TED演讲 :我选择和平(1)

 On November 5th, 1990, a man named El-Sayyid Nosair walked into a hotel in Manhattan and assassinated¹ Rabbi Meir Kahane, the leader of the Jewish Defense² League.  1990 年 11 月 5 日， 一位名叫埃尔塞伊德诺塞尔的男子，走入曼哈顿的一间宾馆，刺杀了拉比梅厄卡赫纳，犹太防卫联盟的首领。

Nosair was initially³ found not guilty of the murder, but while serving time on lesser⁴ charges,  诺塞尔一开始并未被指认参与谋杀，但当他因小事入狱服刑期间，

he and other men began planning attacks on a dozen New York City landmarks⁵, including tunnels, synagogues and the United Nations headquarters.  他和一些人开始计划袭击纽约市的一些地标，包括隧道，犹太教会堂和联合国总部。

Thankfully, those plans were foiled by an FBI informant. Sadly, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center was not.  谢天谢地，这些计划被美国联邦调查局的线人挫败了。不幸的是，1993年世贸中心的那场爆炸袭击却发生了。

Nosair would eventually be convicted for his involvement in the plot. El-Sayyid Nosair is my father. 诺塞尔最终被指控参与这场犯罪谋划。埃尔塞伊德诺塞尔是我的父亲。

I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1983 to him, an Egyptian engineer, and a loving American mother and grade school teacher,  我1983年出生在宾夕法尼亚州的匹兹堡，我的父亲是一位埃及裔工程师，我有个爱我的美国母亲，她是一名小学老师，

who together tried their best to create a happy childhood for me. It wasn't until I was seven years old that our family dynamic started to change.  他们尽最大的努力为给我创造出欢乐的童年。直到我7岁的时候，家庭氛围开始出现了变化。

My father exposed me to a side of Islam that few people, including the majority of Muslims, get to see. It's been my experience that when people take the time to interact with one another,  我的父亲让我接触伊斯兰的一支很少人见过，包括大部分的穆斯林，都没见过的一个派别。我的人生经验告诉我，当人们与彼此相处，

it doesn't take long to realize that for the most part, we all want the same things out of life.  很快就意识到，很大程度上人们对生活有着相同的追求。

However, in every religion, in every population, you'll find a small percentage of people who hold so fervently⁷ to their beliefs  然而，所有宗教，所有群体，你总能看到一小部分人对他们的信仰太过狂热，

that they feel they must use any means necessary to make others live as they do. A few months prior to his arrest,  以至于认为他们应该用各种方法 让其他人和他们过同样的生活。在他被捕前的几个月，

he sat me down and explained that for the past few weekends, he and some friends had been going to a shooting range on Long Island for target practice.  他和我坐着聊天解释到：在过去的几个周末，他和他的一些朋友在长岛（美国纽约州东南部岛屿）进行目标射击训练。

He told me I'd be going with him the next morning. We arrived at Calverton Shooting Range,  他让我第二天一早和他一起去。我们来到凯佛顿射击场，

which unbeknownst to our group was being watched by the FBI. When it was my turn to shoot,  我们并不知道自己已经被联邦调查局监视了。轮到我射击的时候，

my father helped me hold the rifle to my shoulder and explained how to aim at the target about 30 yards off. That day, the last bullet I shot hit the small orange light that sat on top of the target and to everyone's surprise,  我的父亲帮我扶住肩膀上的来福枪，并教导我如何瞄准30码处的目标。那天，我射出的最后一颗子弹打中了目标顶上的橙色亮光，所有人都惊呆了，

especially mine, the entire target burst into flames. My uncle turned to the other men, and in Arabic said, "Ibn abuh."  尤其是我， 整个目标板燃烧了。我的叔叔转向旁边的人，用阿拉伯语说到，"Ibn abuh"--

Like father, like son. They all seemed to get a really big laugh out of that comment,  虎父无犬子。他们当场开怀大笑起来，

but it wasn't until a few years later that I fully⁶ understood what they thought was so funny. They thought they saw in me the same destruction my father was capable of.  几年后我才了解他们大笑的原因，他们以为我和我的父亲有着同样的摧毁能力。

Those men would eventually be convicted of placing a van filled with 1, 500 pounds of explosives into the sub-level parking lot of the World Trade Center's North Tower,  这群男人最终被指控将满载 1500 磅重的炸弹的厢式货车停在世界贸易中心北塔的地下停车场，

causing an explosion that killed six people and injured over 1, 000 others. These were the men I looked up to.  爆炸造成6人死亡，同时致使超过1000人受伤。这些是我曾经敬仰的人。

These were the men I called ammu, which means uncle. 这些是我曾经称呼其为 ammu，意为叔叔的人。

1 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

3 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

4 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

5 landmarks   

n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址）

参考例句：

• The book stands out as one of the notable landmarks in the progress of modern science. 这部著作是现代科学发展史上著名的里程碑之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The baby was one of the big landmarks in our relationship. 孩子的出世是我们俩关系中的一个重要转折点。 来自辞典例句

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 fervently   

adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地

参考例句：

• "Oh, I am glad!'she said fervently. “哦，我真高兴！”她热烈地说道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• O my dear, my dear, will you bless me as fervently to-morrow?' 啊，我亲爱的，亲爱的，你明天也愿这样热烈地为我祝福么？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记