时代周刊 年轻的和冷酷的(2)（在线收听）

Most of these kids cannot vote, order a beer, make a hotel reservation or afford a pizza without pooling some of their allowance.

这些孩子大多都还没到能够投票，能够买啤酒，预订酒店或者不用拼凑零花钱就能买得起比萨饼的年纪。

On the surface, they're not so different from previous generations of idealistic teenagers who set out to change the world, only to find it is not so easy.

从表面上看，他们与前几代那些一心想改变世界结果却发现并没有那么容易的理想主义青少年并没有多大不同。

Yet over the past month, these students have become the central organizers of what may turn out to be the most powerful grassroots gun-reform movement in nearly two decades.

然而，在过去的一个月里，这些学生已经成了近二十年来最强大的民间枪支改革运动的核心组织者。

For much of the rest of the country, numbed and depressed by repeated mass shootings, the question has become, can these kids actually do it?

对于在一次又一次的大规模枪击事件中逐渐麻木而沮丧的全国其他地区的很多地方而言，问题是，这些孩子这次究竟能不能成事？

No one thinks it will be easy.

谁也不觉得改革会容易。

Gun violence in America is one of those problems that can feel truly hopeless.

美国的枪支暴力问题是那些能够切实让人们陷入绝望的问题之一。

The U.S. has only 4.4% of the world's population,

美国的人口只占世界人口的4.4％，

yet it accounts for roughly 42% of the world's guns, according to the comprehensive 2007 Small Arms Survey.

然而，2007年的小型武器综合调查显示，美国拥有的枪支占世界枪支的42％左右。

And roughly 31% of the world's mass shooters are American, according to a University of Alabama study.

而且，根据阿拉巴马大学的一项研究，全世界约有31％的群众枪击事件的罪犯都是美国人。

Even as mass-shooting deaths mount, our Second Amendment has made gun rights a third-rail issue:

尽管大规模枪击事件造成的死亡人数不断增加，我们的《第二修正案》也还是将枪支权利问题排在了第三位：

roughly 90% of Americans agree on "commonsense" solutions like universal background checks,

约有90％的美国人同意采取普遍背景调查之类的“常识性”解决方案，

yet absolutists stand in the way of any meaningful action.

然而，绝对主义者们阻碍了任何有意义的行动。

After Adam Lanza killed 20 first-graders and six staff members at a Connecticut elementary school in December 2012, politicians tried to tackle the issue.

2012年12月，亚当·兰扎于在康涅狄格州一所小学杀死了20名一年级学生和6名工作人员之后，政客们也试图解决过这个问题。

President Obama issued Executive Orders to strengthen the background-check system and study gun violence, and several states tightened gun restrictions.

奥巴马总统发布了行政令，巩固背景调查系统，研究枪支暴力，一些州也加强对枪支的限制。

Yet Congress failed to pass a modest bipartisan bill to close loopholes for gun sales.

然而，国会还是未能通过一项温和的两党联署法案来弥补枪支销售的漏洞。

In the five years since, a familiar pattern has emerged.

在此后的五年中，一种大家熟悉的模式浮出水面了。

Every month or so, a killer shoots innocent people at random.

差不多每个月都会有一名凶手随意射杀无辜的人。

There is a brief period of mourning.

之后，人们举行短暂的哀悼。

Democrats offer feeble pleas for new gun limits; Republicans offer "thoughts and prayers."

民主党人提出缺乏决断的请愿，呼吁推出新的枪控措施；民主党人则提供“一些思路和祈祷。”

No substantial laws are passed, and the nation moves on.

最后，没有通过什么实质性的法律，国家就对此事翻篇了。

This was the response when Omar Mateen killed 49 people at an Orlando nightclub in 2016;

奥马尔·马丁2016年在奥兰多夜总会枪杀49人后的结局是如此；

when Stephen Paddock massacred 58 people at a Las Vegas concert last October;

斯蒂芬·帕多克去年10月在拉斯维加斯举办的一场音乐会上屠杀了58人后的结局是如此；

when Devin Patrick Kelley killed 26 people in a Sutherland Springs, Texas, church in November.

德文·帕特里克·凯利11月在德克萨斯州萨瑟兰斯普林斯教堂杀死26人后的结局也是如此。

But in the days after the Parkland shooting, something diferent happened.

然而，帕克兰枪击案之后的几天里，情况出现了变化。

The Parkland kids, at once tearful and cutting, publicly called out the NRA's inluence on national politics, and shamed the leaders they considered responsible for the nation's lax gun laws.

枪击案发生后，帕克兰的孩子们顿时泪流满面也变得尖刻起来，他们公开指出了NRA对国家政治的影响，还公开扫了他们认为应该对美国枪支法律太过宽松负责的那些领导人的颜面。