踱了幾步。

15 “我得上路了。希望你的朋友能準時到來。如果他沒有按時來，你會離開嗎？”

16 “我不會離開！”另一位說?！拔視辽僭俳o他半個小時。如果吉米還活在世上，到時候他會來的。再見，警官。”

17 “晚安，先生，”警察說著，沿巡邏路線繼續(xù)前行，邊走邊推著店門。

18 此時下起了毛毛細雨，寒意襲人，原先若有若無的微風也變成凜冽的寒風。還在街上行走的少數(shù)行人也都豎起了大衣領子，將手插進了口袋，陰郁而沉默地匆匆走開了。五金店門口，從千里之外趕來赴約的那個人抽著雪茄等待著，他與少年時代朋友的這場不確定的約會幾乎到了荒誕的程度。

19 他等了大約二十分鐘，這時一個身穿長大衣，領子豎起到耳朵的高個子男人匆匆從街對面走來。他徑直走向正在等待的人。

20 “是你嗎，鮑勃？” 他猶疑地問。

21 “是你嗎，吉米?威爾斯？” 門口的人大叫。

22 “天哪！”新來的人歡呼起來，緊緊抓住對方的雙手。“是鮑勃，確定無疑。只要你還活著，我肯定會在這兒找到你的。好，好，好！——二十年很長。老餐館沒了，鮑勃；我多希望它還在，那樣我們就可以在這兒再吃一頓飯了。西部待你怎樣，老伙計？”

23 “好極了！它給了我要的一切。你變了很多，吉米。我可沒想過你還能再長高兩三英寸?！?/p>

24 “哦，我二十歲以后又長了一點兒?！?/p>

25 “在紐約混得不錯，吉米？”

26 “一般。我在市政府部門有個職位。來吧，鮑勃；咱們去一個我知道的地方，好好長談一番過去的時光?！?/p>

27 兩人挽著胳膊，沿街走去。來自西部的人，功成名就，信心滿滿，開始談論自己的發(fā)達史。另一位縮在大衣里，饒有興趣地聽著。

28 街角有一家雜貨店，燈火輝煌。他們走到這光亮里時，不約而同地轉頭打量對方的面孔。

29 西部來的人突然停住，松開了他的胳膊。

30 “你不是吉米?威爾斯，”他厲聲說?！岸晔呛荛L，但不足以把一個人的高鼻梁變成塌鼻梁?！?/p>

31 “有時候會把一個好人變成壞人，”高個子男人說?！澳阋呀洷徊妒昼娏?，‘滑頭’鮑勃。芝加哥警方認為你可能會來我們這里，電報通知我們說她想跟你聊聊。乖乖跟我們走，好吧？這才算聰明。現(xiàn)在，在我們繼續(xù)往警局走之前，這兒有一張紙條，有人讓我交給你。你可以在櫥窗這兒讀。是巡警威爾斯寫的?！?/p>

32 來自西部的人打開交給他的紙條。開始時他的手還是穩(wěn)的，但到讀完的時候他的手卻在顫抖。紙條很短。

33 鮑勃：我按時到了約定的地點。你劃火柴點雪茄的時候，我看到了一張被芝加哥通緝的人的臉。不知怎么的，我自己下不了手，于是我轉了一圈，去找了個便衣來干這活兒。

吉米

T2

Stolen identity

1 "Frank never went to pilot school, medical school, law school, … because he's still in high school."

2 That was the strapline of the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, which tells the story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio), a brilliant young master of deception who at different times impersonated a doctor, a lawyer, and an airplane pilot, forging checks worth more than six million dollars in 26 countries. He became the youngest man to ever make the FBI's most-wanted list for forgery. Hunted and caught in the film by fictional FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), Abagnale later escaped. He eventually became a consultant for the FBI where he focused on white-collar crime.

3 It's a great film, but could it happen in real life? In fact, Catch Me If You Can is based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, whose career as a fraudster lasted about six years before he was caught, who escaped from custody three times (once through an airplane toilet), and who spent a total of six years in prison in France, Sweden and the US. He now runs a consultancy advising the world of business how to avoid fraud. He has raised enough money to pay back all his victims, and is now a multimillionaire.

4 Since 2003, identity theft has become increasingly common. Few people could imagine how important things like taking mail to the post office and not leaving it in the mailbox for pickup, shredding documents instead of throwing them out with the trash, even using a pen costing a couple of bucks, have become to avoid life-changing crimes.

5 More and more people are becoming anonymous victims of identity theft. We spend many hours and dollars trying to recover our name, our credit, our money and our lives. We need to look for different ways to protect ourselves. We can improve our chances of avoiding this crime, but it will never go away.

6 It's not just a list of do's and don'ts, we need to change our mindset. Although online banking is now commonplace, there's a significant group of people in the country – the baby boomers, 15 per cent of the population – who still prefer to use paper. What's more, 30 per cent of cases of fraud occur within this group. A check has all the information about you that an identity thief needs. If you use a ballpoint pen, the ink can be removed with the help of a regular household chemical and the sum of money can be changed. More than 1.2 million bad checks are issued every day, more than 13 per second.

