美国国家公共电台 NPR 'I Don't Want To Leave My House': Santa Fe's Invisible Wounds

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

If this were a normal Monday morning, students at the high school in Santa Fe, Texas, would be heading back to class. Instead, the school is closed, at least until Wednesday, as the investigation¹ continues into why and how a gunman walked into school Friday morning killing² 10 people, wounding 13. NPR's Cory Turner is in Santa Fe. And he has the story of one student who says she cannot imagine going back to class ever.

CORY TURNER, BYLINE³: Katelyn Alford, known as Kayte, thought her school was on fire. She'd been in her floral design class on the second floor when the alarm went off. She dropped everything and ran. When Kayte got outside to the road, one of her friends pulled up in a truck, ghostly pale and crying.

KATELYN ALFORD: And then she told me, I got shot. I got shot. And I was like, shot? It doesn't make any sense. What is going on? And I look down and she has a bullet⁴ hole in her leg.

TURNER: Kayte's telling this story at her grandmother's house, where she lives. It's a day after the shooting. We're sitting at a small island in the kitchen. Her grandmother and her mother stand around her for comfort. All three attended Santa Fe High. Kayte says in that moment Friday, she had a panic attack. But the worst was yet to come. A boy she'd grown up with, Chris Stone, had been killed. She wants people to know his smile brightened⁵ every room.

ALFORD: And he's going to be missed and loved by everybody. And his memory will carry on in Santa Fe.

TURNER: How are you now one day later?

ALFORD: Still scared as ever, shaken up. I don't want to go anywhere. I don't want to leave my house. I don't want to be alone. I can't even get up and go to the bathroom without having my mom come with me because I'm constantly looking over my shoulder. I was trying to sit in the backyard, and I was scared that somebody was going to jump over the fence and shoot me.

TURNER: Earlier, when authorities⁶ let students go back to school to pick up their cars, Kayte just couldn't do it. She's a senior, so close to graduation, but says she can't imagine going back there. Her mother, Danell Reed⁷, feels the same.

DANELL REED: I don't want my kid going back to school. I'd rather her not walk across that stage and them just mail the diploma.

TURNER: For investigators⁸, the big question right now is how did this happen? But for Kayte and her family and her 1,400 classmates, it's how do we move on from this? She says she'd already been accepted to a two-year college with hopes of transferring⁹ to Sam Houston State University. But now she's not sure. She feels upended. So does Lisa Clemons, Kayte's grandmother, her nani (ph).

LISA CLEMONS: Honestly, when we saw her, I hugged her so tight and I thank God that she's OK. But then I see the other families that lost a child. I don't know how I would have coped¹⁰ with that. I honestly don't. I don't know if we would have lost her, what we would have done. I don't see how those families - how do you move past that? How do you move past losing a child? You're not supposed to outlive your children. You're just not.

TURNER: Kayte feels this, too, this guilt¹¹. In fact, at the end of our conversation, the last thing she says is that she wishes she could apologize to the students and teachers who died.

ALFORD: Because I was lucky enough to make it out and they weren't. And I'm going to live with that for the rest of my life because that could have easily been me. But it wasn't.

TURNER: Kayte is getting help. She's going to see a therapist¹² this week, and she has her family. Her grandmother, wiping away tears, says of the gunman...

CLEMONS: You can't let people like him take your life from you. He was able to take theirs. But you can't let him take yours. You have to move forward. You just have to.

TURNER: That night, Kayte does take a small step forward. She goes to a cookout behind the bank for fellow students and family. And there, she quickly finds a friend and disappears into the crowd. Cory Turner, NPR News, Santa Fe, Texas.

1 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。

2 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。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 bullet   

n.枪弹，子弹

参考例句：

• The bullet wound in his shoulder was opened up for treatment.切开他肩上的枪伤进行治疗。
• The bullet missed me by a hair's s breadth.那颗子弹差一点就打中了我。

5 brightened   

（使）发亮( brighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）生色； （使）生辉； （使）快乐

参考例句：

• He brightened up when they said he could go with them. 他们说他可以一起去，他就高兴起来。
• The new teacher brightened the life of all his pupils. 新来的老师使全体学生的生活变得活跃起来了。

6 authorities   

n.当局，权力，权威；权威( authority的名词复数 )；权力；学术权威；[复数]当权者

参考例句：

• They interceded with the authorities on behalf of the detainees. 他们为被拘留者向当局求情。
• At his instigation we conceal the fact from the authorities. 我们受他的怂恿向当局隐瞒了事实。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 reed   

n.芦苇，芦丛，簧舌，簧片

参考例句：

• The river banks were overgrown with reed.河岸长满了芦苇。
• They inhabit reed huts built on stilts above the water.他们住在建于水中木桩之上的芦苇草屋里。

8 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 transferring   

印字； 中转； 转移； 传递[导，送，输，热]

参考例句：

• The film studio is transferring to Hollywood. 这家电影制片厂正迁往好莱坞。
• He deplored the injustices of the laws automatically transferring a married woman's property to her husband. 他哀叹法律规定妇女一结婚其财产自动转归丈夫是不公正的。

10 coped   

成功地应付，对付( cope的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The load was heavy, but the two of them coped with it all right. 负担虽重，他们两个也顶下来了。
• He admired the way she had coped with life. 他欣赏她处世的方式。

11 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

12 therapist   

n.治疗专家

参考例句：

• My therapist helped me feel my anger.我的治疗专家帮助我感受自己的怒气。
• Family therapists.家庭治疗师。