Controversy in Kenya
For many, the incident began with a short, rather unusual video. In it, a group of
Taiwanese prisoners in a jail cell in Nairobi, Kenya, are not trying to escape. Instead, they are trying to keep
the door to their cell shut and not let their captors in. Though the video ends
at this point, eventually, according to reports, Kenyan police carrying assault rifles used tear gas to get into the cell and get the prisoners out. The Taiwanese
prisoners were then put on a plane and sent to China, instead of back to
Taiwan.
These fifteen prisoners
were actually part of a much larger group that was to be deported from Kenya. Kenyan officials had accused these Taiwanese citizens of operating a telecommunications
fraud ring in Kenya. Although they were acquitted of these charges, they were still ordered to leave Kenya.
Instead of sending them
back to Taiwan, however, Kenyan officials decided to send them to China
instead. A group of eight had already been sent to China, and the second group
of thirty-seven was getting ready to leave when fifteen people from this group
decided to resist. This was the incident captured in the video that soon went viral on the Internet.
Chinese officials claim
that the Taiwanese criminal group cheated people in China out of billions of
dollars, and although the individuals in the group were
acquitted in Kenya, Chinese official still wanted to investigate this case in
China.
One Kenyan official stated that since these individuals had entered Kenya from China, it was
standard practice to send travelers back to their “last port of departure,” (China). Others, however, say that Kenya might have felt pressured to listen to China, since Kenya relies heavily on Chinese economic investment.
At its core, though, the issue goes back to the decades-long divide between
China and Taiwan. Although an agreement was reached in the 1992 Consensus and Taiwan has
become China’s largest trading partner, tensions and disagreements
between the two sides continue to flare up from time to time.
In 2011, Taiwanese
phone scammers in the Philippines were sent to China, instead of Taiwan, but a deal was eventually
made to send them back to Taiwan. More recently,
Malaysian officials released twenty alleged Taiwanese phone scammers,
instead of sending them to China, as Chinese officials had requested.
Unfortunately, as
long as criminals from Taiwan continue to try to
operate in other countries, situations like this will likely arise again when these criminals are eventually caught.
Reading Comprehension
(
) 1. What is the main issue that the article
raises?
(A) How
people from Asia are doing business in Africa.
(B) New
ways that technology is being used by criminals.
(C) The unresolved political
situation between Taiwan and China.
(D) Cultural differences
between Kenya and Taiwan.
(
) 2. According to the passage, which of the
following statements is NOT true?
(A) Several
Taiwanese prisoners were sent from Kenya to China.
(B) Chinese
officials still wanted to investigate this criminal case in China.
(C) This
was the first time that Taiwanese prisoners had ever been sent to China.
(D) Malaysia officials
released twenty alleged Taiwanese phone scammers.
( ) 3. The word “acquitted” in the
second paragraph is closest in meaning to “________.”
(A) found
guilty (B) charged with
(C) put in prison (D) found not
guilty
( ) 4. What can be inferred from the passage?
(A) It is easy to get away
with phone scamming crimes in parts of Africa these days.
(B) Problems and difficulties
are likely to continue to arise between Taiwan and China in the future.
(C) The Internet did not play
a vital role in making this case well known around the world.
(D) It is likely that criminals
will return to Kenya to run their phone scams and fraud rings.
( ) 5. What does the author believe about Taiwanese criminals operating in
other countries?
(A) These
criminals are not anyone’s concern.
(B) Similar
problems will occur again when these criminals are caught.
(C) Taiwanese
criminals have learned their lesson from this incident.
(D) Thanks
to the 1992 Consensus, this situation will never happen again.
Vocabulary and Phrases
1. controversy [`kAntr1&v3sI] n.
[U] 爭議；爭論
．The residents of the village attended the meeting but couldn’t reach a
conclusion because there was still controversy
surrounding the issue.
2. incident [`Ins1d1nt] n. [C] 事件
．It was surprising that the government showed no reaction to this major incident.
3. unusual [^n`juZ51l] adj.
不尋常的，奇特的
．The boy decided to do something unusual
to impress his girlfriend on her birthday.
4. captor [`k8pt2] n. [C] 俘虜（他人）者
．It’s almost impossible for the war prisoners to escape from their captors without any help.
5. eventually [I`vEntS5lI] adv.
最後，終於
．After hours of tough fight with perseverance, our troops eventually defeated the enemy.
6. deport [dI`port] vt. 驅逐（出境）
．The criminal was deported from
the U.S. soon after being arrested by the police.
7. official [1`fIS1l] n. [C] 官員，公務員
．To solve the problem of saving energy, all the officials are required to submit a proposal.
8. accuse [1`kjuz] vt. 控告，指控
．The farmer accused the naughty
boy of picking his apples without permission.
9. acquit [1`kwIt] vt. 宣告…無罪
．The man was acquitted of
murdering his wife and released right after the trial.
10. viral [`vaIr1l] adj. 爆紅的；如病毒般迅速蔓延的
．Surprisingly, the father found the video of his twin daughters dancing
went viral overnight on Youtube.
11. individual [&Ind1`vIdZ51l] n. [C] 個人，個體
．The media was accused of not respecting the individual’s right to privacy enough.
12. state [stet] vt. 陳述；聲明
．The spokesman of the police headquarters stated that they would stop the killer before too late.
13. departure [dI`pArtS2] n.
[U] 離開
．No one knew that Tony was leaving. His departure was rather unexpected.
14. pressure [`prES2] vt. 對…施加壓力；迫使
．Parents might get the opposite effect if they pressure their kids too hard into studying.
15. investment [In`vEstm1nt] n. [U] 投資
．Lily’s father, who failed in investment
when he was alive, left her debt instead of wealth.