7 Check fraud is big business … and growing by 25 per cent every year. Criminals count on our mistakes to make their jobs easier. So how can we prevent identity theft before it happens to us?

8 Take a few precautions. Don't leave your mail in your mailbox overnight or over the weekend. Thieves wait for the red flag to go up, so they can look through your outgoing mail for useful personal information or checks. Use a gel pen for checks and important forms; the ink is trapped in the fibre of the paper, and it can't be removed with chemicals. Also, shred or tear up all documents which contain personal information before you put them in the trash.

9 Remember that there are plenty of online opportunities for thieves to create a false identity based on your own. We're all aware of the risks to personal information on computer databases by hacking and Trojan horses . But choosing someone and doing a Google search can also yield large amounts of personal information, and so can online social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo. And just as we take our pocketbook with us when we leave the office to go to the bathroom, it's also worth logging off your computer to avoid opportunistic theft.

10 Finally, if you get robbed in a more traditional way – in the street – canceling your credit cards is obviously the first thing to do. But don't forget that even after they're reported lost, they can be used as identification to acquire store cards … and you get the criminal record.

11 Identity fraud can go on for years without the victim's knowledge. There is no escaping the fact that right now fraudsters are finding identity crime all too easy. If you haven't had your identity stolen, it's only because they haven't got to you yet. Your turn will come.

竊取的身份

1 “弗蘭克從未上過飛行學院、醫(yī)學院、法學院……因為他還在上高中。”

2 這是2002年的電影《有種來抓我》的標語。影片講述了小弗蘭克?阿巴格納爾（列奧納多?迪卡普里奧飾演）的故事。影片主人公是一位聰明絕頂?shù)哪贻p騙術大師，曾在不同時間扮演醫(yī)生、律師和飛行員的角色，在26個國家偽造了價值600萬美元以上的支票。他成了聯(lián)邦調查局有史以來偽造罪頭號通緝令名單上最年輕的通緝犯。在影片中，阿巴格納爾被虛構的聯(lián)邦調查局特工卡爾?漢拉提（湯姆?漢克斯飾演）追捕，但后來逃脫了。他最終成了聯(lián)邦調查局專攻白領犯罪的顧問。

3 《有種來抓我》是一部很棒的電影，但影片中的事情會在現(xiàn)實生活中發(fā)生嗎？其實，《有種來抓我》是根據(jù)弗蘭克?阿巴格納爾的真實故事改編的，他的行騙生涯持續(xù)了大約六年；被抓后，曾三次逃脫拘押（有一次是從飛機的廁所逃走的）；在法國、瑞典和美國的監(jiān)獄中總共度過了六年時光。他現(xiàn)在經營一家咨詢事務所，為企業(yè)界提供防造假咨詢。他掙到了足夠的錢，賠付了所有的受害者，如今已是大富豪。

4 2003年以來，身份盜竊案變得越來越常見。很少有人會想到，為了預防這種足以改變人生的犯罪，采取一些預防措施有多么重要，比如把郵件拿到郵局去寄而不是丟在信箱里等人來取、把文件切碎而不是直接把它們連同垃圾一道扔掉，甚至使用幾美元一支的（特效）筆等等。

5 越來越多的人正在成為身份盜竊案的無名受害者。我們花費許多時間和金錢，去努力挽回我們的姓名、我們的信用、我們的金錢和我們的生活。我們需要想方設法來保護自己。我們可以減少此類犯罪的機會，但是它永遠不會消失。

6 這不僅僅是列一份“該做”和“不該做”事項的清單可以解決的，我們還需要改變心態(tài)。雖然網(wǎng)上銀行現(xiàn)在很常見，但國內有一大群人——即占人口15％的生育高峰時期出生的一代人——還是更喜歡用紙。而且，30％的詐騙案都發(fā)生在這群人當中。支票上有身份盜賊所需的你的全部信息。如果你用圓珠筆，筆跡可以用一般的家用化學藥品除去，錢數(shù)可以更改。每天發(fā)出的空頭支票高達120萬張以上，平均每秒13張以上。

7 支票造假是個大產業(yè)……每年以25％的速率增長。犯罪分子指望我們犯錯誤，好讓他們更容易得手。那么我們怎樣才能防患于未然呢？

8 采取一些預防措施。不要把你的郵件留在郵箱里過夜或過周末。小偷就等著看你家信箱的小紅旗（注：在美國，信箱上插上小紅旗表示有郵件需要投遞），以便通過你要投遞的郵件找尋有用的個人信息或支票。要用簽字筆填寫支票和重要表格，（因為）簽字筆的墨水會滲進紙張的纖維中，無法用化學藥品除去。還有，切碎或撕碎含有個人信息的所有文件，然后再把它們丟進垃圾桶。

