考研英语阅读理解中的文章,很多来自一些外刊杂志方面的题材。接下来,北京文都考研网为扩宽2020考研学子的知识面,整理了考研英语经济学人外刊:愿悲剧不再重演,供考生参考。
2020考研英语经济学人外刊:愿悲剧不再重演
After the Christchurch massacre, New Zealand bans semi-automatic rifles
在克赖斯特彻奇市大屠杀发生后,新西兰禁止了半自动步枪
A similar law in Australia largely eliminated mass killings
澳大利亚一项类似的法案基本消除了大规模枪击事件
Attempts to strengthen New Zealand’s gun-control laws have failed in parliament four times over the past 20 years. That was before a white supremacist laid siege to two mosques in the city of Christchurch on March 15th, killing 50 people.
在过去的20年里,加强新西兰枪支管制法的四次尝试在议会均以失败告终。3月15日,一名白人至上种族主义者袭击了克赖斯特彻奇市的两座清真寺,共造成50人死亡。
This week a bill to ban the kind of high-powered semi-automatic weapons that he used was introduced; every MP but one supports it. It should sail into law in days.
本周,新西兰议会提出了一项关于禁止大杀伤性半自动武器(正是本次凶案凶手所使用的武器)的法案;除了一名议员反对外,其他所有议员都表示支持。不出意外的话,该法案在几天后将成为法律。
New Zealand has one of the world’s highest rates of gun ownership, with 26 guns per 100 people. That puts it 20th out of the 230 countries and territories ranked by the Small Arms Survey, a research institute.
新西兰是世界上枪支持有率最高的国家之一,平均每100人持有26支枪。研究机构“轻武器调查”对230个国家和地区的持枪率进行了排名,新西兰排在第20名。
Despite this, it ranks only 172nd out of 195 countries in terms of deaths per person from firearms, according to data from the University of Washington. Total killings with guns are typically in the single digits each year, out of a population of 4.8m.
尽管如此,根据华盛顿大学的数据,在195个国家中,新西兰的平均枪击致死率仅排在第172位。在其480万人口中,每年被枪击致死的人数通常仅为个位数。
The already low rate of killings with guns is one reason why it will be hard to discern the new law’s effectiveness. Australia adopted similar legislation in 1996 after a mass shooting in the state of Tasmania.
我们很难看出新法案是否有效,而枪击致死率本身很低就是原因之一。在1996年塔斯马尼亚州发生大规模枪击事件后,澳大利亚也通过了类似的法案。
The Australian government banned semi-automatic rifles, created a national gun registry and bought firearms from citizens, as New Zealand intends to. The stock of licensed guns fell by about a third.
澳大利亚政府禁止了半自动步枪,建立了全国枪支登记制度,并且从公民手中回收枪支,而新西兰正打算这么做。这样一来,澳大利亚登记在册枪支的数量减少了约三分之一。
Firearm-related suicides and homicides fell after the legislation passed. But firearm deaths had already been falling before 1996, and the pace did not notably accelerate. Moreover, gun violence was declining in many other rich countries, few of which had adopted stricter gun laws.
这项法案通过后,澳大利亚与枪支有关的自杀和他杀案件都有所减少。但枪支致死人数在1996年之前就已经在下降了,而法案通过后的下降速度也没有明显加快。此外,在其他许多发达国家,枪支暴力事件的发生也在减少,而这些国家中很少有国家会采取这么严格的枪支法案的。
Australia’s gun reforms almost entirely eliminated mass shootings. Between 1980 and 1996 there were 13 incidents in which five or more victims were shot to death. There has been just one since. But until Christchurch, New Zealand had not seen any mass shootings in over 20 years, despite the many semi-automatic rifles.
澳大利亚的枪支改革几乎完全根除了大规模枪击事件。在1980年至1996年期间共发生了13起枪击事件,导致5名甚至更多的受害者被枪杀。但在1996年之后仅发生过1起枪击事件。在克赖斯特彻奇市枪击事件发生之前,尽管新西兰国内有许多半自动步枪,但在过去20多年里从未发生过大规模枪击事件。
This suggests that social norms have been New Zealand’s best defence against mass shootings. But as Philip Alpers of the University of Sydney notes, the killer in Christchurch would simply not have been able to buy such deadly weapons in his home country, Australia.
这表明,社会规范才是新西兰对大规模枪击事件的最佳控制手段。但正如悉尼大学的菲利普·阿尔珀所说的那样,如果克赖斯特彻奇市枪击事件中的凶手在其祖国澳大利亚的话,他根本就买不到这样致命的武器。
[重难点词汇]
massacre ['mæsəkɚ] vt. 残杀;彻底击败 n. 大屠杀;惨败
eliminate [ɪ'lɪmɪnet] vt. 消除;排除
mosque [mɑsk] n. 清真寺
registry ['rɛdʒɪstri] n. 注册;登记处;挂号处;船舶的国籍
suicide ['suɪsaɪd] n. 自杀;自杀行为;自杀者 adj. 自杀的 vt. 自杀
homicide ['hɑmɪsaɪd] n. 过失杀人;杀人犯
以上是北京文都考研网给出的“2020考研英语经济学人外刊:愿悲剧不再重演”,希望对备考2020考研英语的考生有所帮助!祝2020考研顺利!
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