📘【Ken的高頻單字筆記 I】
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📰 今天我們來讀讀【華爾街日報】
🖐🏽 五分鐘來關心國際時事 — 墨西哥治安 🇲🇽

📰 Mexico Reports Slight Decline in 2019 Homicides
Nation’s murder rate remained at highest level in decades despite fall in number of killings

MEXICO CITY—Mexico registered 209 fewer homicides in 2019 than a year earlier, the first decline in five years, though the murder rate remained at its highest level in decades, the National Statistics Institute said Wednesday.

📌 這篇文章討論墨西哥 (Mexico) 的殺人罪 (homicide) 數字的微小下降(slight decline)。nation是國家的意思，在這裡是指墨西哥，這是常用修辭方法之一。作者也用同義詞提高文章的可讀性： homicide vs murder vs killing。

The country registered 36,476 homicides last year, down from 36,685 in 2018, according to preliminary data based on death certificates. The homicide rate was unchanged from 2018 at 29 per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest level on records stretching back 30 years.

📌 這段交代有關數據，register (登記)、down from (從...下降)、according to preliminary data (根據初步資料) 和 unchanged (不變的)是常見用語。

“The important thing is that the government doesn’t rest on its laurels by saying we’ve slowed the rise in homicides,” said Cassius Wilkinson, a security analyst at political-risk consultancy Empra. “A plateau at historic highs still isn’t good for Mexico’s public security.”

📌 這段引述一位保安分析員 (security analyst) 的意見。rest on one’s laurels (不求進步) 是道地用語。plateau的原意是高原，在這裡引申指有關數字維持於高位不降。

Monthly police reports for 2020 show that homicides were up 1.5% in the first eight months of this year from a year earlier, although the numbers have been overshadowed by more than 74,000 deaths of people infected with the coronavirus.

The drop in the preliminary number of homicides for 2019 will likely become a small increase when final data are released at the end of October, said security analyst Alejandro Hope. “The good news is that it’s not growing, the bad news is that it’s not falling,” he added.

📌 這兩段繼續分析有關數字的走勢。overshadowed by (因為...失色的) 是生動的用語。preliminary 跟 final 是異義詞，the good news is that…the bad news is that… 是平行結構，也是很好的修辭方式。

Lowering the level of violence, much of it by organized-crime groups, is among the main concerns of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador whose strategy has been to reduce direct confrontation between security forces and heavily armed criminal gangs.

Since taking office at the end of 2018, Mr. López Obrador has disbanded the Federal Police and replaced it with a National Guard drawn mostly from the ranks of army and naval police. The National Guard has close to 100,000 members, and is expected to increase to 140,000.

📌 這兩段介紹墨西哥總統其中一項主要關注 (main concern) 就是降低暴力的水平 (lower the level of violence)。他的策略 (strategy) 是減少保安部隊 (security forces) 和犯罪集團 (criminal gang) 之間的直接對抗 (direct confrontation)。

Homicide rates last year fell in 15 of the country’s 32 states, including Baja California Sur and Quintana Roo—home to tourism hubs Los Cabos and Cancún—and Mexico City.

Among the most violent states was Guanajuato in central Mexico, which has been the site of fighting between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and a gang of fuel thieves called the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel. Authorities arrested José Antonio Yépez, the alleged head of the fuel theft gang, in early August.

While violence increased in Guanajuato, the homicide rate fell last year in neighboring Jalisco state. The number of murders could be masked by an increase in forced disappearances in the state as the Jalisco cartel consolidates its control of the area, said Mr. Wilkinson.

“A lot of the states that lead the rankings are leading for different reasons,” he added, noting increased killings in northern states such as Sonora and Chihuahua. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the 2020 numbers are much higher.”

📌 這四段詳細分析墨西哥不同州的殺人罪率 (homicide rate)去年的情況。the rankings的意思就是排名。在旅游樞紐 (tourism hub)的州殺人罪率下降，個別州份因爲幫派的打鬥變得最暴力的。

未完待續...
📰 全文請至
https://reurl.cc/Md4Ra3
📰 作者
Anthony Harrup
📰 訂閱請至
https://bit.ly/3j82Q3W

【每日國際選讀】
#文末挑戰多益選擇題📝
迫害維吾爾，國際將如何制裁中國？

今日選材：衛報
開啟「接收通知」和「搶先看」
每天吸收雙語時事新知

🌏World is legally obliged to pressure China on Uighurs, leading lawyers say
頂尖律師們說：全世界有法律義務為維吾爾族對中國施壓