9 記住，網(wǎng)上有大量機會可以被小偷利用。他們根據(jù)你的身份偽造假身份。我們都知道黑客行為和木馬軟件對電腦數(shù)據(jù)庫中個人信息的威脅。但是在谷歌上搜索某人也會透露大量個人信息，在線社交網(wǎng)站（如“臉書”和“畢波”）也一樣。正如我們離開辦公室去廁所時要隨身帶上錢包一樣，離開電腦時也應該注銷，以防臨時起意的盜竊。

10 最后一點，假如你遭遇較傳統(tǒng)方式的搶劫——比如在大街上——掛失你的信用卡顯然是要做的第一件事。但是別忘了，即使掛失了，信用卡也可以用作身份證件來獲得購物卡……那你就有了犯罪記錄。

11 身份偽造可以肆行多年而不為受害者所知。一個無法回避的事實是：現(xiàn)在的詐騙者覺得身份犯罪簡直是太容易了。如果你的身份尚未失竊，那只是因為他們還沒有對你動手。就會輪到你的。

T3

US Supreme Court declares file-sharing illegal

1 "Why should I spend all my money on expensive music, when I can download it for nothing?" asks Jack Sparrow from Innsbruck, Austria. It's true that file-sharing is an easy way to build up your collection. You simply log on to a website like The Pirate Bay and search for the tracks you want and download them for free. Unfortunately, file-sharing, although cheap and easy, is illegal, as 12-year-old Brianna LaHara found out the hard way. Brianna copied hundreds of songs and TV themes from the net. Her mum had to pay a fine of over $1,000. Another file-sharer, Jammie Thomas, of Minnesota, US, was fined $222,000 for sharing 24 tracks.

2 It's important to realize that when you buy a CD the artists receive a percentage of the price you pay. So if you don't pay for the music, the artists and the companies don't earn any money. The music industry argues that if people can get free downloads, they won't buy CDs. This means that the companies won't have money to invest in creating new music. For this reason, they see downloading as a major threat.

3 Surprisingly, not all artists are against file-sharing. Ben from Norwich, UK, is in a band, and like many new bands, Ben and his friends find it hard to get their music played on the radio or to get their CDs into shops. Ben says that the Internet "gives millions of people the chance to download the tracks". By giving people a chance to hear a sample for free, bands hope they will eventually sell more CDs. So it's not clear that file-sharing reduces sales of CDs.

4 It's worth noting that although music companies have taken people to court for file-sharing, they have also got a lot of bad publicity. Significantly, file-sharers are mainly young people, and it doesn't look good for big business to prosecute teenagers. In addition, most Americans think file-sharing is acceptable, and they don't think it should be illegal. It seems that the industry will have to make legal downloading or buying CDs more attractive than file-sharing. As one music fan from London, UK says, "They had better have a lot of lawyers if they're going to sue all of us."

美國最高法院宣布文檔共享不合法

1 “既然可以免費下載，為什么我還要花那么多錢去買昂貴的音樂呢？”奧地利因斯布魯克的杰克?斯皮洛說。的確，文檔共享是一種擴大收藏的捷徑。你只需登錄到一個像“海盜灣”這樣的網(wǎng)站，搜索你想要的音樂，再免費下載就行了。不幸的是，文檔共享盡管廉價而便利，卻是違法的，12歲的布里安娜?拉哈拉就是吃了虧才明白這個道理的。布里安娜從網(wǎng)上復制了數(shù)百首歌曲和電視主題曲。她媽媽不得不為此支付了一千多美元的罰款。另一位文檔共享者，美國明尼蘇達州的杰米?托馬斯，因為下載了24首歌曲而被罰款 222,000美元。

2 當你購買一張音樂光碟時，藝術家會得到購碟款的一部分，認識到這一點是很重要的。所以，要是你不為音樂付錢，藝術家和公司就掙不到錢。音樂產業(yè)認為，要是能免費下載的話，人們就不會購買光碟了。這就意味著公司沒有錢投資創(chuàng)作新的音樂。因此，他們視下載為主要的威脅。

3 令人吃驚的是，并非所有的藝術家都反對文檔共享。來自英國諾里奇的本是一個樂隊的成員。像所有新樂隊一樣，本和他的朋友們發(fā)現(xiàn)讓他們的音樂在電臺播放或把他們的光碟放到店里去賣是件很難的事情。本說，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)“給數(shù)百萬人提供了下載音樂的機會”。通過給人們一個免費試聽的機會，樂隊希望他們最終能賣出更多的光碟。所以，現(xiàn)在還不清楚文檔共享是否真的降低光碟的銷量。

4 值得注意的是，雖然音樂公司以文檔共享的罪名把人們告上了法庭，但是他們也落下了許多壞名聲。重要的是，文檔共享者主要是年輕人；大企業(yè)起訴十幾歲的少年有失體面。而且，多數(shù)美國人認為文檔共享是可以接受的；他們并不認為那是違法的。看起來，音樂產業(yè)必須要么使下載合法化，要么使購買光碟比文檔共享更有吸引力。正如英國倫敦的一位樂迷所說：“他們要想起訴我們所有人的話，最好聘請一大幫律師。”