21、Most shoplifters agree that the January sales offer
wonderful opportunities for the hard-working thief. With the shops so crowded
and the staff so busy, it does not require any extraordinary talent to help
yourself to one or two little 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
little balls that hang from the ceilings of so many department stores above the
most desirable goods.
As if that
was not trouble enough for them, they can now be filmed at work and forced to
attend a showing of their performance in court.
Selfridges was the first big
London store to fix closed-circuit video-tape equipment to watch its sales
floors. In October last year the store won its first court case for shoplifting
using as evidence a videotape clearly showing a couple stealing dresses. It was
an important test case which encouraged other stores to fix similar equipment
When the balls, called sputniks,
first make an appearance in shops, it was widely believed that their only
function was to frighten shoplifters. Their somewhat ridiculous appearance, the
curious holes and red lights going on and off, certainly make the theory
believable.
It did not take long, however, for
serious shoplifters to start showing suitable respect. Soon after the equipment
was in operation at Selfridges, store detective Chadwick was sitting in the
control room watching a woman secretly putting bottles of perfume into her bag.
“As she turned to go,” Chadwick recalled, “she suddenly looked up
at the ‘sputnik’ and stopped.
She could not possibly have seen that the camera was trained on her because it
is completely hidden, but she must have had a feeling that I was looking at
her.”
“For a moment she paused, but then
she returned to shelves 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.”
1.The sputniks hanging from the ceiling are intended
________
A.to watch the most desirable goods
B.to make films that can be used as evidence
C.to frighten shoplifters by their
appearance
D.to be used as evidence against shoplifters
2.The case last October was important because _________
A.the store got the
dresses back
B.the equipment was able to frighten shoplifters
C.other shops found out
about the equipment
D.the kind of evidence supplied was accepted
3.The woman stealing perfume _________
A.guessed what the sputniks were
for B.was
frightened by its shape
C.could see the camera filming
her D.knew that the detective had seen her
4.The woman’s action before
leaving the store shows that she _______
A.was sorry for what she
had done
B.didn’t want to take what she had picked up
C.was afraid she would
be arrested
D.wanted to prove she
had not intended to steal anything