Gun Violence

Gun Violence

作者：

来源：《阅读与作文（英语高中版）》2020年第06期

If you pay attention to the recent world news， you might have heard about gun violence in the

U.S.. The continuing shootings in Missouri， in New York City and elsewhere in the country have

sparked public anger at the loose gun control and rooted racial issues in America.

I haven’t had any personal encounter[遭遇] with guns in America. The closest experience I had

was riding the same metro train with armed law enforcement officers， or seeing armed traffic cops

passing by me at a coffee shop. It’s no news that some Americans keep guns at home on the grounds

of self protection. Some of my older friends are hunters who own rifles for gaming purposes. I haven’t

seen their weapons though.

I’m saddened when hearing the frequent reports of gun violence in America， especially against

innocents who were often youngsters. For example， the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in

Connecticut in the winter of 2012. Twenty pupils and six adults were killed. There’s always a new

shooting case in America， possibly even right this minute， as you’re reading my article. Since

Sandy Hook， there’s been a debate over whether faculty[全体教员] staff should be armed like

security officers on campus. The progun opinion is that by doing so， school children will be well

protected by their armed teachers should any life threatening situations occur. The opposing voices

say this is a maniacal[发狂的] proposal that is counterproductive， only leading to more deaths.

U.S. Federal Law requires that an individual must be at least 21 years old to purchase handgun

ammunition[弹药]， and at least 18 years old to purchase rifle or shotgun ammunition. But if you

look around， there’re too many ways for disqualified candidates to attain firearms in America. At

WalMart， for instance， there’s a section which sells hunting tools including rifles and bullets.

Every time I pass by this section， I always wonder what if a desperate man rushes into the store.

This would be a good first stop for him to load up on ammunition. And customers who are around this

area are prone to be held hostages[人质] as they’re so near to the possible fatal drama. It’s not

uncommon that if one family member owns guns， the rest of the family and even his/ her unborn

descendants[子孙] will or are likely to have weapons as well. Imagine if your best friends are

experienced shooters. Wouldn’t you be tempted to give it a go？

Akimbo 叉腰

Just like most of other kids， aged two Emilia didn’t like washing hands─she’s always wiping

the dirt off hands on her clothes. One day I accompanied her to have fried cicadae. Habitually she

rubbed her grease fingers on her real silk short gown. I held back her from doing it： “What do you

want to do？” She was immediately on to her blame， replied at ease： “I’m akimbo.”

像大多數别的小孩一样，两岁艾咪丽雅不爱洗手，吃东西弄脏手，随便在身上一抹就得了。一天我正陪她吃炸知了，她手上的油多了，便习惯地往真丝小褂子上蹭，我阻止道：“你想干什么？”她马上意识到问题所在，从容答道：“我叉腰。”