单项选择题
| Most shoplifters (商店扒手) agree that the
January sales offer wonderful opportunities for the hard-working thief. With the
shop so crowded and the staff (全体职员) so busy, it does not require any special
talent to help yourself to one or two things and escape, unnoticed. It is known,
in the business, as "hoisting". But the hoisting game is not what it used to be. Even at the height of the sales, shoplifters today never know if they are being watched by one of those evil (坏的) little balls that hang from the ceilings (天花板) above the most desirable goods. They can now be filmed at work and obliged to attend a showing of their performance (演出) in court (法庭). Selfridges was the first big London store to install (安装) this equipment to watch its sales floors. In October last year the store won its first court case for shoplifting using as evidence (证据) a video tape showing a lady stealing dresses. It was an important test case which encouraged others to install such equipment. When the balls, called sputniks, first made an appearance it was widely believed that their only use was to frighten shoplifters. Their strange appearance, the curious holes and red lights going on and off, certainly made the theory believable. It didn’t take long, however, for serious shoplifters to start showing suitable respect. Soon after the equipment was in operation at Selfridges, store detective (侦探) Chadwick was sitting in the control room watching a woman secretly putting bottles of perfume (香水) in to her bag. "As she turned to go," Chadwick said, "she suddenly looked up at the ’ sputnik’. She could not possibly have seen that the camera was focused on her because it is hidden, but she must have a feeling that I was looking at her." "For a moment she paused, but then she returned to the counter and started putting everything back. When she had finished, she opened her bag towards the camera to show it was empty and hurried out of the store." |