CNN：美国的枪支管制问题（中英对照）
恐怕很多人都很想知道，为什么枪支管制不在美国议程上。今天美国的枪击惨案再度发生：美国康涅狄格州一所小学14日发生枪击案，造成至少28名人员丧生的重大伤亡，其中大多数是5到10岁的儿童。这是美国历史上死伤最惨重的校园枪击案之一。 美国总统奥巴马就康州学校枪击案发表全国讲话，向枪击案中的逝者、幸存者及家属致以慰问。提到那些无辜遇害的幼小生命时，奥巴马几度流泪哽咽。
美国的枪支管制问题有着深厚的社会历史背景，也许下面来自CNN的分析可以帮助大家对美国的枪支管理问题有更深入的了解。
There are anestimated 270 million guns in the hands of civilians in the United States, making Americans themost heavily armed people in the world per capita. Yemen, a tribal nation with nohistory of strong central government or the rule of law, comes in a distantsecond.
据估计美国民众大约持有2.7亿支枪，荣登世界人均武装率头名。而也门这个历史上没有强力中央政府以及法制建设的部落国家则远远的被甩在第二位。
From Washington, D.C., to thewell-stocked shelves of Walmart stores nationwide, guns are regarded in the United Statesas a commonplace if controversial consumer item for millions of law-abidinghunters, collectors and citizens concerned about their safety. They are also inthe hands of thousands of killers too; a Washington-based anti-gun lobby saysthose guns shoot more than 100,000 people a year. In 2010, there were more than30,000 deaths caused by firearms when the number of homicides, suicides andaccidental deaths are tallied.
在全国范围内，从华盛顿特区到货架闪花人眼的沃尔玛，对于那些数百万守法的猎人，收藏家以及担心自身安全的公民而言，枪械尽管存在争议，但在美国却是在普通不过了。但是这些枪支同样也握在数以千计的杀人犯的手里。一名华盛顿地区反枪支游说者表示每年被枪支袭击的人数超过1万。在2010年超过3000起死亡事件由枪支导致，涵盖谋杀，自杀与非正常死亡。
Read: Why has Obama largely steered clear of gun debate?
阅读：为什么奥巴马尽可能回避关于枪支的辩论？
America’s collectivememory — of the Wild West in the 1800s, the assassinations of John F. Kennedyand Martin Luther King half a century ago and the front-page news from lastweek and is marked time and time again by guns.
从19世纪荒凉的西部，到肯尼迪与马丁路德金半世纪前遇刺，再到上星期的这则头条新闻——美国人的集体记忆一次又一次被枪支打上烙印。
“It’sundeniable,” writes Clayton Cramer, author of “Armed America: theRemarkable Story of How and Why Guns Became as American as Apple Pie.”"Guns are at the center of much of America’s history, its legends, andits horrors.”
“不可否认，”《武装的美国：枪支与苹果派一样重要——美国枪支不寻常的故事》作者克莱顿克莱默写道“枪支是美国许多历史事件的中心，它的那些传奇，它的那些惨状。”
There were guns in America long before the America we know today was evenborn. Early settlers in several states were required by law to own and maintainweapons as a matter of collective defense.
早在我们今日所熟知的美国诞生之前枪支就长久地存在于亚美利加。出于集体防御的考量，各个州早期的移民者需要有法律来允许他们拥有与保养武器。
By the time the United Stateswas established, its citizens had taken up arms not only against their NativeAmerican neighbors but the army of their own king. Their new constitutionreflected that in its Bill of Rights, declaring that “A well regulatedmilitia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
在美国成立之时，公民们不仅持枪与美洲原住民们战斗，同时也与他们自己国王的军队斗争。这点反映在他们的新宪法中，权利法案如此阐述：“一个秩序良好的民兵组织对于国家自由的安全是有必要的，人们持有与携带武器的权利不应被侵犯。”（译：这一段印象特别深，高中课文人教版选修模块中有一篇《我们一定是疯了》的获得普利策新闻奖的就枪击事件的评论文章便引用了这段，指出许多美国人无视了“秩序良好的民兵”这点）
For more than twocenturies that remained an important but largely overlooked guarantee, subjectedto a modest series of controls. But in 2008 and 2010 landmark Supreme Courtrulings gave that constitutional right sweeping new power, dramaticallydiminishing the authority of state and local governments to limit gunownership.
