部分翻译取自Collins Dictionary 以及Cambridge Dictionary

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图文取自BBC官网

The housewife who catches child sex groomers

 groom:a person whose work is tending, feeding, and currying horses /bridegroom 

child sex groomer： 儿童性诱拐

On a typical evening Chelsea Hunter* collects her children from school, makes them dinner and puts them to bed - and then poses as a girl to chat to men. She has been speaking to the BBC about the murky underworld of online grooming.

pose as：装作，冒充

murky:  If you describe an activity or situation as murky, you suspect that it is dishonest or morally wrong.

阴暗的，昏暗的

Abderraouf Qutteineh thought he was about to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex. The 74-year-old had befriended her online and sent hundreds of increasingly explicit messages over the space of two weeks.As he waited at a railway station for his prey to arrive, he was confronted by his correspondent - a mother waging a crusade against groomers.

  befriend: to  be friendly towards someone /to make someone your friend on a social networking website

  以朋友的方式对待

 explicit: Something that is explicit is expressed or shown clearly and openly, without    any attempt to hide anything

  清楚的，明白的，露骨的

prey：an animal that is hunted and killed for food by another animal

 猎物

be confronted by:面临，面对

correspondent：记者，通信者。在这里应该指的是一直与Abderraouf Qutteineh 以“未成年女生”身份通信的妈妈

wage a crusade against: 实施抵抗

wage： a particular amount of money that is paid, usually every week, to an employee/to fight a war or organize a series of activities in order to achievesomething:

工资，实施

crusade against....：抵抗...

Ms Hunter, 35, was able to hand all of her evidence to the police, who promptly arrested Qutteineh, a grandfather from Windsor.At his sentencing at Reading Crown Court, it emerged Qutteineh had been spending his spare time naked in front of a phone camera for someone he thought was a girl young enough to be his granddaughter.Because he hadn't been in trouble before, and because there hadn't in this case been a child victim, the judge decided to pass a suspended sentence.For mum-of-four Ms Hunter, though, it signalled another victory in her battle against online sex predators.

promptly：quickly, without delay, or at the arranged time，立即的

emerge：To emerge means to come out from an enclosed or dark space such as a room or a vehicle, or from a position where you could not be seen.显示

a suspended sentence：缓刑

predators：an animal that hunts, kills, and eats other animals:

因为Qutteineh之前没有过犯罪，此案中也没有出现儿童受害者，法官判处缓刑

paedophile hunter

paedophile：/ˈpiː.də.faɪl/

someone who is sexually interested in children 恋童癖

Ms Hunter, from Kent, has spent nearly a year living a double life. By day she's busy with domestic chores and looking after her children. By night she becomes 14-year-old Chloe."I get up, get the kids up, get them off to school, and then just do normal housework, catching up on washing and hoovering," she says of her daytime routine."I'm a housewife, I've got my own children. Being a decoy who is 14 means they think I'm at school during the day."I jump on when they believe that I've finished school to tell them I've got to do my homework and have dinner, so I can sort my own children out."

domestic chores: 家务琐事

hoovering：/ˈhuː.vər/用吸尘器扫除

decoy：something or someone used to trick or confuse other people or animals into doing something, especially something dangerous:诱饵

Ms Hunter, along with her husband, is part of Shadow Hunters, a group of adults who pose as girls on social media and then travel the country confronting those men who arrange to meet up.They hand over all their evidence to police, who are often able to make an arrest on the spot - although police discourage such groups from these activities, arguing they can jeopardise ongoing investigations into grooming networks.The evidence collected by Shadow Hunters consists mostly of reams of chat logs in which the groomer shares his explicit fantasies of underage sex.

jeopardise：to put something such as a plan or system in danger of being harmedor damaged 损害

reams of ：大量、许多（文件、文字）

Explaining what motivates her, Ms Hunter says: "It was always something I wanted to help with."I'm a housewife and, apart from the usual stuff, I didn't really do much, so it was just something I wanted to do to help."Until you become a decoy, you have no idea how many online predators there actually are out there."Some of them are good-looking, and I think 'what are you doing'?"They just come through and I think 'please just block me', but they just carry on."

block：屏蔽

The Shadow Hunters say their work helps to divert abusers from spending time grooming children.The predators range from men in their 20s to ones in their 70s such as Qutteineh, who was the oldest groomer Ms Hunter has dealt with."We didn't think he'd turn up because of his age," she says."You get to know these people inside out; they pour everything out to you."It wasn't anger when I confronted him... you just feel so guilty for the family, as [he told me] his wife had just come out of hospital from an appointment."Their family, half the time, are oblivious. 

oblivious：not  conscious of something，especially what is happening around you不知道的

The next thing they know they've got the police turn up at their door to take all their devices, so you feel guilty for the family because they're victims in this as well."Since starting her crusade in August, she has chatted to more than 50 men who said they wanted to meet up for sex.

