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       2020考研英语阅读水平想要提升较快，并不容易!需要2020考研者每天有良好的英语阅读习惯，久而久之慢慢进步!接下来，北京文都考研网为助力学子们备考英语，分享了考研英语双语经济学人:美国大规模枪击事件频发背后，供考生参考。

2020考研英语经济学人:美国大规模枪击事件频发背后

The two mass shootings within 24 hours of each other last weekend, one in El Paso, Texas, the other in Dayton, Ohio, were horrifying. Yet at the same time they were not surprising—at least in a purely statistical sense. So far this year America has averaged one shooting in which four or more people are killed or injured every single day.

上周末，美国在24小时内分别于德克萨斯州的埃尔帕索市和俄亥俄州的代顿市连续发生了两起骇人听闻的大规模枪击事件。然而，惊恐之余，两起枪击案并不让人感到意外，至少就统计学意义来看正是如此。今年到目前为止，美国平均每天会发生一起至四人或四人以上死亡或受伤的枪击事件。

The death toll at the El Paso Walmart was 22. And that awful number made it only the fifth-deadliest shooting this decade. The ten people killed in Dayton put the murder spree there down at number 11 on the same list.

埃尔帕索市沃尔玛枪击案共有22名遇难者。这一骇人的数字使其成为了美国近十年来致死人数排在第五的枪击案。导致10人遇难的代顿市枪击案则排在第十一位。

When police officers are trying to solve a murder they look at motive and opportunity. That framework is useful for thinking about mass murders, too. The shooter in Dayton left no explanation for his actions.

当警察试图去侦破一起枪击案时，他们往往会考虑作案动机和机会。这一模式同样适用于侦破大规模枪杀案。代顿市枪击案的凶手没有对他的行为作出任何解释。

His social-media accounts show he was a misogynist with an interest in leftish causes. The El Paso killer posted a manifesto filled with racist anxiety about the replacement of whites by Hispanics, as well as language that could have been drawn from a Trump rally.

但从他的社交媒体账号中可以看出，他是一个厌恶女性并对左翼事业颇有兴趣的人。埃尔帕索市枪击案的凶手曾发表过一份涉及西班牙裔将取代白人的充满了种族主义焦虑的宣言，还发表过一些可能是援引于特朗普竞选集会的言论。

If motive can be hard to attribute precisely, and policy correspondingly hard to design, the same is not true of opportunity. White nationalists can be found in many Western countries, as can politicians who exploit racial divisions.

如果说很难准确地确定凶手的犯罪动机，那么就很难制定相应的防范政策，但机会就不同了。许多西方国家都存在白人至上主义者，利用种族分裂的政客也随处可见。

But in a society where someone with murderous intent can wield only a kitchen knife or a baseball bat, the harm he can do is limited. When such a person has access to a semi-automatic weapon, which can hold 100 rounds of ammunition and discharge them in under a minute, it is grievous—and hence, lamentably, more seductive.

但是在一个只能挥舞着菜刀或棒球棒去实现杀人意图的国家里，歹徒所能造成的伤害是有限的。但当这样一个人持有了一件容量达100发子弹并能在一分钟内全部发射的半自动武器时，后果不堪设想——而可悲的是，持枪犯罪对歹徒更有诱惑力。

The answer is obvious: restrict the ownership of certain types of guns, as New Zealand did after the shootings in Christchurch, and introduce proper background checks.

解决办法显而易见：限制某些类型枪支的持有权(就像新西兰在克赖斯特彻奇枪击事件发生后所做的那样)，并进行适当的背景调查。

Such measures will not prevent all gun deaths. The constitution will not be rewritten and too many weapons are in circulation. Yet given the number of fatalities, even a 5% reduction would save many innocent lives.

这些措施不足以防止所有枪杀事件的发生。宪法也不会被改写，而且如今又太多的武器流通在外了。但鉴于枪杀事件的死亡人数，即使能够减少5%的枪杀事件的发生也能挽救许多无辜的生命。

Mass shootings in America have become like deforestation in Brazil or air pollution in China—a man-made environmental hazard that is hard to stop. Such hazards are not cleaned up overnight. That should not prevent people from making a start.

美国的大规模枪击事件就如同巴西的森林砍伐或中国的空气污染这类人为环境危害一样，难以阻止。这种危害不是在一夜之间就能消除的，但这不应该阻止人们迈出第一步。

 

【重难点词汇】

misogynist [mɪ'sɑdʒɪnɪst] n. 厌恶女人的人

manifesto [,mænɪ'fɛsto] n. 宣言;声明;告示 vi. 发表宣言

correspondingly [,kɔrə'spɑndɪŋli] adv. 相应地，相对地

murderous ['mɝdərəs] adj. 杀人的，残忍的;凶残的;蓄意谋杀的

grievous ['ɡrivəs] adj. 痛苦的;剧烈的

lamentably ['læməntəbli] adv. 哀伤地;不幸地;拙劣地

fatality [fə'tæləti] n. 死亡;宿命;致命性;不幸;灾祸

       以上是北京文都考研网给出的“2020考研英语双语经济学人:美国大规模枪击事件频发背后”，希望2020考研学子们，每天都能坚持抽出时间看经济学人文章，相信大家越努力，越幸运，加油!

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