华盛顿邮报 美国独立日再爆枪击案--如何惩处枪手令人头疼(1)

Hey, it's Martine. Just a heads-up -- In today's episode, we are going to be talking about mass shootings and hearing some of the sounds of chaos¹ at Fourth of July events across the country.

嘿，我是玛蒂娜。提前提醒一下，在今天的节目中，我们将讨论大规模枪击事件，将会听到美国各地7月4日国庆日活动中的一些混乱声音。

Over the holiday weekend, a shooter terrorized a community outside of Chicago in a suburb called Highland² Park.

周末假日期间，一名枪手对芝加哥郊区高地公园的一个社区进行了恐怖袭击。

The place that most Americans associate with "Home Alone" or "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

大多数美国人把这个地方与“小鬼当家”或“春天不是读书天”联系在一起。

This is senior editor Marc Fisher.

这是资深编辑马克·费舍尔。

We wanted to talk to him to reflect a little on the scenes that we have all been processing from this last Fourth of July weekend.

我们想和他谈谈，回顾一下我们所有人在最近的7月4日大游行周末假期所经历的场景。

And like so many cities and towns across the country, Highland Park was celebrating the holiday with a parade.

和全国各地的许多城镇一样，高地公园也举行了游行活动庆祝节日。

I mean, this was your standard issue, American Fourth of July parade with high school bands and all kinds of cheerleaders and the regular ingredients of a Fourth of July celebration.

我是说，这是标配，美国独立日大游行有高中乐队，有各种啦啦队，还有国庆日庆典的常规元素。

And people felt safe enough to come out and, you know, they were set up -- families on bridge chairs along the sidewalks as the bands went by.

人们感到足够安全就出来了，你知道，他们都安排好了——当乐队经过时，一家人坐在人行道旁的桥椅上。

And it was just during one of those performances by a band, a local band, when these hollow pops rang out.

就在一个本地乐队的演出中，这些空洞而沉闷的砰砰声响起。

And it's interesting to look at the video and see there was a delay.

有趣的是，观看这段视频时会发现出现了延迟。

There was a moment when no one could quite figure out what it was.

有那么一个时刻，没有人能完全弄清楚这个声音是什么。

Was it gunfire? Was it firecrackers?

是枪声吗？是烟花声吗？

246 years of history says it's not necessarily -- Could be a celebration.

246年的历史告诉我们，这不一定是--但可能是一次庆祝。

And yet our most recent history tells us any large gathering³ is a moment to be cautious and to be wary⁴ that there's going to be a mass shooting.

然而，我们近期的历史告诉我们，任何大型集会都是一个需要谨慎和警惕大规模枪击事件的时刻。

And indeed, in this case, there was.

事实上，在这种情况下，确实发生了。

There was a rooftop shooter who fired upon dozens of people, killed six people, injured more than 30, almost 40 people.

有一名屋顶持枪者向数十人开枪，打死6人，打伤30多人，近40人受伤。

And so in Highland Park, there's bloodshed and tragedy.

在高地公园，发生了流血和悲剧。

And in hundreds, thousands of other American communities, there were the same jitters⁵, the same mental calculations are going on.

在数百个，数千个美国社区，也有同样的紧张情绪，也在进行着同样的心理战。

And yet nothing was wrong. They were firecrackers.

然而，一切都没有错。它们是烟花声。

And we saw on Monday in one city after another that same moment of sussing out, that same moment of "Am I in danger?" that led to mini-panics of people jumping up and running in Orlando, Florida.

周一，我们在一个又一个城市看到了同样的猜测时刻，同样的会怀疑“我有危险吗?”的时刻，这导致了佛罗里达州奥兰多市人们出现了跳起来跑起来的小规模恐慌。

1 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

2 highland   

n.(pl.)高地，山地

参考例句：

• The highland game is part of Scotland's cultural heritage.苏格兰高地游戏是苏格兰文化遗产的一部分。
• The highland forests where few hunters venture have long been the bear's sanctuary.这片只有少数猎人涉险的高山森林，一直都是黑熊的避难所。

3 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

4 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

5 jitters   

n.pl.紧张(通常前面要有the)

参考例句：

• I always get the jitters before exams. 我考试前总是很紧张。
• The whole city had the jitters from the bombing. 全城居民都为轰炸而心神不宁。