VOA慢速英语2014 对奥巴马总统来说,种族暴力是个人问题

 

AS IT IS 2014-08-21 For President Obama, Race Is a Personal Issue 对奥巴马总统来说,种族暴力是个人问题

The racial violence in the city of Ferguson, Missouri is an important issue for Barack Obama, the first African-American president. Mr. Obama has asked protestors to stop fighting with police. And he has called for calm and understanding. But violent protests continue.

The protestors are angry about the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer. Darren Wilson killed Michael Brown on August 9th.

The president returned to the White House this week in the middle of a planned vacation. He met with Attorney General Eric Holder¹. Mr. Holder is leading the federal civil rights investigation² of the shooting. After the meeting, the president spoke³ about the problems of race relations in America.

"To a community in Ferguson that is rightly hurting and looking for answers, let me call once again for us to seek some understanding rather than simply holler at each other. Let's seek to heal rather than to wound each other. As Americans we've gotta use this moment to seek our shared humanity that's been laid bare by this moment."

In 2012, another unarmed black teenager was shot and killed. After that shooting, the president spoke about how the country's poor race relations affect black men.

"There are very few African-American men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping at a department store. That includes me. There are very few African- American men who haven't had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me, at least before I was a senator."

Greg Carr is a professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and the head of the university's Afro-American studies department. He says the rate of deaths of black babies is higher than white newborns. And he says there is a higher rate of imprisonment⁴ for blacks than for whites, as well as lower income and education levels. He says the election of America's first black president did not change race relations in the country.

"Regardless of the color of the occupant of the Oval Office -- certainly with President Obama in office and Attorney General Eric Holder, there perhaps is an expectation that there may be more swift action taken to resolve some of these issues or to at least to try to deal with some of the issues in real time. However, that expectation is tenuous⁵ 'cause after all we understand that Barack Obama is not the president of black America -- as he frequently reminds us -- he's the president of the United States of America."

President Obama is sending the attorney general to Ferguson to meet with those who are carrying out the federal investigation into the death of the teenager. Mr. Obama says he hopes the investigation will reveal the truth about the shooting. And he hopes that truth will bring peace to Ferguson and will help reduce the nation's racial tensions.

1 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

2 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。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

5 tenuous   

adj.细薄的，稀薄的，空洞的

参考例句：

• He has a rather tenuous grasp of reality.他对现实认识很肤浅。
• The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。