Men beware! You too are not safe from gropers (note 1)
on the MTR. But women are still the main victims (受害人), says the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
Its survey showed that while one in five women claimed to have been groped in train compartments (車廂), one in 20 men had the same complaint.
Eleven of the 221 men and 77 of the 434 women interviewed said they have been molested (非禮). Worse still (note 2), only two of the men and three women went to the police (報案). The police said they received 113 reports of molestation on the MTR in 2009 and 151 in 2010. There were 68 cases in the first six months of this year.
DAB district councillor (區議會議員) and women's affairs committee chairwoman Elizabeth Quat said victims did not report the attacks because they felt it would be hard for charges to stick (note 3). In addition, many felt embarrassed and scared (note 4).
"It is not uncommon (很普遍) for women to be molested in MTR trains, especially during peak hours (繁忙時間)," she said. "Some people like to molest the women in really crowded compartments."
Quat said the most common complaint was touching a woman's breasts (胸部) with the arms and pretending the action was unintentional (note 5). Men had their bottoms (屁股) grabbed when trains came to a stop.
Quat said she also witnessed a man pressing the lower part of his body against the bottom of a girl in uniform. The girl said nothing and may not even have realized she was being molested.
She said some male friends told her they were molested by men but were too afraid to speak up (講出來).
From good to better English:
(note 1) groper=非禮你(摸妳身體部位)的人。Grope=摸索。grope about for information=到處搜集情報。grope for a clue=找線索。grope one's way=摸著走；摸索解決辦法。
(note 2) Worse still=跟糟糕的是。Worse是〔bad, ill〕 的比較級=更壞，還要壞；病情(更重)。a change for the worse=變壞。to make the matter worse=更壞的是。for better (or) for worse=禍福與共。go from bad to worse=變本加厲。
(note 3) hard for charges to stick=很難入罪。Stick=貼，粘住，固著，不分離。Better stick to the programme=還是按照原程序較好。Stick no bills!=〔英國〕不許招貼! 〔美國說 Post no bills!〕。Victor was stuck by the teacher's question in the IELTS oral exam=在IELTS口試中，Victor被老師的提問難住了。The train has been stuck in Hong Kong for three days by bad weather=由於天氣惡劣火車在香港被困阻已有三天。
(note 4) embarrassed and scared=尷尬和害怕。Jo Jo feels embarrassed in the presence of strangers=Jo Jo 在生人面前侷促不安。The decline of sales embarrassed Keung Ki & Co.=銷路下降使強記公司陷於財政困難。
(note 5) unintentional=不是故意的。
Victor’s View: In crowded compartments of trains girls and women often fall victims to molesters. The solution is to reserve half compartments for men and half for women.
(Victor Fung Keung, director of HK Baptist University’s M.A. in international journalism program, has published 4 books on English-enhancement [the latest, titled <<學會演說、改變你的人生>>, was published on July 18] and plans to write 6 more by the end of 2012. Write to him: deanfungenglish@gmail.com)
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