Passage Twenty (NCB in Interpol)

　　The organization known to the world as Interpol has sometimes been described as an outfit of chisel-jawed gimlet-eyed crime fighters who put their lives in jeopardy every working hour. Less flatteringly, Interpol has also been described as a huge filing cabinet, stuffed with clerks choking on their own statistics.

　　As with most generalities, there is some truth in both statements. There are, certainly, some grim battlers of crime to be found working with Interpol. There are, just as surely, those drones shuffling mountains of paper whose cheeks are sallow from indoor life. Consider the charisma of the name alone: INTERPOL, the international police force. Continents leaped in a single bound, oceans crossed in the space of a breath, villains watched by eyes that never sleep. Surprisingly, a lot of it happens almost that way.

　　Four groups coordinate and direct the activities of Interpol. One of them is the National Central Bureaus, or NCBs, bodies designated by the member nations to serve as their link with Interpol. These are the front-line troops, the action people. IN the United States, the Treasury Department is the National Central Bureau. In the United Kingdom, it is Scotland Yard; the Questura in Italy and the Melbourne City Police in Australia. Because police organization varies from country, the NCBs were established to act as the one special group to handle Interpol chores and unsure maximum cooperation between nations. Each NCB is usually an official government body with police powers if a country has only one central police authority, that body becomes the National Centre Bureau. Of course, any service appointed as an NCB is bound to its nation’s law and authority and retains its national title.

　　Each NCB is connected by radio to the regional station for its geographic zone. The regional stations are connected to the Central Station in France. The radio network is versatile. Network stations can monitor the Central station or any regional station. Because of this messages can be broadcast to more than one station at a time. A coding system determines the urgency of each message so that those with high priority can be given precedence. Besides, other communication tools, such as radio-teleprinters and phototelegraphy equipment. Permit rapid transfers of fingerprints and photographs. Sometimes ever more advanced technology is employed. When the police all over the world were looking for a Canadian named George Leray, they turned to the Early Bird Satellite. Leray had led his gang on a daring holdup of a Montreal bank and gotten away with $4 million. Scotland Yard broadcast Leray’s photo to the world by satellite. An American who saw the picture in Florida recognized Leray as a man who was living on a yacht in Fort Lauderdale under an assumed name. The police were alerted and arrested Leray.

　　1. What is the best title for this passage?

　　[A]. The Function of the Interpol. [B]. The Quality of the Interpol.

　　[C]. The Organization of the Interpol. [D]. The Rapid Development of the Interpol.

　　2. The organization of this passage is

　　[A]. general to specific. [B]. cause and effect.

　　[C]. comparison and contrast. [D]. development.

　　3. The sentence “stuffed with clerks choking on their own statistics” in the first paragraph is closest in meaning to

　　[A]. a lot of employees busying in their work.

　　[B]. many office workers busying with various documents.

　　[C]. crowded with office workers busying with their own collected data.

　　[D]. workers busying in their own information.

　　4. Which is the easiest tool to communicate?

　　[A]. Satellite. [B]. Radio.

　　[B]. Teleprinter. [D]. Phototelegraphy.

　　Vocabulary

　　1. Interpol 國際刑警組織

　　2. outfit 全班人馬，有組織團體

　　3. chisel-jawed 儀表英俊的

　　4. gimlet-eyed 目光銳利的

　　5. jeopardy 危險

　　6. flatteringly 奉承

　　7. choke 悶死

　　choking on their own statistics 被自己的統計數字弄的喘不過氣來

　　8. as with most generalities 和大多數籠統說法一樣

　　9. grim 冷酷的

　　10. drone 懶漢，懶洋洋的人

　　11. shuffle 反復挪動，亂翻，洗(紙牌)

　　12. charisma 超凡的魅力

　　13. National Central Bureaus 國家中心局

　　14. Treasury Department 財政部(美)

　　15. Questura 警察局(意)

　　16. Melbourne 墨爾本警察局

　　17. chore 日常零星工作

　　18. to be bound to 受……的約束，義務，一定……

　　19. geographic zone 地區，地帶

　　20. versatile 有多方面用途的

　　21. radio-teleprinter 無線電打印機

　　22. phototelegraph 傳真

　　23. daring 大膽的

　　24. holdup 搶劫

　　25. alert 使警惕，使處于待命狀態