经济学人337:仅仅因为他是黑人?

 　　IT TOOK a month or so, but the killing¹ of Trayvon Martin, a teenager who was shot in Florida in late February, has developed into a predictable political circus. Barack Obama has opined on it, as have the Republicans hoping to wrest² the presidency³ from him in November. Rush Limbaugh, a shrill⁴ right-wing radio host, has weighed in, and so has Al Sharpton, an equally excitable but ideologically⁵ opposite pundit-cum-activist. Mr Sharpton says he will “occupy” Sanford, the town where the shooting took place, until justice is done.

　　2月末，一名叫特雷万马丁的少年在佛罗里达州被枪杀。一个月后，这场枪击案已经迅速发酵，演变成一场意料之中的政治闹剧。巴拉克奥巴马已经对此事表明态度，而共和党人也希望藉由此事在11月的大选中将奥巴马从总统宝座上拉下来。 一名言辞犀利的右翼电台主持鲁什林堡加入论战。另一名同样易激动且思想上与林堡相反的人权领袖阿尔?夏普顿也加入战团。夏普顿称除非正义得到伸张，他将"占领"枪击案发生地点三福城。

　　An online petition calling for the arrest of the gunman, George Zimmerman, who is 28, has attracted over 2m signatures. The New Black Panther Party, a confrontational⁶ protest group, has offered $10,000 in exchange for a “citizen’s arrest” of Mr Zimmerman. LeBron James, a basketball star, wrote “RIP Trayvon Martin” on his shoe before a game on March 23rd. He and other members of his team, the Miami Heat, also posed in hooded⁷ sweatshirts like the one Mr Martin was wearing when Mr Zimmerman decided⁸ to follow him, convinced he was “up to no good”.

　　一场呼吁逮捕28岁的枪手齐默曼的网上请愿活动已经征集了超过200万份签名。一个激进抗议组织新黑豹党愿意提供1万美元悬赏，奖给逮捕齐默曼的人。篮球明星勒布朗詹姆斯在3月23日的比赛前，在自己的鞋子上写上“愿特雷万马丁安息”的字样。他和迈阿密热火队的队友穿着帽衫拍了合影。那身穿着恰恰马丁当晚的穿着，就在那天晚上，齐默曼认为他"行为不轨"，决定跟踪。

　　The shooting took place in the gated community where Mr Zimmerman lives. He had recently started a neighbourhood-watch scheme and he frequently called the police to report everything from potholes⁹ to people he

　　thought might be involved in a spate¹⁰ of burglaries. When he spotted¹¹ Mr Martin while out driving on a rainy evening, he called the police from his car. The operator told him there was no need to follow Mr Martin, but Mr Zimmerman did so anyway. From that point, details are scant¹²: the two men somehow got into a fight, during which Mr Zimmerman says his nose was broken, before he shot the unarmed 17-year-old. Mr Martin, it turns out, had been walking back to the house of his father’s girlfriend in the gated community, having bought some sweets and iced tea at a nearby corner store.

　　枪击案发生在齐默曼所居住的封闭式小区。齐默曼最近刚刚加入邻里守望计划，他时常向警方报告附近发生的一切事情，报告内容从路面的新出的大坑一直到他认为可能参与盗窃案的嫌疑人。当他在雨夜驾车外出时发现了马丁，并在自己的车里报了警。警方接线员告诉他没有必要追踪马丁，但齐默曼不听劝告。从那时开始，后面发生具体情节语焉不详。两人不知何故打了起来，打斗中，齐默曼的鼻子被打折，然后他向这名手无寸铁的17岁少年开了枪。后来才知道，马丁刚刚从街角商店买完甜食和冰茶后，正赶回位于该小区的父亲的女友家里。

　　The local police did not arrest Mr Zimmerman, saying they had no evidence to dispute his claim that he had acted in self-defence. That decision prompted a cascade¹³ of protest, from other branches of government as well as the public. Sanford’s city council passed a motion of no confidence in the city’s chief of police, who is now suspended. The Justice Department announced it would conduct an investigation¹⁴ into the killing. Local prosecutors¹⁵ said they would convene¹⁶ a grand jury to consider the incident on April 10th.

　　齐默曼称自己的行为是正当防卫，当地警方认为并没有证据能够推翻这一点，于是没有逮捕齐默曼。这一决定引发了一连串的抗议活动，有的抗议来自公众，有的来自政府其他分支机构。三福市议会通过了对该市警察局长的不信任案，警察局长现已停职。司法部宣布将对此次枪击案展开调查。当地检察官们表示将要在4月10日召开大陪审团会议讨论此事。

　　Florida is one of 20-odd states to have adopted a “stand your ground” law, which exempts¹⁷ those with reason to believe their lives are in jeopardy¹⁸ from any legal obligation to attempt to retreat before resorting to deadly force. Many have speculated that the police thought that the existence of the law would impede¹⁹ Mr Zimmerman’s prosecution²⁰. Findings of justifiable²¹ homicide have tripled since the law took force in 2005. But Mr Zimmerman’s lawyer says he does not intend to invoke²² the law if his client is arrested, while one of the law’s authors says it would not apply in this case, anyway, as Mr Zimmerman seems to have gone out of his way to confront Mr Martin.

