By Adam Mynott, BBC News
The six-foot tall suspect could fit into a suitcase
媒体英语会带大家一起学习 BBC 撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。
Background: 西班牙警方抓获一名专门偷窃乘客行李箱内贵重物品的小偷。在一辆开往巴塞罗那的长途汽车上，警方最后在一个行李箱里发现了他。
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For weeks police were puzzled by repeated thefts from suitcases firmly locked inside the luggage compartment of a coach travelling between Girona Airport and Barcelona.
After one journey when bags had, again, been broken into, one of the passengers pointed out a large suspicious suitcase. Police opened it and to their amazement found a man curled up inside. With the help of an accomplice, who was also arrested, the six-foot contortionist had crammed himself inside.
His friend bought a bus ticket and put the case into the luggage hold. Once the bus set off the man in the case clambered out, opened other suitcases in the hold looking for valuables. Before the bus pulled into the stop in Barcelona he had zipped himself back into his hiding place. Police are reported to have described the crime as an 'open and shut case'.
Glossary 词汇表 (收听发音, 请单击英语单词)
- to be puzzled by深感迷惑或不解
- to be firmly locked锁得牢固的
- to break into撬锁打开
- to point out指出
- to be curled up蜷缩着身体
- an accomplice同谋，帮凶
- a contortionist柔体杂技演员
- to be crammed (into/in/inside)塞满，挤进去
- to clamber out艰难地爬出来
- an open and shut case一个一目了然的案子
Questions:
- 1. How did the police find the thief?
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A passenger indicated to them a strange suitcase and there was a man inside.
- 2. What did the thief’s associate do?
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He bought a bus ticket and put the case with his friend inside into the luggage compartment.
- 3. When would the thief go back to his hiding place?
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Before the bus stopped at its destination, Barcelona.
- 4. True or false? Contortionists have to have flexible limbs, and be slim and short.
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False. According to the report, the contortionist is not short. He is six-foot tall (about 1.82 metres).
© MMIX