-legally: 依法、在法律上
-obliged: 被迫、必須做某事
-legally obliged: 法律義務


👩‍⚖️The international community is legally obliged to take action on China’s alleged abuse of Uighur and other Turkic minorities, a prominent group of British lawyers has said, suggesting nations use sanctions, corporate accountability mechanisms, and international treaties preventing racial discrimination to pressure Beijing.
著名的英國律師團體表示，中國迫害維吾爾族和其他突厥語少數民族，國際社會具有法律義務對其採取行動，建議各國使用制裁、企業問責機制、以及防止種族歧視的國際條約來對北京施壓。

-abuse: 虐待、傷害、毀謗
-prominent: 著名的、重要的、傑出的
-sanction: 制裁
-accountability: 問責制


🇬🇧China’s refusal to be held legally accountable for the widespread and documented allegations did not absolve the global community of responsibility, the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) said in a report released on Wednesday.
英格蘭和威爾斯律師協會人權委員會（BHRC）於週三（7/22）發佈的報告中表示，中國拒絕為廣泛具記錄的指控承擔法律責任，並不能免除全球社會的責任。

-refusal: 拒絕、回絕；動詞是refuse
-allegation: 指責、指控
-absolve: 免罪、免除責任，尤指法律或宗教上的罪咎


🇨🇳“All states, including China, have unequivocally accepted that slavery and racial discrimination, torture and genocide are prohibited,” it said. “They have committed to not carry out those proscribed acts; they have committed to their prevention; and they have committed to punishment of perpetrators where they have found individuals to have committed those proscribed acts. There can be no derogation from those commitments.”
報告說：「所有國家都明確接受了禁止奴隸制度、種族歧視、酷刑和大屠殺，包括中國在內。他們曾保證不進行這些被嚴禁的行為，保證會預防，也保證當發現個人犯下這些禁止行為時，會懲罰犯罪者。這些承諾絕不能被減損。」

-genocide: 大屠殺、種族滅絕
✍️「geno-」是基因、種族的意思，「-cide」是殺害，合在一起指「滅族」；字首改「sui-」（自己）則是自殺suicide，同字尾的單字還有殺蟲劑insecticide
-perpetrators: 犯罪者，動詞的犯罪是perpetrate
-commit: 承諾、保證；做（違法的事）；將...送至醫院或監獄
-derogation: 貶低、損害、廢除


未完待續...
報告書建議各國如何制裁中國？
加入文末每日國際選讀計畫，解鎖完整語音導讀版

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原文連結請看留言
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❓❓多益模擬題❓:
The __ to take measures to prevent and to punish the crime of genocide, in addition to the prohibition not to __ genocide, have been considered as norms of international customary law
🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️
A. legally obliged / perform
B. obligation / commit
C. obligation / perpetrate
-
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關於眾籌登報post。

草稿首段表明身分，選用「defend our sovereignty」，極為可取。捍衛主權，係香港屢次抗爭都未出現過嘅用語，史無前例，氣勢直迫中共宣傳機器至愛嘅五四口號——「外爭主權，內除國賊」。眾所周知，主權所指，並非單單係《基本法》所保證嘅治權，而係指國家對其管轄範圍內嘅政務擁有至高無上嘅完整主權，免受任何外力干預，所謂外力，明顯指涉中共，否則亦毋須登去美國大報。

而第二至第四段，文字亦有力點出香港優於中國，劃清界線，直擊要害。「notorious for its disrespect for the rule of law」，係針對中國依法治國嘅指控，強調中國嘅惡名昭彰，等同拉近香港同自由陣營嘅距離，亦顯示出香港尊重英治遺產嘅決心。特意為警察暴行闢出一段詳加描述，亦有助國際社會了解港共政府如何縱容警隊，結合日前廣泛流傳嘅抗爭靚相，外界就可以理解到香港問題有幾嚴峻。

然而，野心太大，又想講賺錢，又想講人權，或者會令焦點模糊。「Bankers, businessmen, tourists, and even ordinary Hongkongers」呢四種人的確會受影響，但bankers同businessmen性質相似，點解要特別提及？或者刪去bankers，換上journalists，就更有助表達人人都有危險嘅意思。

更加值得商榷嘅係，「Hong Kong will cease to be a free economic zone」一句，其實對自由陣營影響並唔切身，而承接上句「trials of alleged crimes and fabricated accusations」嘅話，更理想而又更能打動讀者嘅，應該係言論自由以至人身理由受到威脅，香港距離民主自由前所未有咁遠。講錢，雖然好有Hongkongness，但香港做唔到自由港而新加坡做到，其實西方係唔介意。假如寫成「, which is greatly devastating the liberal environment of Hong Kong and shrinking people’s power of free speech and expression of ideas.」，整體效果大概會更佳。

如果認同以上建議，煩請代為轉載至連登。
（全日冇上連登，一post至知原來已經截稿）