每天读一篇英语小故事：US Border Patrol

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　　The US Border Patrol is encountering more problems with drug dealers from
Mexico. A few weeks ago, a dealer ran over a border patrol agent. The agent,
standing in the middle of a two-lane road, had motioned the dealer’s vehicle to
stop. Instead, the dealer ran over the agent, killing him, and then drove back
across the border into Mexico. He has not been caught yet. Such incidents are on
the rise, said one agent. The dealers are getting braver, because they rarely
get caught. “Any agent who tries to stop us deserves to die,” said one convicted
drug dealer.
        　　The dealers are always devising new tricks to get their drugs into the US.
They start dangerous fires near the border to distract agents. They shoot cattle
on border ranches so that American ranchers will not call agents about
suspicious activity. They use dynamite to blow up bridges so agents cannot
follow them. They dig tunnels that start in Mexico and connect with buildings on
US soil.
        　　Their newest trick is to try to behead agents who ride on ATVs (all-terrain
vehicles). When an agent drives into a concealed trap, he activates a "clothes
line" wire. This wire stretches tightly across the agent's path, at neck level.
It could slice right through his neck. The Department of Homeland Security
quickly issued a new protective device for its ATV riders--a plastic neck guard.
Using computer simulation, the department determined that the neck guard should
prevent beheading; however, critical injuries—including a broken neck—are still
possible.
        　　“These 'clothes lines' are not a big deal,” said a department official. He
criticized the media for making a mountain out of a molehill. “Wait until an
agent is actually beheaded—then you’ll have a story,” he said to a group of
reporters.