16. core [kor] n. [C] 核心，精髓
．Thomas is so smart that he could always get to the core of matters before others.
17. tensions [`tEnS1nz] n. [C] usu. pl. 緊張局勢，緊張狀況
．The tensions between North and
South Korea arose again when the former claimed to carry out a test of a
nuclear bomb.
18. flare up [`flEr&^p] phr. 達到更激烈的狀態
．The protest flared up when the
police tried to disperse the crowd with force.
19. alleged [1`lEdZd] adj. 聲稱的；可疑的
allege [1`lEdZ] vt. （無充分證據的）斷言，宣稱
．The new evidence could prove that the alleged
suspect was actually not involved in the crime.
20. unfortunately [^n`fOrtS1nItlI] adv. 不幸地，遺憾地
．I did take lots of photos of the beautiful scenery, but unfortunately I lost my camera
somewhere.
21. as long as [8z `lO9
8z] phr. 只要
．You may borrow my bike as long as
you promise to keep it in good condition.
22. arise [1`raIz] vi. 產生，出現，形成（arise—arose—arisen）
．As Joe’s project went on, more and more problems arose due to his careless attitude toward everything.
Words for
Recognition
1. Kenya [`kEnj1] n. 肯亞
Kenyan [`kEnj1n] adj. 肯亞的
位於非洲東部，前英國殖民地，於1963年脫離英國獨立。首都奈洛比，為目前聯合國人居署（UNHIBITAT）及環境規劃署（UNEP）總部所在地。
2. Nairobi [naI`robI] n. 奈洛比
肯亞首都，人口約300萬。雖位於赤道附近，但地處1,660公尺的高原之上，因此氣候與酷熱非洲的印象大不相同，最大特色為其自然生態保護區—奈洛比國家公園。
3. assault rifle [1`sOlt `raIfL] n. [C] 突擊步槍
4. tear gas [`tIr &G8s] n. [U] 催淚瓦斯
5. telecommunications [&telIk1&mjun1`keS1nz] n. pl. 電信
6. fraud ring [`frOd &rI9] n. [C] 詐騙集團
ring [rI9] n. [C] （不法）集團，幫派
7. 1992 Consensus n. 九二共識
consensus [k1n`sEns1s] n.
[U] 共識；一致
九二共識指的是1992年，臺灣海基會與中國大陸海協會於香港會談後，經口頭協商所形成的不成文默契。2000年臺灣總統大選結束後，陸委會主委蘇起首次將九二共識與「一個中國，各自表述」連結，此後漸成為兩岸共識。
8. scammer [`sk8m2] n. [C] 騙子；詐騙犯
9. Philippines [`fIl1&pinz] n. 菲律賓
位處環太平洋地震帶上的熱帶國家，由7,101個島嶼所組成，主要分為呂宋島、維薩亞斯群島及民答那峨島三大島群，其地理環境使其飽受颱風及地震之侵襲，但也造就了豐富的自然資源與生物多樣性。
10. Malaysian [m1`leS1n] adj. 馬來西亞的
東南亞國家，由馬來半島上的11個州以及位於婆羅洲北部的沙巴、砂拉越所組成。地近赤道，屬熱帶雨林氣候。首都吉隆坡是馬來西亞最繁榮，也是人口最密集的地區。
Translation
肯亞案爭議
對許多人而言，這起事件始於一段簡短卻頗不尋常的影片。影片中，被關在肯亞奈洛比監獄牢房中的一群臺灣囚犯並不是試圖要逃出來，相反地，他們正努力讓牢房的門保持緊閉，不讓俘虜他們的人進入。雖然影片在此時結束，但根據新聞報導，最終，配備突擊步槍的肯亞警方還是使用催淚瓦斯攻破了牢房，將一眾囚犯帶出。這些臺灣囚犯接著便被押上飛機送往中國大陸，而不是遣送回臺灣。
這15名囚犯其實隸屬於一個更大的集團，而這些人全遭肯亞驅逐出境。肯亞官方控告這些臺灣公民在肯亞經營電信詐騙集團，雖然這些控訴在最後都獲判無罪，但他們還是被勒令離開肯亞。
然而，肯亞官方並未將他們送回臺灣，反而決定將他們送往中國大陸。有8名囚犯已經被送往中國，而第二批共37名的囚犯也已經準備好要離開，但其中的15人卻在此時決定反抗。這就是影片中拍攝到的情景，而這段影片很快地也在網路上爆紅。
中國官方宣稱，這些臺灣犯罪集團騙走了大陸人民數十億元。雖然集團成員在肯亞都獲判無罪，但中國官方仍希望能在中國針對此案進行調查。
一名肯亞官員聲稱，由於這些人都是從中國入境肯亞，依照標準程序，必須將這些旅客送回他們「最後的出發地」（中國）。然而，也有其他人表示，由於極度倚賴來自中國的經濟投資，肯亞可能也感受到必須對中國言聽計從的壓力。
然而，探究這起事件的核心，可以回溯至兩岸數十年來的意見分歧。雖然雙方已在九二共識達成協議，且臺灣也已成為中國最大的貿易夥伴，但雙方之間的緊張和分歧依然存在，且不時爆發。
2011年，在菲律賓遭到逮捕的臺灣電話詐騙犯先是被送往中國，而非臺灣，但最後雙方終究還是達成協議，將這些人送回臺灣。而在最近，馬來西亞官方則釋放了20名所謂的臺灣電話詐騙犯，而非依照中國官方所要求的將他們遣送至中國。
不幸的是，只要來自臺灣的罪犯持續嘗試在其它國家運作，當這些罪犯最後遭到逮捕，類似的狀況就很可能會再次發生。
閱讀測驗解答：1. C
2. C 3. D 4. B 5. B
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