美国国家公共电台 NPR 'We Should Have Been The Last': Kentucky Shooting Survivors Inspired By Parkland

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

This weekend's big rally against gun violence in Washington, sparked by a shooting in Florida, has its counterparts in other parts of the country. One march comes in Marshall County, Ky., which had a school shooting of its own in January. NPR's Camila Domonoske reports.

CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE¹: On January 23, freshman² Seth Adams was finishing up breakfast with his friends at Marshall County High School.

SETH ADAMS: They had doughnuts for us that morning.

DOMONOSKE: Then, he heard gunshots. A student with a handgun was firing in the commons. Adams ran for a nearby room.

SETH: That's all you could do. You just take it like a drill. File into the corner, turn off all the lights, close the door, make sure it's locked.

DOMONOSKE: Junior Keaton Conner was outside when she saw hundreds of students fleeing the building. She ran to the weightlifting room with other students, including the boy police say fired the gun.

KEATON CONNER: He didn't look scared or anything. He just picked up his book bag and, like, slowly walked out of the room.

DOMONOSKE: Two students were dead, 18 were injured. Marshall County's students became survivors³. That meant mourning, solidarity⁴, panic attacks. The community tried to heal as national attention faded away. It was just like every other school shooting. And then...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This deadly mass shooting happened in Parkland, Fla., about 20 miles...

DOMONOSKE: The school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High killed 17 people. Students there became activists⁵ overnight.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

EMMA GONZALEZ: If all our government and president can do is send thoughts and prayers, then it's time for victims to be the change that we need to see.

(CHEERING)

CONNER: After watching these kids at Stoneman speak out and be so strong so soon after, you can't help but ask yourself, if I would've done the same thing, would it have happened to them?

DOMONOSKE: Conner says she stopped being a victim and she started organizing.

CONNER: We wasted so much time in between the two shootings. We're not going to do that anymore.

DOMONOSKE: Now, she has spoken at rallies. She's met with the governor. She took a bus full of students to the Kentucky State Capitol.

CONNER: I'm always thinking about it, so I might as well be doing something about it. Even if nothing comes out of this, I need to know I've done everything I can.

DOMONOSKE: Dozens of students attended a sit-in. More than 180 walked out of school. And Adams is one of several students speaking at a local rally on Saturday.

SETH: We're just getting together and discussing these things. It's cathartic⁶ in some ways.

DOMONOSKE: Parents and administrators⁷ say this level of student activism is basically unprecedented⁸ in this area. But not everyone here is inspired by the Florida students. Scott Cosner is the father of two victims of the Marshall County shooting. One of his twins was shot in the face. The other was trampled⁹.

SCOTT COSNER: They're both doing very well. They're both back at school, both running track.

DOMONOSKE: He's uncomfortable with the student protests he sees on the national news.

COSNER: I think some of it's a little over the top, you know, trying to turn a situation into something for a certain agenda.

DOMONOSKE: Cosner isn't big on protests in general, and he's firmly opposed to gun control.

COSNER: We're in a broken world. People are going to kill people all day long.

DOMONOSKE: His family owns three ARs. He says in Marshall County, guns are a normal part of life, and they're not the problem.

COSNER: Spend time in church. Spend time with your family. Spend time with your friends instead of, oh, we're going eliminate guns, and that's going to fix it because that's not going to fix it.

DOMONOSKE: Marshall County is rural. Hunting is popular. Guns haven't really been debated here before. And the student activists emphasize that they support Second Amendment¹⁰ rights. Some of them focus on school safety, not gun control. But Adams makes the case for increased regulation.

SETH: I consider myself a firearm enthusiast¹¹.

DOMONOSKE: He thinks about how much worse his school shooting could have been.

SETH: Thankfully, for us, he only had the one magazine to blow.

DOMONOSKE: At least, he says, Marshall County is having a conversation about this now. It didn't used to be that way.

SETH: You'd mentioned gun control. The other people would say, no, Second Amendment rights. And that would be the end of the conversation. But now, I think given the tragedy that happens, you kind of have to listen.

DOMONOSKE: And if people are listening, he hopes maybe things can change. Camila Domonoske, NPR News, Benton, Ky.

1 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。

2 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

3 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

4 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

5 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 cathartic   

adj.宣泄情绪的；n.泻剂

参考例句：

• His laughter was cathartic,an animal yelp that brought tears to his eyes.他哈哈大笑以宣泄情绪，声音如野兽般尖厉，眼泪都笑出来了。
• The drug had a cathartic effect.这药有导泻的作用。

7 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

8 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

9 trampled   

踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

• He gripped his brother's arm lest he be trampled by the mob. 他紧抓着他兄弟的胳膊，怕他让暴民踩着。
• People were trampled underfoot in the rush for the exit. 有人在拼命涌向出口时被踩在脚下。

10 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

11 enthusiast   

n.热心人，热衷者

参考例句：

• He is an enthusiast about politics.他是个热衷于政治的人。
• He was an enthusiast and loved to evoke enthusiasm in others.他是一个激情昂扬的人，也热中于唤起他人心中的激情。