defendants' pen: 被告席
4月5日,在伊拉克首都巴格达,伊拉克前总统萨达姆再次就杜贾尔村案出庭接受盘问。身穿黑色外套的萨达姆在被告席上显得轻松且桀骜不驯,不时地和法官或检察官调侃几句,有时还能说出几句颇有诗意的话。这次出庭,萨达姆承认他批准了将杜贾尔村什叶派村民处死的命令,因为他相信有证据表明那些村民卷入了试图暗杀他的阴谋。
请看外电相关报道:Saddam Hussein dodged questions from prosecutors cross-examining him for the first time Wednesday over a crackdown against Shiites in the 1980s. Standing alone in a black suit in the defendants' pen , Saddam cooperated with the court at times, grinning at the chief prosecutor and reciting poetry to the judge.
报道中的defendants' pen就是“被告席”,这里着重讲一下“pen”。pen除表示我们日常所见的“钢笔”外,还有一层意思指a fenced enclosure for animals(圈养牲畜的围栏),如:a pen of sheep(一栏羊),由此,pen可引申为“监禁”或“监狱”。在报道中,pen表示“把被告席位隔开的围栏”。
另外,pen也可做动词用,指“把…关在栏中;禁锢”,其过去分词有两种形式“penned”或“pent”,举两个例子:The sheep have to be penned every night.(羊群每晚都得关进圈里。)
The desire to travel has been pent up for the last two years.(近两年来心中老是憋着想出门旅行的愿望。)