第二步：精读重点段落

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

Beauty and the police—Arresting development

A pageant with a feminist cause

• pageant [ˈpædʒənt]  n.盛会;选美比赛;露天表演;虚饰
• feminist [ˈfɛmənɪst]  n.男女平等主义者，女权扩张论者

[1] “THEY want to strike fear into the hearts of their opponents!” remarked an onlooker, tapping his chest. Fighting words, perhaps, for a staff fund-raiser—but hyperbole is the name of the game at the Liberia National Police (LNP) Queen Contest. Trading their uniforms for ball gowns and flanked by raucous entourages raining confetti and cash, a half-dozen policewomen peacocked to their seats under a balloon-lined marquee. They vogued, cat-walked and delivered impassioned speeches.

• opponent [əˈpoʊnənt]  n.对手;敌手;反对者adj.对立的;敌对的
• hyperbole [haɪˈpɜ:rbəli]  n.<语>夸张法
• raucous [ˈrɔkəs]  adj.刺耳的;粗声的，沙哑的
• entourage [ˈɑ:nturɑ:ʒ]  n.随行人员
• confetti [kənˈfɛti]  n.（婚礼时撒在新娘新郎身上的）五彩纸屑
• marquee [mɑ:rˈki:]  n.选取框;大帐篷;大天幕;门罩

[2] This was no normal beauty pageant. The contestants were chosen for their professional ambitions, their appearances almost incidental. For all its pomp, the contest is a practical affair to raise money to send policewomen to Australia for training. Guests and officers of all ranks put banknotes into the basket of the nominee they support. The winner is not the queen judged most beautiful, but the one who raises the most cash.

• contestant [kənˈtɛstənt, ˈkɑnˌtɛstənt]  n.竞争者，争论者;（对选举结果）有异议者
• pomp [pɑ:mp]  n.盛况，盛大的仪式;壮丽，壮观;虚荣，浮华;夸耀，炫耀

[3] The money is then pooled and is meant to help send ten policewomen abroad. The previous year, they sent two. Yet the need is as great as ever. The LNP force has a shortfall of about 3,000 police officers and it is particularly in need of trained policewomen. Last year the UN Mission in Liberia sent most of its soldiers and policemen home, putting the LNP in charge of national security. It left an unmet target of having women make up a quarter of the force: they now comprise less than a fifth. That matters because women avoid reporting crimes such as rape to male officers when they might do so to policewomen.

• comprise [kəmˈpraɪz]  vt.包含，包括;由…组成;由…构成

[4] On this sweltering afternoon in May, a contestant hoped to win favour both by wearing a diamanté-encrusted pink gown and by impressing potential donors with her ambition to be promoted to senior office in the LNP.

• diamante [ˌdi:əmɑ:nˈteɪ]  adj.镶人造钻石的，镶人造钻石装饰的n.镶人造钻石装饰

[5] Wielding a big bag with labels showing it contained money, an officer from the Patrol Unit knelt before his department’s nominee and unloaded stacks of Liberian dollars into her basket. In a direct counter another threw down several wads of cash before his pick. One donor was lambasted for throwing money not at one queen, but at two.

• wield [wild]  vt.行使;使用（武器、工具等）;运用（权力），施加（影响）;支配
• kneel [nil]  vi.跪，下跪
• lambast vt.不断地狠打某人，鞭打； 严厉斥责某人

[6] As night fell over Monrovia and the crowd thinned, officials counted the equivalent of $8,350 raised. It is not quite enough for ten tickets to Australia. Where would the rest of the money come from? One officer pondered an inverse scenario. “A King Contest? I don’t think so.”

• ponder [ˈpɑ:ndə(r)]  vt.思索，衡量 vi.仔细考虑，沉思
• scenario [səˈnærioʊ] n.（行动的）方案;剧情概要;分镜头剧本

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

Beauty and the police—Arresting development

A pageant with a feminist cause

• pageant [ˈpædʒənt]  n.盛会;选美比赛;露天表演;虚饰
• feminist [ˈfɛmənɪst]  n.男女平等主义者，女权扩张论者

[1] “THEY want to strike fear into the hearts of their opponents!” remarked an onlooker, tapping his chest. Fighting words, perhaps, for a staff fund-raiser—but hyperbole is the name of the game at the Liberia National Police (LNP) Queen Contest. Trading their uniforms for ball gowns and flanked by raucous entourages raining confetti and cash, a half-dozen policewomen peacocked to their seats under a balloon-lined marquee. They vogued, cat-walked and delivered impassioned speeches.

• opponent [əˈpoʊnənt]  n.对手;敌手;反对者adj.对立的;敌对的
• hyperbole [haɪˈpɜ:rbəli]  n.<语>夸张法
• raucous [ˈrɔkəs]  adj.刺耳的;粗声的，沙哑的
• entourage [ˈɑ:nturɑ:ʒ]  n.随行人员
• confetti [kənˈfɛti]  n.（婚礼时撒在新娘新郎身上的）五彩纸屑
• marquee [mɑ:rˈki:]  n.选取框;大帐篷;大天幕;门罩

[2] This was no normal beauty pageant. The contestants were chosen for their professional ambitions, their appearances almost incidental. For all its pomp, the contest is a practical affair to raise money to send policewomen to Australia for training. Guests and officers of all ranks put banknotes into the basket of the nominee they support. The winner is not the queen judged most beautiful, but the one who raises the most cash.

• contestant [kənˈtɛstənt, ˈkɑnˌtɛstənt]  n.竞争者，争论者;（对选举结果）有异议者
• pomp [pɑ:mp]  n.盛况，盛大的仪式;壮丽，壮观;虚荣，浮华;夸耀，炫耀

[3] The money is then pooled and is meant to help send ten policewomen abroad. The previous year, they sent two. Yet the need is as great as ever. The LNP force has a shortfall of about 3,000 police officers and it is particularly in need of trained policewomen. Last year the UN Mission in Liberia sent most of its soldiers and policemen home, putting the LNP in charge of national security. It left an unmet target of having women make up a quarter of the force: they now comprise less than a fifth. That matters because women avoid reporting crimes such as rape to male officers when they might do so to policewomen.

• comprise [kəmˈpraɪz]  vt.包含，包括;由…组成;由…构成

[4] On this sweltering afternoon in May, a contestant hoped to win favour both by wearing a diamanté-encrusted pink gown and by impressing potential donors with her ambition to be promoted to senior office in the LNP.

• diamante [ˌdi:əmɑ:nˈteɪ]  adj.镶人造钻石的，镶人造钻石装饰的 n.镶人造钻石装饰

[5] Wielding a big bag with labels showing it contained money, an officer from the Patrol Unit knelt before his department’s nominee and unloaded stacks of Liberian dollars into her basket. In a direct counter another threw down several wads of cash before his pick. One donor was lambasted for throwing money not at one queen, but at two.

• wield [wild]  vt.行使;使用（武器、工具等）;运用（权力），施加（影响）;支配
• kneel [nil]  vi.跪，下跪
• lambast vt.不断地狠打某人，鞭打； 严厉斥责某人

[6] As night fell over Monrovia and the crowd thinned, officials counted the equivalent of $8,350 raised. It is not quite enough for ten tickets to Australia. Where would the rest of the money come from? One officer pondered an inverse scenario. “A King Contest? I don’t think so.”

• ponder [ˈpɑ:ndə(r)]  vt.思索，衡量 vi.仔细考虑，沉思
• scenario [səˈnærioʊ]  n.（行动的）方案;剧情概要;分镜头剧本