　　佛罗里达州是采用“无限防卫权”法律的20多个州的一员。这项法律规定若行为人有理由认为自己的生命面对威胁，可以在诉诸致命暴力前免除首先尝试逃跑的法律义务。很多人推测警方可能认为这项法律是阻碍起诉齐默曼的绊脚石。自2005年，这项法律生效以来，正当杀人的案件增长了两倍。但是齐默曼的律师表示如果他的当事人被捕，自己并不打算援引这项法律。同时这项法律的一名起草人表示不管怎样，这项法律并不适合这一案件。因为齐默曼本可以避免遇到马丁。

　　Others have focused on the role of race in the killing. The National Association for the Advancement²³ of Coloured People, for instance, has complained that the authorities neglected the case because Mr Martin was black. Many assume that Mr Zimmerman, whose father is white and whose mother is Hispanic, decided that Mr Martin looked suspicious simply because of the colour of his skin. Mr Obama seemed to allude²⁴ to such a view when he said, “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.”

　　而其他人把注意力放在本案的种族因素上。例如，全国有色人种进步联合会对此案颇有微词，认为当局之所以忽视此案是因为马丁是名黑人。很多人假设，齐默曼之所以认为马丁形迹可疑理由仅仅是马丁的肤色，而齐默曼的父亲是名白人，母亲是拉丁裔。奥巴马似乎暗示自己赞同这种假设，因为他说，“如果我有个儿子，他长得会跟特雷万一样”。

　　Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, two of the four remaining Republican presidential candidates, saw that as an opening, as did Mr Limbaugh. They declared themselves appalled²⁵ that the president would view the

　　shooting through the lens of race. From the left, Mr Obama has been criticised for not speaking loudly enough about the racial aspect of the killing. No incident is too tragic²⁶, it seems, for political point-scoring.

　　在四名尚未退出共和党初选的总统候选人中，只有里克桑托勒姆和纽特金里奇这两位跟林堡一样，将此事看做一个契机。他们都发表声明称总统竟然从种族的视角看待此案，令人震惊。而从左派的角度出发，奥巴马因未能充分强调这场枪击案的种族因素而备受指责。看来，对政治较量来看，任何事件都可利用，因而都不能算是悲剧。

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 wrest   

n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲

参考例句：

• The officer managed to wrest the gun from his grasp.警官最终把枪从他手中夺走了。
• You wrest my words out of their real meaning.你曲解了我话里的真正含义。

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

5 ideologically   

adv. 意识形态上地，思想上地

参考例句：

• Ideologically, they have many differences. 在思想意识上，他们之间有许多不同之处。
• He has slipped back ideologically. 他思想退步了。

6 confrontational   

adj.挑衅的；对抗的

参考例句：

• Fans love rappers partly because they strike such a confrontational pose. 乐迷热爱这些饶舌艺人一定程度上是因为他们所采取的那种战斗姿态。 来自互联网
• You prefer a non confrontational approach when it comes to resolving disputes. 面对争端，你不喜欢采用对抗性的手段来解决。 来自互联网

7 hooded   

adj.戴头巾的；有罩盖的；颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的

参考例句：

• A hooded figure waited in the doorway. 一个戴兜帽的人在门口等候。
• Black-eyed gipsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to tell fortunes. 黑眼睛的吉卜赛姑娘，用华丽的手巾包着头，突然地闯了进来替人算命。 来自辞典例句

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 potholes   

n.壶穴( pothole的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Potholes are also home to tiny desert animals. 洞穴也是弱小动物的家。 来自互联网
• If you're going to enjoy the good times, you've certainly got to deal with some potholes. 如果要享受甜美的胜利果实，当然要应付这些战绩不佳的指责压力。 来自互联网

10 spate   

n.泛滥，洪水，突然的一阵

参考例句：

• Police are investigating a spate of burglaries in the area.警察正在调查这一地区发生的大量盗窃案。
• Refugees crossed the border in full spate.难民大量地越过了边境。

11 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

12 scant   

adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略

参考例句：

• Don't scant the butter when you make a cake.做糕饼时不要吝惜奶油。
• Many mothers pay scant attention to their own needs when their children are small.孩子们小的时候，许多母亲都忽视自己的需求。

13 cascade   

n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下

参考例句：

• She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。

14 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

15 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

16 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

17 exempts   

使免除[豁免]( exempt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• This privilege, however, exempts only predecisional documents. 然而，此特权只免除那些文件在作出决定之前的披露责任。
• Function effectiveness: After then special-purpose, exempts the flushing formula. 功能效用：便后专用，免冲洗配方。

18 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。

19 impede   

v.妨碍，阻碍，阻止

参考例句：

• One shouldn't impede other's progress.一个人不应该妨碍他人进步。
• The muddy roads impede our journey.我们的旅游被泥泞的道路阻挠了。

20 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

21 justifiable   

adj.有理由的，无可非议的

参考例句：

• What he has done is hardly justifiable.他的所作所为说不过去。
• Justifiable defense is the act being exempted from crimes.正当防卫不属于犯罪行为。

22 invoke   

v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求

参考例句：

• Let us invoke the blessings of peace.让我们祈求和平之福。
• I hope I'll never have to invoke this clause and lodge a claim with you.我希望我永远不会使用这个条款向你们索赔。

23 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

24 allude   

v.提及，暗指

参考例句：

• Many passages in Scripture allude to this concept.圣经中有许多经文间接地提到这样的概念。
• She also alluded to her rival's past marital troubles.她还影射了对手过去的婚姻问题。

25 appalled   

v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

26 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。