节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-08-07
难易度:Medium
关键字:embassy, withdraw, cautious, precaution, PIN [personal identification
number]
(Music).
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for joining us today.
My name is Steve.
In this month's LIFE EXPERIENCE feature, Studio Classroom talks with Julie
Whitmore about solo-travel safety.
Whitmore lives in Asia, where she works as a writer.
She has traveled extensively in Europe, North America and Asia.
So she has a lot of experience traveling alone.
She's been sharing with us a shocking account of what happened to her while
traveling alone in Manila.
Now we ended yesterday with Whitmore drugged in a foreign country by people she
thought were her friends.
Let's find out what happens next on page 21.
(Music).
Solo-Travel Safety.
Were you OK?
Surprisingly, yes.
I woke up the next morning in my hostel in Manila, but I couldn't remember how I
had gotten there.
Amazingly, they hadn't stolen my phone, so I called my parents right away.
Then I went to the American Embassy to report the crime.
The authorities told me that the people I had met belonged to a gang that
commits this kind of crime all the time.
They drug people and then take them to ATMs and withdraw cash with the victim's
"help." When I checked my bank accounts,
I found out they had taken money out.
I must have told them my PIN while I was drugged.
Hello, friends.
Thank you so much for joining us here in the studio.
My name is Kaylah.
And my name is Ryan.
And friends, we are back joining Julie with her story that she was telling about
her life experience solo-travel.
That's right.
We saw that Julie has traveled to a lot of countries - 21 countries and lived in
five.
So she has a lot of traveling experience.
Now friends, when we do travel, it's easy to get comfortable to think: Oh, I've
done this before. I know how to travel safely.
But Julie is telling us that you need to be careful no matter how long you've
traveled.
She still had to learn a very hard but valuable lesson.
That's right.
Now so far we've seen that she traveled to the Philippines for a weekend trip
where she met a group of older women who offered to help her and show her
around.
Where do we leave off yesterday?
Well, they took her around.
They showed her around their area.
And then they took her to their friend's house when they served her dinner.
Now that's usually something we'd be very excited and happy for because locals
inviting you into their home to experience their culture is a good thing.
But in Julie's case, that's not true.
They offered her a separate plate of food and pressured her to eat the entire
dish.
And she ended up finding out that that was drugged.
Yeah, they drugged her.
And then right before we finished, she said she blacked out, she went
unconscious.
And then we're left wondering what else happened.
Well, today we get to finish the story.
Obviously, our next question after she said she blacked out was: Were you OK?
It's a good question.
She says, "Well surprisingly, yes." She was OK.
Now why does she say "surprisingly, yes"?
"Surprisingly" means she was not expecting to.
Or most of the time, in this situation, she would not have been.
She is very blessed to not have been in worse danger.
She's very lucky, friends, to still be alive but also to still be OK and back in
society today.
She could have easily been taken away.
That's right.
So surprisingly, yes, she was fine.
She says: I woke up the next morning in my hostel in Manila, but I couldn't
remember how I got there.
So let's first decide what is a hostel?
OK. A hostel is similar to a hotel.
It's a place where people go and stay.
But where it's different from a hotel is it's usually much cheaper, and
oftentimes more than one guest will stay in a room.
That's right.
But she woke up in her hostel. That means she got up in the morning, and she was
back in Manila.
We learned that these ladies that she met were on a bus and were helping her get
to the beach, so she was actually not in Manila anymore.
So it was a miracle she ended up back in the right place because she had no
idea, she could not remember how she got there.
Yes, either she got there by herself while drugged somehow, or someone helped
her.
Who knows?
Well, it's incredible.
That's why it is surprising that she was OK.
The next sentence starts with, "Amazingly." That is just like "surprisingly."
It's incredible.
We could not... you would not expect that this would happen.
Yeah. And the reason why you wouldn't expect this is these people had not stolen
her phone, so she was able to call her parents right away.
That's right.
She was able to call her parents back in the United States to let them know that
there was an issue and she was going to need some help.
She said: After that, then I went to the American Embassy.
That's right.
Now an "embassy" is a place in a certain country that represents a foreign
country.
So here she went to the American Embassy, and they represented America.
That's right.
So it is a place that as a citizen of another country, you can go to get legal
help, to get support, to be protected.
So she went to report the crime because they are the ones that will be able to
help her the most.
OK. So she went to report to them.
That means to tell them something.
And she told them about the crime. What's that?
The crime is the bad thing what... that going against the law what happened.
And that would be that she has drugged and they stole her money.
OK. So that is a crime.
It's something that you do to break the law.
Now the authorities told her that the people that she had met belonged to a gang
that commits this kind of crime all the time.
Well, a gang is a group of people that work together and hang out together.
And they commit this crime.
This "to commit" means they do it.
And this crime was they drug people, and then take them to ATMs and withdraw
cash with the victim's PIN.
OK. So the victim is actually helping them withdraw cash.
Now if you "withdraw" money, that means you take it away or you get it for you
to spend.
But in this case, she just ended up giving it to those gang members.
That's right.
And they do this with the victim's "help." And the victim is the person that is
in trouble.
So they do this with the "help." And we see that's in quotation marks, meaning
that the victim has been drugged, they don't know that they are doing it.
So they're helping against their own will.
OK. So Julie says: When I checked my bank accounts, I found out that they had
taken money out.
And so her bank account is where she keeps her money, and it was missing money.
And to take money out of an ATM like that, you need to have a special number.
She says I must have told them my PIN while I was drugged.
Now a "PIN," capitaled P-I-N, is a personal identification number.
And that's the number that you put into an ATM to get money to come out.
OK, now the story isn't over.
Please join us after watching the skit.
What an experience!
You were drugged in the Philippines.
Yes. After I ate those noodles, I blacked out.
And what happened after that?
Surprisingly, the next morning I woke up in my hostel in Manila.
How did you get there?
I can't remember.
Amazingly, they didn't take my cell phone, so I called my parents right away.
Good idea.
Yeah.
And then what?
Well, after that, I went to the American Embassy to report the crime.
What did they say?
They told me those ladies belonged to a gang.
They drug people and take them to ATMs and withdraw cash with the victim's help.
Is that what happened to you?
Yeah. I checked my bank account and found that they had taken my money.
But how they... how did they know your PIN?
Oh, my P-I-N? Well, I guess I told it to them while I was drugged.
How terrible!
Oh, yeah.
The authorities said they commit this kind of crime all the time.
How scary.
I'm surprised you still travel.
Well, I'm still curious.
Besides, I think traveling is generally pretty safe.
I hope you're right.
So don't worry.
Just be alert.
Take precautions.
Really, it pays to be very careful.
Well, thank you for the good advice.
You're welcome.
Well, I need to go now.
OK. Bye-bye.
What a nice girl.
That's great.
Have a safe trip.
Hey! My wallet.
She took my wallet! Come back here!