2012年3月中级口译阅读理解第五篇原文

Signs of the times: Wall Street protesters get creative with placards in effort to make their message heard. 选自《每日邮报》

As the Occupy Wall Street protest enters its third week, demonstrators are making increasingly creative placards to ensure their voices are heard. Clever word play, bright colours, famous quotations and popular images have all been used to crystallise their message of opposing corporate influence over U.S. politics and the lack of legal repercussions following the 2008 banks bailout.

One poster shows a picture of the White House with a letting sign on the lawn which reads \'For Sale - To The Highest Bidders\'. Another uses the iconic image of Lord Kitchener, wearing a V for Vendetta mask, over the words \'I Want You To OccupyWallStreet\'. Signs displaying quotes from Gandhi and English writer GK Chesterton have been used to contextualise this protest with ones from the past, while many have puns on Wall Street. One placard says \'Lets Rip Down The Wall And Make It Just A Street\', another \'Wall Street Is Our Street\'.

A recurring motif is money and greed and how the demonstrators supposedly represent 99 per cent of Americans. One sign reads: \'The Whole World Is Going Bankrupt - To Who?\'

There is even a poster called the \'Map of the Occupied States of America\', which uses stars to highlight future locations for protest.

Not all people needed cardboard to display their message, however. One protester used bright blue chalk to write on the sidewalk: \'Occupation Is My Occupation\'. Makeshift camps including a library and pharmacies have been set up by Wall Street protesters in a clear sign that they intend to carry out their promise of staying into the winter. The development came after thousands of people yesterday marched to New York Police Department (NYPD) headquarters following accusations of brutality from officers dealing with demonstrators. Similar protests against the banking system have spread across the country, with events taking place up in Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago.

New York City police are braced for a weekend of unrest in the Financial District, with the Occupy Wall Street protest showing little sign of dissipating as it moves into its third straight week. People have travelled from all over the country to voice their anger at the 2008 bank bailouts, rising numbers of foreclosures and persistently high unemployment. Protesters signalled their intention to keep a presence in Zuccotti Park, just outside Wall Street, by setting up larger camps of mattresses and sleeping bags, and laying out a basic library, newspaper stands, pharmacies and I.T. hubs.