纽约时报 原本祥和的犹太集会变成了一场生死之战(1)

Quiet Day at a Synagogue Became a Battle to Survive

原本祥和的犹太集会变成了一场生死之战

By Campbell Robertson, Sabrina Tavernise and Sandra E. Garcia

文/坎贝尔·罗伯逊，塞布丽娜·特福尔尼斯，桑德拉·加西亚

As gunfire shattered the prayerful morning stillness of the Tree of Life synagogue, Barry Werber was hiding in a darkened storage room.

枪声打破了“生命之树”犹太教堂祥和的晨祷时，巴里·韦尔贝藏到了一个黑暗的储藏室里。

In front of him was Melvin Wax, a longtime member of the New Light Congregation whose body now lay on the floor.

在他面前的是梅尔文·瓦克斯，新光教会的一名老成员，的尸体。

Then a man stepped through a swinging door into the room.

之后，一名男子穿过推拉门进了房间。

Mr. Werber saw that he was carrying a long gun.

韦尔贝看到他扛着一把长枪。

“He walks in,” Mr. Werber said of the killer¹. “He steps over Mel’s body.”

“他走了进来，”韦尔贝先生描述凶手时说到。 “他跨过了梅尔的身体。”

The man seemed to look around for a brief moment, but couldn’t seem to see in the darkness. He walked back out.

男子好像往四周看了看，但在黑暗中似乎也看不清。于是，他又出去了。

Mr. Werber escaped with his life.

韦尔贝这才逃过一劫。

But 11 others in the synagogue on Wilkins Avenue on Saturday morning did not.

然而，周六早上在威尔金斯大道犹太教堂的其他11人却没有这么幸运。

The massacre² unfolded over about an hour in individual acts of endurance and courage —

大屠杀持续了将近一个小时，个人的忍耐和勇气也纷纷展现出来——

Mr. Werber holding his breath in the darkness,

在黑暗中屏气凝神的韦尔贝先生，

police officers who rushed in while the gunfire was still raging to confront the killer, congregants who put aside their terror to help one another.

为了制住杀手，不等枪声停止就冲了进去的警察，放下恐惧互帮互助的教友。

It ended when the gunman, identified by police as Robert Bowers³, wounded and crawling on his knees, surrendered to police officers.

直到受伤跪倒在地的枪手，警方确认是一位名叫“罗伯特·鲍尔斯”的男子，向警察投降后，屠杀才结束。

He had “wanted all Jews to die,” he told a SWAT officer then, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case,

他“希望所有犹太人都死掉，”他后来告诉一名特警人员，本案的刑事申诉档案显示，

because Jews “were committing genocide against his people.”

因为犹太人“正在对他的民族实行种族灭绝。”

The synagogue massacre on Saturday — one of the worst attacks against the Jewish community in the United States in decades —

星期六的犹太教堂大屠杀——近几十年来美国犹太社区发生的最严重的一次袭击——

hit at the heart of one of the country’s most vital Jewish neighborhoods.

就发生在该国最重要的犹太社区之一的核心地带。

And it shook a nation in the homestretch of an exhausting and bitter political season that has seen rising vitriol and occasional threats of violence.

这个尖刻的抨击日渐高涨，不时还会升级为暴力威胁，耗费精力又充满仇恨的政治季节已经进入了关键阶段，此时爆发出来的大屠杀让整个国家都为之一震。

Only a few days earlier, federal law enforcement agents had been called out in multiple states to investigate a series of pipe bombs mailed to Democratic critics of President Trump⁴.

就在几天前，好几个州的联邦执法人员都已经被召集起来，调查多位批判特朗普的民主党人士收到邮件炸弹一事。

Mayor Bill Peduto called the synagogue attack the “darkest day of Pittsburgh’s history.”

市长比尔·佩杜托称犹太教堂的袭击是“匹兹堡历史上的至暗时刻。”

It began as a normal Saturday for the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, home to about one-fourth of the Jewish residents of greater Pittsburgh.

松鼠山社区居住着匹兹堡将近四分之一的犹太居民，这一天原本只是社区“生命之树”教堂一个普通的周六。

As the population has aged⁵ and attendance has dwindled⁶, three congregations — New Light, Tree of Life and Dor Hadash — have all come to call the synagogue home.

随着人口的老龄化和参加集会的人越来越少，社区的三个教会——新光，生命之树和多尔哈达什——的会众便全都到生命之树教堂去集会了。

The New Light congregation met in a downstairs area in what is formally called the New Light Chapel⁷.

新光教会的会众在楼下一个官方名为“新光礼拜堂”的地方集合。

On a typical Shabbat, about 20 people would show up to worship at New Light, said Carl Solomon, who is a member, and many of those would trickle⁸ in late.

平常安息日，大约会有20人到新光做礼拜，卡尔·所罗门说，他也是新光教会的成员，这些人往往都是陆陆续续很晚才到。

1 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。

2 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

3 bowers   

n.（女子的）卧室( bower的名词复数 )；船首锚；阴凉处；鞠躬的人

参考例句：

• If Mr Bowers is right, low government-bond yields could lose their appeal and equities could rebound. 如果鲍尔斯先生的预计是对的，那么低收益的国债将会失去吸引力同时股价将会反弹。 来自互联网

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

6 dwindled   

v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Support for the party has dwindled away to nothing. 支持这个党派的人渐渐化为乌有。
• His wealth dwindled to nothingness. 他的钱财化为乌有。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

8 trickle   

vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散

参考例句：

• The stream has thinned down to a mere trickle.这条小河变成细流了。
• The flood of cars has now slowed to a trickle.汹涌的车流现在已经变得稀稀拉拉。