【時事聚焦】

SEASCALE, England - A taxi driver drove his vehicle on a shooting spree across northwest England overnight, methodically killing 12 people and wounding 25 others before turning the gun on himself, officials said.

The rampage in the county of Cumbria was Britain's deadliest mass shooting since 1996 and it jolted a country where handguns are banned and multiple shootings rare.

The body of the suspected gunman, 52-year-old Derrick Bird, was found in woods near Boot, a hamlet popular with hikers and holidaymakers in England's hilly, scenic Lake District. Police said two weapons were recovered from the scene.

Eight of the wounded were in the hospital, with three of them in critical condition. Queen Elizabeth II, who rarely issues statements responding to the news, said she shared in "the grief and horror of the whole country" and passed on her sympathy to the families of the victims.

The shootings had "shocked the people of Cumbria and around the country to the core," Police Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Hyde said.

Police said it was too early to say what the killer's motive was, or whether the shootings had been random. Some reports said Bird had quarrelled with fellow cab drivers the night before the killings.

Peter Leder, a taxi driver who knew Bird, said he had seen the gunman Tuesday and didn't notice anything that was obviously amiss. But he was struck by Bird's departing words.

"When he left he said, 'See you Peter, but I won't see you again,"' Leder told Channel 4 News.

The first shootings were reported in the coastal town of Whitehaven, about 560 kilometres northwest of London. Witnesses said the dead there included two of Bird's fellow cabbies.

Police warned residents to stay indoors as they tracked the gunman's progress across the county. Witnesses described seeing the gunman driving around shooting from the window of his car.

Victims died in Seascale and Egremont, near Whitehaven, and in Gosforth, where a farmer's son was shot dead in a field. Workers at the nearby Sellafield nuclear processing plant were ordered to stay inside while the gunman was on the loose.

Hyde said there were 30 separate crime scenes. Many bodies remained on the ground late on Wednesday local time, covered with sheets, awaiting the region's small and overstretched force of forensic officers.

Barrie Walker, a doctor in Seascale who certified one of the deaths, told the BBC that victims had been shot in the face, apparently with a shotgun.

【雅思達人點評】

上面這則新聞?wù)?A >http://www.nzherald.co.nz/，報道了先前發(fā)生在英國的重大槍擊案件，的哥沿路殺死12人。此外，還引用了一些證人的證詞還采訪了這位的哥的熟人，試圖分析其殺人原因和動機。其實這則新聞和雅思寫作議論文中的很多話題都有相關(guān)，且其中有很多我們在雅思寫作中可以借鑒的思路甚至是直接引用的論據(jù)。

1. 說到這個殺人狂魔及這個令人驚愕的新聞，我們不禁會想起雅思在2010年1月30的議論文考題，提到一個anti-social behavior“反社會”這個全新的概念，我們不妨先來看一看這道題目：

Today there is a great increase in anti-social behavior and lack of respect to others. What are the causes of this phenomenon? What measures can be taken to reduce the problem?

初見這個題目，很多學(xué)生都無從下手，解答這個題目，必須要先弄懂a(chǎn)nti-social behavior這個概念。如theft, vandalism, bullying, terrorism, drug abuse, gambling, rape, unmarried pregnancy, fraud等，而新聞中的這個的哥的殺人事件完全可以作為此題的一個具體的例子進行論證。

2. 下面，雅思達人建議考生可以從另外一個角度來分析這個題目，在新聞中提到，的哥是在旅游景區(qū)槍擊多名市民，所以和“旅游”相關(guān)的話題相聯(lián)系是非常合理的。如2006年5月的A類議論文：

International tourism has become a huge industry in the world. Are the problems exploring this resource causes greater than the advantages it brings?

本題討論國際旅游的優(yōu)缺點，考生基本會從經(jīng)濟，文化，環(huán)境等方面考慮，而忽略了安全的問題。通過與本則新聞的聯(lián)系，我們可以通過一個全新的視角來分析旅游的缺點，即安全隱患問題。

3. 再來一題是2009年6月19號關(guān)于“英國警察攜帶槍支”的問題。我們來看一下原題。
Unlike most other countries, the police in the UK do not commonly carry guns. Some people think this practice leaves citizens unprotected, others believe it could reduce the overall violence in the society. Discuss both sides of the view and give your own opinion.

當(dāng)然英國警察帶槍是看情況而定的，而與上則新聞的聯(lián)系點在于從正面來說：警察帶槍能制止暴力事件的再度惡化，而從反面來說：帶槍危險，且罪犯很多是沖動情況下犯罪，需要的是溝通而不是另一次暴力事件。

【精彩片段】

下面我們回到剛才的那則新聞?wù)?，關(guān)注其中對雅思寫作構(gòu)思及語言有幫助的精彩片段：

精選片段1：

The rampage in the county of Cumbria was Britain's deadliest mass shooting since 1996 and it jolted a country where handguns are banned and multiple shootings rare.

這次撒野事件是英國自1996年以來最致命的群眾槍擊事件，這次事件使這個禁止攜帶槍支和槍擊事件極少發(fā)生的國家震驚。通過這句話，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了英國在槍支的一個規(guī)定，即民眾是不能攜帶槍支的，這個也是英國警察可以自由選擇是否攜帶槍的重要原因。

精選片段2：

Police said it was too early to say what the killer's motive was, or whether the shootings had been random. Some reports said Bird had quarrelled with fellow cab drivers the night before the killings.

警察表明現(xiàn)在來判斷殺手的動機還為時過早，且不易判定其是否無計劃無籌劃的。一些報道指出其曾在殺人前和同行超過嘴。這個可以理解為殺人事件發(fā)生的一個重要原因，即與同行產(chǎn)生糾紛。

【高分詞匯】

最后，雅思達人為大家整理了此則新聞中能用于雅思大作文的詞匯。

shooting spree 瘋狂射擊

rampage n. (在街上)橫沖直撞，撒野

deadliest mass shooting 最致命的群眾射擊

suspected gunman 可疑的持槍歹徒

issue statements 發(fā)表聲明

on the loose 逍遙法外

in critical condition 在危機情況下

總之，雅思達人在這里鼓勵考生們多關(guān)注時事，從中挖掘有用的詞、句和思路，為雅思考試寫作部分的構(gòu)思搭建“知識庫和材料庫”，并使自己的文章在千千萬萬的“八股文”式的，“高談闊論”式的空洞文章中脫穎而出，讓考官立即對自己刮目相看：“哇！這真是一個“與時俱進”，有著“國際化視野”的雅思優(yōu)秀考生！”

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