图来自BBC官网

"The first one I got, I came home and I cried," she says. "It was awful. There were just so many emotions all in one - relief, anger."You build yourself up knowing you're going to be face to face with someone that believes you to be a child."With it being my first one I didn't know what to expect, but then you're faced with the reality of what they actually do, and you feel annoyed because they're standing there and try and lie to your face."I was nervous, I was shaking, but then the adrenaline kicks in, especially when you see him at the meet point."

adrenaline：a hormone (= chemical substance) produced by the body when a person is frightened, angry, or excited, which makes the heart beat faster and prepares the body to react to danger 肾上腺素

She says the first time she was "groomed" online it took some getting used to."You go from not doing anything at night, just watching telly and that, to your phone constantly going off with messages."At night it's a completely different life I lead."But now, after nearly a year, her double life is almost second nature."It sounds silly," she says, "but I'd probably be bored now; if I wasn't doing this, I'd be lost."I still watch all my soaps, if the kids need me I can still do that - you just make up an excuse [to the groomer] and say your mum's calling and you'll be back in a minute."

telly：电视

Although their evidence has helped to convict many men, police do not endorse the activities of the Shadow Hunters.She also gets plenty of support from her fellow Shadow Hunters, whom she describes as her "second family"."I'd be lost without my team," she says. "We have group calls, we have a laugh. When we need to be serious we get the job done, but we're all really close and get together, have Christmas parties."If one of us gets [an indecent] pic that is slightly odd looking or funny then it goes straight in the group chat and we all have a laugh about it. That helps, it lightens the mood."

endorse:to make a public statement of your approval or support for something or someone,批准，认可

indecent：morally offensive, especially in a sexual way:粗鄙的，猥亵的

Ms Hunter, whose Facebook profile shows a photo of a teenage girl, says there is a clear set of rules she needs to abide by to make sure any evidence she gathers will stand up in court and cannot be seen as entrapment."We do not add anyone; they come through to us and ask for friend requests," she says."We accept them, but we do not message them first. The first thing a decoy will say to them is their age and check that it's OK."As a rule we tell the decoys to get their ages in at least three times in the first eight to 10 messages."We don't lead them on, we just have a normal chat and the men incite the sexual chat, and they incite the meet. It's their choice and we don't encourage anything."Ms Hunter has shown the BBC a selection of screen grabs revealing how quickly the chats become sexual. Most of them are too explicit to be published here.

abide：遵守

entrapment：诱使犯罪

incite：to encourage someone to do or feel something unpleasant or violent，刺激

One of offenders the group has caught is Peter Hicks of Stadhampton in Oxfordshire.The 48-year-old, who had a string of previous convictions for sex crimes, troubled Ms Hunter."Peter Hicks was awful," she says. "I've had nightmares about him. The things he wanted what he believed to be a child to do were just unimaginable."It made me feel sick as a grown woman, knowing that he thought there was a child on the other end of the screen."Ms Hunter knew Hicks had a history of child molestation, and he became a key paedophile to try to catch after the mother of a girl he had contacted posted a warning about him on social media."It was when I knew a real child was involved that it really affected me. I spoke to the child's mum and I promised her that no matter what I would get him."

molestation：[ˌmɒle'steɪʃn] 骚扰，调戏

molest：to touch or attack someone in a sexual way against their wishes:

Although it took a long time, she says he did eventually contact her on Facebook.Eventually, Hicks was confronted by the Shadow Hunters in Stadhampton after not showing up on three previous occasions.

Appearing via video-link at Oxford Crown Court, he was sentenced to four years.During the sentencing hearing Judge Peter Ross made a point of highlighting his distaste for paedophile hunters, saying they had had "no business" confronting Hicks.But this is an attitude the Shadow Hunters shrug off; they believe the police need their help in catching those engaged in online grooming."It is obviously the police's job but they've only got so much power in how they can deal with it," Ms Hunter says."They've even admitted to us that they can't do it the way we do it. We can leave it to the police but until you become a decoy you have no idea how many online predators there actually are out there."

distaste:a dislike of something that you find unpleasant or unacceptable

shrug off:耸肩表示蔑视，摆脱 to treat something as if it is not important or not a problem

