公众人物毕业演讲第338期:彭博2013在肯尼恩学院(6)

 　　It was national news for a day or two Then came mass shootings in.

　　这是那一两天的全国性新闻然后大规模枪击事件又陆续发生在Pittsburgh, Miami, Oakland, Tulsa, Seattle Wilmington, Aurora¹, Milwaukee, Texas A&M.

　　匹兹堡 迈阿密 奥克兰 塔尔萨 西雅图威明顿 奥罗拉 密尔沃基 德州农工Minneapolis, Brookfield, Portland After each one, those in Washington just shrugged².

　　明尼阿波利斯 布鲁克菲尔德 波特兰每一起事件过后 华盛顿那些人都只是耸耸肩Then, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut 20 children, 6 faculty³ members all gunned down.

　　然后康涅狄格州纽镇桑迪·胡克小学枪击案20位儿童 6位教职员工被枪杀As a parent I can tell you it was just unthinkable if it happened to one of your children.

　　作为一名家长 我可以告诉你如果这发生在你的一个孩子身上 这简直无法想象After Newtown, President Obama and some congressional leaders finally stood up and said: Something must be done.

　　纽镇事件之后 奥巴马总统和一些国会领袖终于站出来说 我们必须做点什么I did everything I could to support them and to push Congress to act But our efforts so far have not been enough to pass a piece of legislation.

　　我尽一切努力支持他们 向国会施压不过我们的努力迄今还没有让任何相关法案通过Requiring background checks for all gun purchases that 90 percent of Americans agree.

　　让所有枪械购买接受背景审查这是90%的美国人都赞同的With including more than 80 percent of gun owners Why? Why do I tell you this?.

　　包括80%的枪械持有者为什么 我为什么讲这个

　　Number 1, this is one of the great tragedies happening in America and 2, because I believe it comes down to one word and that word is courage.

　　一是因为这是美国发生的重大悲剧之一二是因为我相信 这归结起来就是一个词 勇气Too many members of Congress did not have the courage to stand up to the increasingly extremist view of the NRA's Washington lobbyists.

　　国会中太多议员没有站出来的勇气反对全国步枪协会游说者愈演愈烈的极端主义观点Many of them feared that voting for a common sense policy would lead to someone challenging them in a party primary.

　　他们很多人害怕 投票赞成这种普遍意识会在党内预选中受到他人挑战Or hurt their chances to win their party's nomination⁴ to higher office It's too big a price to pay for saving 30 odd thousand lives a year.

　　或是会影响他们获得政党高级官职的提名和一年3万多人的生命相比 这个代价实在太大They would have done well however to remember the words of Kenyon's Rutherford B. Hayes.

　　他们本应该做得更好他们本应记住肯尼恩校友瑟福德·B·海斯的教诲Who said at his inaugural⁵ "He serves his party best who serves his country best".

　　他在就职时曾说"只有尽最大努力为国家服务 才是对本党的最好服务"Instead, we have a federal law that prohibits criminals and the mentally ill from buying guns.

　　相反 我们的联邦法律 禁止罪犯和精神病患者随意购买枪支

1 aurora   

n.极光

参考例句：

• The aurora is one of nature's most awesome spectacles.极光是自然界最可畏的奇观之一。
• Over the polar regions we should see aurora.在极地高空,我们会看到极光。

2 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

4 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

5 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。