华盛顿邮报 美国独立日再爆枪击案--如何惩处枪手令人头疼(2)

In New York City, in Washington.

在纽约，在华盛顿。

And this led to a whole series of odd moments in which the police are assuring people, "Don't worry, it's just a firecracker."

这导致了一系列奇怪的时刻，警察向人们保证，“别担心，这只是一阵烟花声。”

They're tweeting. "This is not an alert. You're not in any danger."

他们在推特上发帖称。“这不是警报声。你没有任何危险。”

And people are wandering back to their bridge chairs or settling their family down.

人们漫步回到他们的桥椅上，让他们的家人舒舒服服地坐下来。

But there's that initial panic that takes place that probably wouldn't have a few years ago.

但最初出现了几年前都可能不会发生的恐慌。

A big piece of what we saw on Monday is this loss of trust over the last several years where we don't believe that the police are necessarily going to protect us in that kind of a situation where we do believe that there are mass shooters and political extremists of one flavor or another who are out to cause mischief¹ or harm.

我们周一看到的一个很大的问题是过去几年来的信任丧失，我们认为存在着各种各样的大规模枪杀案的枪手和政治极端分子，他们试图造成破坏或制造伤害。而在这种情况下，我们不相信警方一定会保护我们。

And so the combination creates this sort of perfect storm of anxiety, edginess² that leads to these scenes that we saw.

因此，这种结合创造了完全的焦虑、急躁情绪，导致了我们看到的这些场景。

The rise of mass shootings in America has brought up so many complicated and sad questions.

美国大规模枪击事件的增加带来了如此多复杂而令人悲伤的问题。

How are we supposed to live in a society where we have to be so fearful?

身处一个我们不得不恐惧的社会里，我们该如何生活？

What will it take to prevent these kinds of shootings from happening?

将采取什么措施来防止此类枪击事件的发生？

And how do we punish the people who perpetrate unthinkable acts of violence?

我们如何惩处那些犯下不可想象的暴行的人？

Today, we are diving into that last question in an interview with our colleague David Nakamura.

今天，我们在采访我们的同事大卫·中村时将深入探讨最后一个问题。

He covers the Department of Justice, and he has been reporting on this very difficult choice that is facing Attorney General Merrick Garland in the aftermath of the shooting in Buffalo³ almost two months ago.

他报道了司法部的情况，他一直在报道近两个月前布法罗枪击案发生后司法部长梅里克·加兰德面临的艰难选择。

In that case, 10 people were killed. They were all black. The suspect is a self-avowed white supremacist.

在那起案件中，有10人被杀害。他们都是黑人。嫌疑人自称是白人至上主义者。

Federal prosecutors⁴ have charged him with 26 hate-crime counts, plus another gun-related charge that carries the potential penalty of death. And here the government has a choice.

联邦检察官指控他犯有26项仇恨性犯罪罪名，外加另一项可能会被判处死刑的与枪支有关的指控。在这个案件上，政府有一个选择。

Should they seek the death penalty against the alleged⁵ shooter?

他们应该对被指控的枪手判处死刑吗？

It's a choice that could force Merrick Garland and the Justice Department to decide between its core values.

这一选择可能会迫使梅里克·加兰德和司法部在其核心价值观之间做出决定。

1 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

2 edginess   

n.刀口锐利，急躁

参考例句：

3 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

4 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

5 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为