Criticism of the activities of Ms Hunter's group will not deter her from targeting groomers, she says.A Freedom of Information request to Thames Valley Police showed that in 2017 the force recorded 10 times more crimes of "attempting to meet a child through sexual grooming" than in 2015 - from nine to 90.Recently, the BBC reported that evidence from self-styled paedophile hunters was used to charge suspects at least 150 times last year.

deter：to prevent someone from doing something or to make someone lessenthusiastic about doing something by making it difficult for thatperson to do it or by threatening bad results if they do it

Ms Hunter says: "We aim to work with the police, not against them. Basically, we're giving the police a full case; everything is done for them - every single bit of evidence they need."A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: "We do not encourage action of this kind as we must be very careful there is not a compromise to ongoing investigations into paedophile networks."Children's charity the NSPCC agrees, saying paedophile hunters "run the risk of driving offenders underground, endanger ongoing police work and the legal process, or result in innocent people being targeted".

Last year Chief Constable Simon Bailey, the national lead for child protection at the National Police Chiefs' Council, said vigilante groups were "putting the lives of children at risk".None of this deters Ms Hunter, however."The ones that criticise us, I just hope to God that their kids never have to go through being groomed," she says."The things these men write would just ruin a child."I feel the police are not doing enough to get them; they don't use the platforms we can use to get them."If I can make a difference I will do this for as long as I can, whether the police like it or not."I do this off my own bat. It's not a huge buzz, it's more relief that the predator is off the street."I'm just glad it's me they're talking to, then at least it's one real child they're leaving alone."

vigilante：/ˌvɪdʒ.ɪˈlæn.ti/ person who tries in an unofficial way to prevent crime, or to catchand punish someone who has committed a crime义务警员

off one’s own bat： 凭自己的努力，独立的

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复习：

第一组：

groom: a person whose work is tending, feeding, and currying horses /bridegroom

child sex groomer： 儿童性诱拐

pose as：装作，冒充

murky:  If you describe an activity or situation as murky, you suspect that it is dishonest or morally wrong.阴暗的，昏暗的

befriend: to  be friendly towards someone  /to make someone your friend on a social networking website  以朋友的方式对待

explicit: Something that is explicit is expressed or shown clearly and openly, without    any attempt to hide anything清楚的，明白的，露骨的

prey：an animal that is hunted and killed for food by another animal 猎物

be confronted by:面临，面对

correspondent：记者，通信者。在这里应该指的是一直与 Abderraouf Qutteineh 以“未成年女生”身份通信的妈妈

wage a crusade against: 实施抵抗

wage： a particular amount of money that is paid, usually every week, to an employee/to fight a war or organize a series of activities in order to achievesomething工资，实施

crusade against....：抵抗...

第二组：

promptly：quickly, without delay, or at the arranged time，立即的

emerge：To emerge means to come out from an enclosed or dark space such as a room or a vehicle, or from a position where you could not be seen.显示

a suspended sentence：缓刑

predators：an animal that hunts, kills, and eats other animals:

paedophile：/ˈpiː.də.faɪl/someone who is sexually interested in children 恋童癖

domestic chores: 家务琐事

hoovering：/ˈhuː.vər/用吸尘器扫除

decoy：something or someone used to trick or confuse other people or animals into doing something, especially something dangerous:诱饵

jeopardise：to put something such as a plan or system in danger of being harmedor damaged 损害

reams of ：大量、许多（文件、文字）

第三组：

block：屏蔽

oblivious：not  conscious of something，especially what is happening around you不知道的

adrenaline：a hormone (= chemical substance) produced by the body when a person is frightened, angry, or excited, which makes the heart beat faster and prepares the body to react to danger 肾上腺素

telly：电视 watch telly

endorse:to make a public statement of your approval or support for something or someone,批准，认可

indecent： morally offensive, especially in a sexual way: 粗鄙的，猥亵的

molestation：[ˌmɒle'steɪʃn] 骚扰，调戏

molest：to touch or attack someone in a sexual way against their wishes

distaste:a dislike of something that you find unpleasant or unacceptable

shrug off:耸肩表示蔑视，摆脱 to treat something as if it is not important or not a problem

deter：to prevent someone from doing something or to make someone lessenthusiastic about doing something by making it difficult for thatperson to do it or by threatening bad results if they do it

vigilante：/ˌvɪdʒ.ɪˈlæn.ti/ person who tries in an unofficial way to prevent crime, or to catchand punish someone who has committed a crime义务警员

off one’s own bat： 凭自己的努力，独立的