美国国家公共电台 NPR--A deadly church shooting exposes the complexities of Taiwanese and Chinese identities

A deadly church shooting exposes the complexities¹ of Taiwanese and Chinese identities

Transcript²

A deadly shooting at a Taiwanese church in California exposes rising tensions between Taiwan and China.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Last month, a man born in Taiwan opened fire at a Taiwanese church in California. He wrote that he did so because he opposes Taiwan's independence from China. The gunfire left one person dead and five injured and exposed how rising tensions between Taiwan and China are playing out in the U.S. NPR's Emily Feng reports.

EMILY FENG, BYLINE³: Just before 68-year-old David Wenwei Chou glued and chained shut the doors of this California church then shot the elderly congregants inside, he mailed his handwritten diaries to a Taiwanese newspaper. He titled his screed⁴, "Diary Of An Angel Of Destroying Independence," Taiwanese independence from China.

TONY LEE: From Sweden, European country, Japan, Australia, Taiwan - around the world.

FENG: Now Taiwanese activist⁵ Tony Lee shows me how the California street corner outside the Geneva Presbyterian Church is covered with flowers from Taiwanese people living all over the world. At first, English-language coverage⁶ mistakenly described Chou, the shooter, as a Chinese immigrant. In fact, he was born in Taiwan to Chinese parents, a group of people in Taiwan called waishengren, meaning outside province people. Many waishengren expected and wanted Taiwan to one day become one country with China. Lee explains they also had lots of political privileges. But as Taiwan became its own democracy, that changed.

LEE: So they say, wait a minute. We have before, how come we don't have now? So that's why they think they're Chinese. So that's why - come out this killer⁷ Taiwanese.

FENG: Even in California, waishengren immigrants and benshengren - or native province Taiwanese - keep their distance from each other. For example, the church that Chou targeted was known for its wealthy pro-Taiwanese benshengren congregation. But at first, Chou seemed to settle in the U.S. He specialized⁸ in hospitality and wrote a book on wine. Then, as his life and finances unraveled after a divorce, he began ranting⁹ to acquaintances about how much he resented Taiwan's de facto independence.

JENNY KOO: (Through interpreter) He was very agitated¹⁰. Every time he brought up Taiwan independence, he got very worked up. I just thought, it wasn't right.

FENG: This is Jenny Koo, who leads a Las Vegas branch of the Peace and Reunification Society, which works for Taiwan's unification with China. It's a group overseen¹¹ by the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. And Chou, the shooter, tried to join in 2019. But Koo says she refused.

KOO: (Through interpreter) We respect the other side's opinions. But Chou demonized them. You could tell from the language he used that he no longer saw people from Taiwan as people.

FENG: For some, emigrating to the U.S. can be a fresh start, a chance to wipe the slate¹² clean of old-world grudges¹³. For Chou, emigrating from Taiwan to the U.S. seemed only to amplify¹⁴ historical divisions, a phenomenon Taiwanese writer Leona Chen calls the immigrant time capsule.

LEONA CHEN: The very salient political conflicts and tensions experienced during martial¹⁵ law were sort of incubated and carried over by our parents' and grandparents' generation. And then, they just continued to stay that way even as Taiwan has evolved.

FENG: The shooter is in police custody¹⁶ and has been charged with capital murder. Dr. John Cheng, the Taiwanese doctor he killed, is considered a hero for helping¹⁷ subdue¹⁸ Chou long enough for police to arrive. So far, there's no indication of imminent¹⁹ war between China and Taiwan. But the casualties of this conflict are already cropping up.

Emily Feng, NPR News, Laguna Woods, Calif.

(SOUNDBITE OF FLAKO'S "GELIS")

1 complexities   

复杂性(complexity的名词复数)； 复杂的事物

参考例句：

• The complexities of life bothered him. 生活的复杂使他困惑。
• The complexities of life bothered me. 生活的杂乱事儿使我心烦。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 screed   

n.长篇大论

参考例句：

• The screed tired the audience.那篇冗长的演说使听众厌烦了。
• The pro-whaling screed was approved by a much thinner margin:33 votes to 32.关于捕鲸的冗长决议是以33票对32票的微弱差数通过的。

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

6 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

7 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

8 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

9 ranting   

v.夸夸其谈( rant的现在分词 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨

参考例句：

• Mrs. Sakagawa stopped her ranting. 坂川太太戛然中断悲声。 来自辞典例句
• He was ranting about the murder of his dad. 他大叫她就是杀死他父亲的凶手。 来自电影对白

10 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

11 overseen   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was overseen stealing the letters. 他被人撞见在偷信件。 来自辞典例句
• It will be overseen by ThomasLi, director of IBM China Research Laboratory. 该实验室由IBM中国研究院院长李实恭(ThomasLi)引导。 来自互联网

12 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

13 grudges   

不满，怨恨，妒忌( grudge的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He never grudges money. 他从不吝惜金钱。
• They bear grudges against each other. 他俩有过节儿。

14 amplify   

vt.放大，增强；详述，详加解说

参考例句：

• The new manager wants to amplify the company.新经理想要扩大公司。
• Please amplify your remarks by giving us some examples.请举例详述你的话。

15 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

16 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

17 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

18 subdue   

vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制

参考例句：

• She tried to subdue her anger.她尽力压制自己的怒火。
• He forced himself to subdue and overcome his fears.他强迫自己克制并战胜恐惧心理。

19 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。