筆者有一位親戚，住在紐約曼哈頓華埠，他最近傳來一些訊息給我，說因為紐約市防控措施比較嚴格，疫情有所緩和，但依然嚴峻。區內經濟差，入室盜竊案件命越來越多，嫌犯的目標開始小大都不放過，盯上大型商業如酒店及百貨公司等也增多，很多人因為失業，實在是太窮了。僅過去兩天就有多起案件發生，其中一起嫌犯更是在連續兩天中光顧了三次。
當地警方表示，18日一早，他們就接到兩起入室盜竊案件的報案，第一起在位於包厘街Bowery138號的酒店內，嫌犯盜走了包括微波爐在內的廚房用品，而另一則發生在百老匯大街的 Bloomingdale，嫌犯將二樓的窗戶打破，入室盜走了收銀櫃中的現金。
17日的一起入室盜竊也為發生在酒店內，警方稱，在位於企李士提街 Chrystie St 215號的 PUBLIC Hotel中，該酒店評級為四星，而嫌犯就是看中了之中的高端酒品，警方在調取案發地監控路線時發現，嫌犯更是在兩天的時間內連續進出三次進行盜竊。
就算這位親戚家裏，也發生了 盜竊案。有一晚，他們一家四口外出。回來時， 屋後面的窗已被破壞，家裏值錢的東西都被偷走了。 他們並沒有報警，害怕麻煩及疫症。但會加強保安措施，如安裝攝影機等。 他說聽到一些鄰居也有類似的經歷，感到非常無奈。 因為這邊的窮人也很多， 尤其是疫情發生之後，很多人失業， 露宿街頭的人越來越多， 有些人就挺而走險犯案， 很多人都去買槍自保.
黎志豪 武漢大學香港學生
香港建設專業聯會青年部理事
香港建設專業聯會
** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **
The following is part of an article written by By Brantly Womack in December.
<China’s Space Program Suggests Decoupling Won’t Work Like the US Hopes>
The U.S. has long frozen China out of space cooperation. That hasn’t stopped China from making substantial progress.
China’s space program – a long-time victim of political distancing from NASA – is completing a trip to the moon to bring back lunar samples. As part of the Chang’e 5 mission, a lander gathered rocks from the surface of the moon and then transferred them to the orbiter, which plans to return to earth December 17.
On the same day the Chinese landed, NASA rather peevishly announced contracts for as little as one dollar for lunar soil to be collected by private space companies in the next few years, and a few days later it named the astronauts for future manned American lunar missions.
... in the space race, in 2019, China completed 33 successful orbital launches while the United States did 20. Next year it plans to launch the core unit of its own modular space station, to be finished by 2022 over the course of 10 missions. Further down the road, it has plans for Mars exploration and for a gigantic space-based solar power generator.
China’s progress in space has been achieved in spite of a complete decoupling by the United States. In contrast to NASA’s successful space collaboration with the Russians, the American agency has shunned China....., But the United States kept China out of the ISS. Congress then drove the decoupling home in 2011 with a law forbidding any collaboration between NASA and any Chinese entity, even to the point of barring Chinese visitors from entering NASA facilities. And there can be no U.S. components in any satellite launched by China.
China’s space program is thus the perfect test case for current American discussions of the advantages and disadvantages of decoupling. Is it a good idea to minimize collaboration and to cut China off from high-tech inputs? Can the United States get its allies to cooperate? Can China be isolated? Can its progress be stopped?
The short answer is that attempts to isolate China are more likely to result in American self-isolation and the loss of collaborative opportunities. Clearly NASA has not kept China earth-bound. But China would rather not go it alone in space. It is building its space station modules to be compatible with the docking requirements of the ISS, just in case the American mood changes. Meanwhile, NASA’s space exploration is chronically underfunded. Cooperation with Russia has been essential to ISS operations, despite continuing political tensions. Similarly, China’s enthusiasm as a first-timer could have been coupled with American know-how as an old-timer... ..
The statement or proposition made Brantly Womack may not sound like music to the filthy ears of Donald Trump, but it is valid and its validity has stood and will stand the test of time.
K. Y. Yip(葉啟賢) Engineer
HKFDP
