对于当前的美国青少年来说,校园枪击案非常普遍

For Today’s U.S. Teens, School Shootings Are Common

The young people who experienced the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida, were born in or after 1999. In that year, two students killed 13 classmates at Columbine High School in Colorado.

Since then, the United States has had six more of the 10 deadliest school shootings in its history.

Along with those events, there have been smaller, less publicized acts of gun violence on campuses. The Washington Post newspaper found that, since 1999, more than 150,000 children have experienced a shooting at their school. The Post reporters note that those numbers are conservative. They do not include suicides or accidents with guns that happen at school, or shootings that happen after classes have ended.

In other words, today’s high school students have been raised at a time when school shootings in the U.S. have become common.

The cumulative¹ effect of this gun-related school violence may help explain the recent protests by young people. Since the school shooting in Florida February 14, Parkland students and other American teenagers have been publicly calling for stronger U.S. gun laws. These activists² have held demonstrations⁴ and gone on day strikes from school. They have spoken on television, posted on social media, and met directly with President Trump⁵ and other officials.

Last Wednesday, hundreds of high school-age students gathered outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Juliet Cable was one of them.

She said, "I think that this current fight for gun control is a fight that students and teenagers and children are having to fight. We're the ones who need to stand up and call attention to it and change it."

America’s teenagers

Other mass shootings in recent U.S. history have inspired calls for increased gun control measures. But the way many Parkland teenagers are answering this month’s violence in Florida is different, say gun-control activists.

Kristin Brown is the co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

"We've certainly seen a groundswell of anger rise up following mass shootings in the past, but nothing like this in terms of the momentum⁶ or youth engagement," Brown said.

The young people’s efforts are consistent with what researchers have been learning about today’s teenagers.

After the 2016 presidential election, the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research asked 790 American teenagers questions about their political views.

The researchers learned that, in general, U.S. teenagers are worried about the country’s future, and they believe Americans do not agree about basic values.

Amanda Lenhart was the senior research scientist at AP-NORC at the time of the study. She told VOA that the teenagers in the study sounded tired – even exhausted⁷ – of the country’s political conflict. They expressed “deep weariness of the divided status quo,” Lenhart said.

At the same time, Lenhart said, teenagers hoped things could get better. A majority had taken action on a political issue they cared about. Teenagers who used social media were especially politically engaged.

Today’s teenagers have, in her words, a “youthful energy that inspires them to act,” Lenhart said. They want the future to be better, she said, so they are going to stand up and make it better.

Fifteen-year-old Sofia Hidalgo, an activist³ from Maryland, echoed that idea in a conversation with VOA.

“We got our voices out there in big publications so that people could see change, and there is going to be a change in mentality⁸. And we are going to succeed in combating hate and fear with love and peace.”

Generation gun?

Abby Kiesa is with the Center for Information and Research on Civic⁹ Learning and Engagement at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

She noted¹⁰ in an email to VOA that many of today’s teenagers are insisting on being heard. At the same time, she said, “We must continue to broaden and diversify¹¹ the youth who have the encouragement and access to tell their stories.”

Research scientist Amanda Lenhart made a similar point. Today’s teenagers are among the most racially and ethnically¹² diverse groups in U.S. history. Trying to talk about a “generation” often hides important differences among people, she said.

But, Lenhart said, part of what forms the idea of a generation is “living through big moments at the same time at a very similar life stage.”

For today’s teenagers, the big moments that come to define their generation may be their shared experience as students at a time when schools can be scenes of violence.

As Parkland student Jaclyn Corin told the New Yorker magazine, “We have grown up with this problem.”

I’m Caty Weaver¹³.

And I’m Ashley Thompson.

Words in This Story

campus - n. the area and buildings around the school

cumulative - adj. increasing or becoming better or worse over time

inspire - v. to make or cause someone to do something

groundswell - n. a fast increase in public support of something

momentum - n. the strength or force that allows something to continue or to grow stronger or faster as time passes

exhausted - adj. completely worn out or tired

weariness - n. reluctance¹⁴ to see or experience more of something

engaged - adj. busy with activity

diversify - v. to change (something) so that it has more different kinds of people or things

encouragement - n. something that makes someone more likely to do something

access - n. a way of getting near, at, or to something or someone

1 cumulative   

adj.累积的，渐增的

参考例句：

• This drug has a cumulative effect.这种药有渐增的效力。
• The benefits from eating fish are cumulative.吃鱼的好处要长期才能显现。

2 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》

3 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

4 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

5 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。

6 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

7 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

8 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。

9 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

10 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

11 diversify   

v.（使）不同，（使）变得多样化

参考例句：

• Our company is trying to diversify.我们公司正力图往多样化方面发展。
• Hills and woods diversify the landscape.山陵和树木点缀景色。

12 ethnically   

adv.人种上，民族上

参考例句：

• Ethnically, the Yuan Empire comprised most of modern China's ethnic groups. 元朝的民族成分包括现今中国绝大多数民族。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• Russia is ethnically relatively homogeneous. 俄罗斯是个民族成分相对单一的国家。 来自辞典例句

13 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

14 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。