VOA常速英语2019--枪支管控支持率下滑

Hundreds of weapons enthusiasts¹ attended the nation’s gun show in Chantilly Virginia recently. In this Washington DC suburb, vendors² offered visitors the chance to buy, trade and sell all kinds of guns and ammunition³. And I like to shoot and I like to shoot different weapons. Some here believe owning a gun is not just a constitutional right. In their opinion, it’s part of being an American. The gun culture in America is pretty much that it’s purely⁴ American. Americans love love our country. People that fool with this stuff like myself. They love, I guess, just the appeal that it has for preserving our heritage. Pakistani-American Abid Ghafoor who is selling guns here says gun ownership is primarily about security.

上百名武器爱好者参加了美国弗吉尼亚州尚蒂伊最近举行的全国枪支展。这里是华盛顿特区的一个郊区，供应商们为游客们提供了购买、交易、出售各种枪支弹药的机会。我喜欢射击，喜欢用不同的武器射击。这里的一些人认为，拥有枪支不只是宪法赋予的一项权利，他们还认为是美国人就要配枪。美国的枪支文化已经达到了无枪非美国人的地步。美国人民热爱我们的国家。很多人喜欢玩儿枪，比如我。我认为，这种喜爱是因为枪支能保护我们财产安全的这种魅力。巴基斯坦裔美国人阿比德正在这里出售枪支，他表示，配枪是为了安全。

If someone points a gun at me, I can be ready to go, too. I can protect myself, because I have a gun. But gun control advocates say it’s too easy to purchase a weapon and argue that strengthening gun laws will prevent mass shootings like the one in Parkland in Florida. Last February when a gunman opened fire at a high school killing⁵ 17 people, survivors⁶ of the shooting jointly⁷ call for tougher gun laws, including requiring universal background checks. Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s child. Just this week, the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee forwarded a bill mandating⁸ those background investigations⁹. But the demand for gun rights is just as passionate¹⁰ in America where the FBI says gun sales have increased 83 percent over the past 20 years. Gun Show Organizer Annette Elliot says current gun laws suffice. They are coming and they found a gun that they like, and then they fill out the paperwork turned into the state police and they do a background check on the individual. They do a state background check which covers the mental health aspect of it more severely¹¹ and then they also do a federal background check with FBI.

如果有人拿枪对着我，我也可以以牙还牙。我可以保护自己，因为我有枪。倡导枪支管控的人认为，购置武器太过容易，他们还认为，加强与枪支有关的法律可以避免大规模枪击事件，比如佛罗里达州帕克兰的枪支事件。去年2月，一名男子在某高中开火，导致17人死亡。该枪击案的幸存者集体呼吁加强枪支管控的法律，包括要求进行全面的背景调查。为自己的生命抗争，不要让别人的孩子再遇害。就在本周，众议院司法委员会提交了一项法案，要求进行对这些背景调查进行授权。但美国民众对枪支的需求不曾衰减，美国联邦调查局（FBI）称，枪支销售额在过去20年间增长了83%。枪支展览会的组织者安妮特表示，目前的强制法律已经足够。人们来到这里，发现一支枪后，就会填写好文件，呈交给州立警方，并对持枪者进行背景调查。州立警方所做的调查涵盖心理健康方面，调查力度更严苛。此外，他们还会和FBI联手进行联邦背景调查。

Certain aspects of gun regulations like Legal Size of Gun Clips do vary from state to state and while support for stricter gun laws increased after the Parkland shooting. The spike¹² did not last long. Polls one year later show support for more regulation has dropped several points to just more than 50 percent, the same levels as before the massacre¹³.

强制监管的某些方面，比如枪夹的合法大小，各州情况确有不同。但帕克兰枪击案过后，各州都普遍支持加强强制法律。这种激情并未持续多久。枪击案发生1年后的民意调查显示，对加强枪支监管的支持率降低了几个百分点，降至仅50%多的水平，这跟枪击案发生前的支持率相同。

1 enthusiasts   

n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A group of enthusiasts have undertaken the reconstruction of a steam locomotive. 一群火车迷已担负起重造蒸汽机车的任务。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Now a group of enthusiasts are going to have the plane restored. 一群热心人计划修复这架飞机。 来自新概念英语第二册

2 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

3 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

4 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

5 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。

6 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

7 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

8 mandating   

托管（mandate的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Current requirements mandating that committees keep minutes are too general. 目前对委员会要保持详细记录的指令性要求，还是太过一般化了。
• Mandating that workers who quit without permission forfeit a month's wages. 规定工人私自离岗将受到罚没一个月工资的处罚。

9 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

10 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

11 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

12 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

13 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！