2-28

 

28.

Right at the turn of the new year, 2009, a video went viral.

Me, as a cadet, three years earlier, sitting with other cadets.

At an airport. Cyprus, perhaps? Or else maybe waiting to fly to Cyprus?

The video was shot by me. Killing¹ time before our flight, messing around, I panned the group,gave a running commentary on each lad, and when I came to my fellow cadet and good friendAhmed Raza Kahn, a Pakistani, I said: Ah, our little Paki friend…I didn’t know that Paki was a slur². Growing up, I’d heard many people use that word andnever saw anyone flinch³ or cringe, never suspected them of being racist⁴. Neither did I knowanything about unconscious bias⁵. I was twenty-one, awash in isolation⁶ and privilege, and if Ithought anything about this word at all, I thought it was like Aussie. Harmless.

I’d sent the footage to a fellow cadet, who was making an end-of-year video. Since then, it hadcirculated, flitted from computer to computer, and ultimately ended up in the hands of someonewho sold it to the News of the World.

Heated condemnations began rolling in.

I’d learned nothing, people said.

I’d not matured one bit after the Nazi⁷ debacle, people said.

Prince Harry⁸ is worse than a thicko, they said, worse than a party boy—he’s a racist.

The Tory leader denounced me. A cabinet minister went on TV to flog me. Ahmed’s unclecondemned me to the BBC.

I was sitting in Highgrove, watching this furor⁹ rain down, barely able to process it.

My father’s office issued an apology on my behalf. I wanted to issue one as well, but courtiersadvised against it.

Not the best strategy, sir.

To hell with strategy. I didn’t care about strategy. I cared about people not thinking I was aracist. I cared about not being a racist.

Above all, I cared about Ahmed. I connected with him directly, apologized. He said he knew Iwasn’t a racist. No big deal.

But it was. And his forgiveness, his easy grace, only made me feel worse.

 

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 slur   

v.含糊地说；诋毁；连唱；n.诋毁；含糊的发音

参考例句：

• He took the remarks as a slur on his reputation.他把这些话当作是对他的名誉的中伤。
• The drug made her speak with a slur.药物使她口齿不清。

3 flinch   

v.畏缩，退缩

参考例句：

• She won't flinch from speaking her mind.她不会讳言自己的想法。
• We will never flinch from difficulties.我们面对困难决不退缩。

4 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

5 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

6 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

7 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

8 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

9 furor   

n.狂热；大骚动

参考例句：

• His choice of words created quite a furor.他的措辞引起了相当大的轰动。
• The half hour lecture caused an enormous furor.那半小时的演讲引起了极大的轰动。