美国国家公共电台 NPR--A gunman opened fire in a Texas school and killed 19 children, 2 adults

A gunman opened fire in a Texas school and killed 19 children, 2 adults

Transcript¹

Children at a Robb Elementary in Uvalde were in their final week of school. Tuesday's shooting was the deadliest in a grade school since Sandy Hook a decade ago in Connecticut.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

We begin with what has become an achingly familiar scene in this country - a mass shooting, this time at a school in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman opened fire at a rural elementary school. He killed 19 children and two adults. Erika Escamilla heard the story when her niece came back from school.

ERIKA ESCAMILLA: She just put her hands over her ears and got down into a ball, and she said, Tia, it felt like I was having a heart attack. She was like, I was so scared, I didn't know what to do.

FADEL: NPR's Ashley Lopez is nearby in the city of Hondo, Texas. Hi, Ashley.

ASHLEY LOPEZ, BYLINE²: Hi, Leila.

FADEL: So the shooting happened at Robb Elementary. What can you tell us about who was hurt and killed?

LOPEZ: So the number of reported casualties has changed a couple of times, of course, since the shooting was reported yesterday. But as of now, we know that at least 21 people have died; 19 were children, and two were adults. We know at least one of those adults was a teacher at the school. Robb Elementary teaches students from second to fourth grade. So the victims in the shooting were largely very young.

FADEL: Yeah, we've been seeing pictures of these baby faces.

LOPEZ: Mmm hmm.

FADEL: What can you tell us about Uvalde? This is a really small town, right?

LOPEZ: Yeah, it's pretty small. It has a population of about 15,000 people. And the town sits in between the Texas Hill Country, which is west of San Antonio, and South Texas, which is near the U.S.-Mexico border. The community here is predominantly Latino. Roughly 3 out of 4 people here are Hispanic. And in a small town like Uvalde, a tragedy like this touches almost everyone who lives here. Our colleagues from Texas Public Radio talked to some of the residents of the community who attended a vigil last night. Erika Escamilla has several nieces and nephews who attend the school. They all survived. And she describes the nightmare that unfolded in the school as teachers worked quickly to put classes in lockdown, locking doors, turning off lights and telling children to get down.

ESCAMILLA: My niece was crying to me, and she was saying that she heard the guy cussing, and she heard, like, loud yelling, and she heard him cussing. And then she heard, like, a lot of loud bangs, the gunshots.

LOPEZ: Escamilla says this experience is something that a young child should never be put through.

FADEL: Yeah. What are authorities saying about the gunman?

LOPEZ: Like many of these kinds of tragedies, the gunman is reported to be a young man, 18 years old. According to state officials, he lived in Uvalde and attended the local high school. Governor Greg Abbott announced yesterday that the gunman died. One of the other pieces of information we heard yesterday about the shooter is that he allegedly shot his grandmother before he entered the school. Local officials have also said he appears to have acted alone.

FADEL: And how are local and state leaders responding, today and yesterday?

LOPEZ: Well, the governor here, Greg Abbott, has deployed⁴ state resources. He asked state law enforcement to help local police investigate the crime. He's also asking for help from the state's emergency management agency. And local law enforcement held a press conference yesterday, and the local school superintendent⁵, Hal Harrell, actually got really choked up.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HAL HARRELL: My heart was broken today. We're a small community, and we will need your prayers to get us through this.

LOPEZ: Republican leaders in the state have also spoken to mostly conservative news outlets⁷ at this point since the shooting, and they have said they'd like to see tougher security in schools. Lieutenant⁸ Governor Dan Patrick said on Fox News he wants to see schools only have one point of entry. And state Attorney General Ken⁶ Paxton told Newsmax that he thinks having teachers who are trained and armed would save lives in these types of situations. You know, Texas is one of the most conservative states in the country, so leaders here have not, however, talked about gun restrictions⁹. In fact, lawmakers here passed a law last year allowing most Texans to carry a handgun without training or a permit. And as the investigation¹⁰ continues, it's expected that this Friday the NRA will hold its annual meeting in Houston. Governor Greg Abbott, Texas Senator Ted³ Cruz and former President Donald Trump¹¹ are slated¹² to appear at that conference, which is just days after this mass shooting.

FADEL: That's NPR's Ashley Lopez. Thank you so much for your reporting.

LOPEZ: Yeah, thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 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。

3 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

4 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

5 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

6 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

7 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

9 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

10 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。

11 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。

12 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。