VOA慢速英语--Texas Community Mourns Pakistani Exchange Student

 

A funeral service has been held for a Pakistani exchange student killed in a mass shooting at a high school near Houston, Texas.

The student, 17-year-old Sabika Sheikh, was one of 10 people gunned down Friday at Santa Fe High School in the town of Sante Fe, Texas. Eight of those killed were students, two were teachers. At least 10 people were injured in the attack.

The accused gunman is Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old student at the school. He was arrested and is being held on murder charges.

Sabika Sheikh came to the United States last fall as an exchange student. Friends and family said she wanted to learn about U.S. culture, while sharing her own with Americans.

Sabika had two U.S. host families. Her first host mother was Pakistani American Uzma Parveen, who spoke¹ to VOA at the funeral, held Sunday at a mosque² in Stafford, Texas.

“We did not have children. She was the first one who called us mom and dad. She was literally³ like a daughter to us.”

Parveen said Sabika experienced⁴ many parts of American culture, including going to the yearly⁵ high school dance known as prom. She said she had big dreams, with plans to attend college to study to become a diplomat⁶ or a businesswoman.

Also attending the funeral was Gerri Manlove, who helps run the foreign student exchange program. She tried to reach Sabika by text message the day of the shooting, but never got an answer.

“She and two other students and a teacher hid in the classroom. They hid.They found a closet. But the boy found them.”

Manlove said she thinks there should be steps taken to improve security⁷ to prevent future shootings. She suggested students could be required to wear clothes that would not easily hide guns. Or, she said putting metal detectors⁹ in schools might help.

Uzma Parveen said she also believes more should be done to prevent future tragedies.

“If anybody listens to me, I have only one appeal. Please do something. No children should be taken away from parents. It hurts. Believe me, it hurts. One metal detector⁸ could have saved her, just one.”

Friends say Sabika was looking forward to going home in a few weeks after the school year ended. They said she planned to celebrate the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

Her second host family also attended the funeral. Host father Jason Cogburn spoke about the family’s desire to include Sabika in everything they did.

“When she started Ramadan and started fasting, my family did that with her, because we did things together.”

Her host sister, Jaelyn, called Sabika “the most beautiful, loving person” she had ever met.

In Pakistan, Sabika’s parents were in shock over her death. Father Abdul Aziz Sheikh told the Associated Press in Karachi he could not believe what had happened. “We are still in a state of denial¹⁰. We can’t believe it. It’s like a nightmare¹¹.”

Sheikh said his daughter had talked about one day joining Pakistan’s Foreign Office after finishing her studies. He called on U.S. officials to completely investigate the shooting. But he said he hoped it would not prevent other students from going abroad.

“One must go for education undeterred," he said. "But controlling such incidents is the responsibility of the respective¹² governments,” he added.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

host – n. person or people who offer to let someone from another country live with them for a period of time

literally – adv. used to stress that a statement or description is true and accurate¹³ even though it may be surprising

closet – n. a small room used to store things

detector – n. device¹⁴ that can tell if a substance or object is present

fasting – n. eating no food for a period of time

nightmare – n. a frightening dream

undeterred – adj. continuing to do something despite problems of a bad situation

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 experienced   

adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。

5 yearly   

adj.每年的，一年一度的；adv.一年一次地

参考例句：

• The flower show is a yearly event in our town.我们镇上的花展一年举行一次。
• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。

6 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

7 security   

n.安全，安全感；防护措施；保证(金)，抵押(品)；债券，证券

参考例句：

• A security guard brought him down with a flying tackle.一名保安人员飞身把他抱倒。
• There was tight security at the airport when the President's plane landed.总统的专机降落时，机场的保安措施很严密。

8 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

9 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

10 denial   

n.否认；拒绝，拒绝给予

参考例句：

• The newspaper printed a denial of the untrue story.报社刊登了否认不实消息的声明。
• Her denial of my advice hurts me.她拒绝我的忠告伤害了我。

11 nightmare   

n.恶梦，可怕的事物，无法摆脱的恐惧

参考例句：

• I was glad to awake from such a nightmare.我庆幸终于从噩梦中醒来了。
• I had a nightmare last nightand,lost sleep.昨夜我作了个恶梦，失眠了。

12 respective   

adj.各自的，各个的

参考例句：

• He and I are each going to visit our respective teachers.我和他分别要去拜访各自的老师。
• All men have their respective duties.各人有各人的职责。

13 accurate   

adj.正确无误的；准确的，精确的

参考例句：

• He has made an accurate measurement of my garden.他准确地丈量了我的花园。
• He is always accurate in what he says and does.他说的和做的总是正确无误。

14 device   

n.器械，装置；计划，策略，诡计

参考例句：

• The device will be in production by the end of the year.该装置将于年底投入生产。
• The device will save much time and effort for us.这种装置会使我们节省大量时间和气力。