VOA标准英语2011--High Prices Trigger Rise in Copper Thefts

（单词翻译）

High Prices Trigger Rise in Copper¹ Thefts

When you heard the word “copper” in old gangster² movies, you were talking about the good guys: the police, the cops. Now, when you speak of copper and crime, you’re referring to the bad guys.

A combination of circumstances has led to a meteoric³ rise in thefts of copper from buildings, construction sites, and homes. Prices paid for scrap⁴ metal, especially copper, have skyrocketed, in part because of high demand from rapidly industrializing nations such as Brazil, China, and India.

Pipes, wires, cables, gutters⁵, copper coils in air conditioners and generators⁶, even power lines are being ripped off - literally⁷. Thieves have even disabled entire electrical substations.

And the damage caused by these rip-and-run criminals far exceeds the replacement⁸ costs for the stolen metal.

In rural Pennsylvania earlier this month, two brothers were charged with stealing an entire 15.5-ton bridge - cutting it apart with a blowtorch and selling it to a scrap-metal company. Since the recycling company doesn’t get many bridges, its owners called the coppers⁹.

This 150-year-old weathervane in Vermont had a lovely antique copper horse atop it until a thief scaled the roof and stole it

The problem has been compounded by the number of foreclosed and otherwise vacant buildings, sitting empty and tempting¹⁰.

Copper thefts have caused gas leaks, water damage, and darkened streetlights in jurisdictions¹¹ across the country. A historic church in downtown Washington, D.C., lost its protection against lightning when thieves snipped¹² away a grounding cable.

And now criminals are committing what authorities are calling “a brand new crime” in and around buildings - especially restaurants. They’re siphoning new and used cooking oil out of storage tanks and reselling it for up to 4 dollars a gallon.

And if the storage tanks are copper, they’re carrying away the whole thing.