两个多世纪来这一直是一个重要的但却在很大程度上被忽视了的保证，且遭到一系列适度的限制。但在2008年与2010年，最高法院具有里程碑意义的的裁决赋予了该宪法权利（译：持枪）全面的全新的权力，极大地降低了国家与地方政府限制枪支的权力。
Gun-friendlylawmakers have been active, too. Roughly half of the 50 U.S. stateshave adopted laws allowing gun owners to carry their guns openly in most publicplaces. About as many states have ‘stand your ground’ laws that allow people tokill if they come under threat, even, in some cases, if they can escape thethreat without violence.
赞成持枪的立法者同样一直活跃。粗略估计美国一半州的法律允许枪主在绝大多数公共场所携带枪支。差不多同样多的州坚持自己的法律，允许人们在受到威胁时杀人，甚至在某些情况下他们无需采用暴力即可逃走。
The laws are beingdriven by politics and the politics are being driven by groups such as the National Rifle Association.Once a relatively modest organization of gun enthusiasts and hunters, it hasbecome one of the most powerful political groups in the country. The WashingtonPost estimates that the NRA succeeded in helping elect four out of every fivecandidates it endorsed in the most recent congressional election.
这些法律由政治推动，而政治则由诸如国家步枪协会这样的团体推动。这个曾经由枪械狂热者与猎人组成的相对温和的组织如今已成为这个国家最强大的政治团体。据华盛顿邮报估计，在近期的国会大选中，每五名候选人中就有四人是由NRA（译：即国家步枪协会简写）支持赞助的。
In addition to thatextraordinary impact in Congress, it has also been working to overturngun-control laws in the courts as well.
除了在国会拥有非凡影响力外，它也同样在法院致力于推翻枪支管制法案。
The NRA and othergun-rights groups have allied themselves with the Republican Party and, especially,a sector of the American public suspicious of government intrusions intoprivate life and often flatly hostile to Washington.
国家步枪协会以及其他枪支权利组织已将自己与共和党，以及特别是某个常常被美国民众怀疑政府侵犯自己私生活，并且总是断然地对华盛顿表示敌意的部门联合，结成盟友。
Read Dana Bash: For Democrats, gun politics are bad politics
对于民主党，枪支政治是糟糕的政治
“When theytell you that a government ban on certain firearms will somehow make you safer,don’t you believe it, not for a second, because it’s a lie just like the liesthey’ve told you before,” NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre told a recent gatheringof his members. “Their laws don’t work.”
“当他们告诉你政府就某种具体的枪支实行了禁令来莫名其妙的保护你的安全，不要相信它，绝不。因为这只是个谎言，跟他们从前对你说的谎一样。”NRA CEO韦恩拉皮埃尔在成员最近一次集会上如此说道“他们的法律不会有用。”
Poll resultssuggest most Americans wouldn’t agree. CNN and Gallup surveys going back yearssuggest that Americans are split between those who approve of currentgun-control laws and respondents who would like to see them made morerestrictive. Americans who’d like no controls at all are a small minority.
民调结果现实绝大多数美国人不同意这种看法。CNN与盖洛普调查回溯往年的数据显示美国人被分成两派。一派赞成现在的枪支管理法案，另一派的受访者则希望能制定更严格的限制。希望无限制的美国人只是极少数。
But even after therampage in Colorado,American attitudes and laws aren’t likely to change much. Last year’s nearlyfatal shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords didn’t move her state orfederal colleagues to adopt any new gun control measures.
但就算在丹佛枪击案发生后，美国人的态度以及法律也不太可能变化。去年在枪击案中几乎丧命的女国会议员嘉贝丽吉佛斯也未能推动她的州或者联邦同行们通过新的枪支管理办法。
Both President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney issued statements in thehours after the Coloradoshootings, and Sunday, Obama flew to the state to visit with shooting victimsand their families. But neither proposed any changes to American attitudestoward guns.
奥巴马总统与共和党挑战者罗姆尼都在丹佛枪击案数小时后发表了讲话。周日奥巴马飞抵该州探望了枪击受害者以及他们的家人。但是双方均未提出改变美国人对于枪支态度的意向。
But Americaseems to be the place the whole world thinks of when apparently ordinary peopleuse guns for grotesque acts of violence. America stands alone in itshistoric and cultural attachment to guns. America stands armed.
但是美国似乎被全世界看做一个普通人用枪支上演着奇特暴力表演的地方。美国人独自处在它那对枪支的历史与文化迷恋中，处在武装中。
更多的关于美国文化背景的内容，请见英语学习网站大全的西方文化版块。
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