VOA新闻杂志2022--女巫受审300多年后被赦免

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Woman Pardoned More than 300 Years After Witchcraft¹ Trial

After more than 300 years, a woman who was found guilty of using witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts has been pardoned.

Witchcraft is traditionally described by some people as using supernatural powers often involving evil spirits. Some people might define modern-day witchcraft differently.

On May 26, Massachusetts state lawmakers officially cleared Elizabeth Johnson Jr. In 1693, Johnson was found guilty of witchcraft and sentenced to death. Her trial was part of the famous Salem Witch Trials which started in 1692 when Massachusetts was a colony of Britain.

Johnson was never executed. But unlike other people who were accused of witchcraft, she was never officially pardoned.

Last year, lawmakers agreed to reconsider her case after an eighth-grade class at a Massachusetts middle school took up her cause. Students at North Andover Middle School researched the legislative² steps needed to clear Johnson's name.

In a statement, their teacher, Carrie LaPierre, praised her students for taking on "the long-overlooked issue of justice for this wrongly convicted woman."

The teacher added that passing this legislation will show the students the importance of helping³ someone who cannot help themselves. The experience, she said, also can teach the students that they have a strong voice. (Here, the word "voice" means having the right to express a wish, choice, or opinion.)

State Senator Diana DiZoglio introduced the legislation which was then added to a budget bill and approved. DiZoglio said, "We will never be able to change what happened to victims like Elizabeth but at the very least [we]can set the record straight."

A group called Witches of Massachusetts Bay told the Associated Press that Johnson is the last accused witch to be cleared. The group's goal is to study and record the history and stories of the "witch hunts" that took place in that state.

Massachusetts State Senator Joan Lovely said, "For 300 years, Elizabeth Johnson Jr. was without a voice, her story lost to the passages of time."

Twenty people from Salem and neighboring towns were executed and many others were accused of witchcraft during the incident which began in 1692. Historians say that people who accused others of being witches did so for many reasons. These included superstition⁴, fear of disease and strangers and jealousy⁵.

Nineteen people were hanged, and one man was crushed to death with rocks.

Johnson was 22 when she was caught up in the witchcraft accusations⁶. She was put on trial and sentenced to hang. But the colony's Governor William Phips threw out her punishment as the injustice⁷ of the trials became clear.

Over more than 300 years, many suspects were officially cleared, including Johnson's mother.

But for some reason, Elizabeth Johnson's name was not included in the legislative attempts to correct the record. Unlike others who were wrongly accused, Johnson never had children who could have cleared her name.

DiZoglio said, "Elizabeth's story and struggle continue to greatly resonate today." She added, "While we've come a long way since the horrors of the witch trials, women today still all too often find their rights challenged and concerns dismissed."

Words in This Story

convict –v. to find someone guilty of a crime

superstition –n. a belief that is based on a fear of the unknown or that certain things bring good or bad luck

jealousy –n. a strong feeling of wanting to have something that belongs to someone else

resonate –v. to have a special meaning or importance for some people

horror –n. an experience or thing that causes great fear or dread⁸

challenge –v. to question whether a person should have or do something

1 witchcraft   

n.魔法，巫术

参考例句：

• The woman practising witchcraft claimed that she could conjure up the spirits of the dead.那个女巫说她能用魔法召唤亡灵。
• All these things that you call witchcraft are capable of a natural explanation.被你们统统叫做巫术的那些东西都可以得到合情合理的解释。

2 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 superstition   

n.迷信，迷信行为

参考例句：

• It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
• Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。

5 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

6 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

7 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

8 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。