托福閱讀機(jī)經(jīng)背景：僅僅因為他是黑人

1、智課網(wǎng)TOEFL備考資料托福閱讀機(jī)經(jīng)背景：僅僅因為他是黑人 2月末，一名叫特雷萬馬丁的少年在佛羅里達(dá)州被槍殺。一個月后，這場槍擊案已經(jīng)迅速發(fā)酵，演變成一場意料之中的政治鬧劇。巴拉克奧巴馬已經(jīng)對此事表明態(tài)度，而共和黨人也希望藉由此事在11月的大選中將奧巴馬從總統(tǒng)寶座上拉下來。 一名言辭犀利的右翼電臺主持魯什林堡加入論戰(zhàn)。另一名同樣易激動且思想上與林堡相反的人權(quán)領(lǐng)袖阿爾夏普頓也加入戰(zhàn)團(tuán)。夏普頓稱除非正義得到伸張，他將占領(lǐng)槍擊案發(fā)生地點(diǎn)三福城。 An online petition calling for the arrest of the gunman, George Zimmerman, who

2、 is 28, has attracted over 2m signatures. The New Black Panther Party, a confrontational protest group, has offered $10,000 in exchange for a “citizens arrest” of Mr Zimmerman. LeBron James, a basketball star, wrote “RIP Trayvon Martin” on his shoe before a game on March 23rd. He and other members o

3、f his team, the Miami Heat, also posed in hooded sweatshirts like the one Mr Martin was wearing when Mr Zimmerman decided to follow him, convinced he was “up to no good”. 一場呼吁逮捕28歲的槍手齊默曼的網(wǎng)上請愿活動已經(jīng)征集了超過200萬份簽名。一個激進(jìn)抗議組織新黑豹黨愿意提供1萬美元懸賞，獎給逮捕齊默曼的人?；@球明星勒布朗詹姆斯在3月23日的比賽前，在自己的鞋子上寫上“愿特雷萬馬丁安息”的字樣。他和邁阿密熱火隊的隊友穿著帽衫

4、拍了合影。那身穿著恰恰馬丁當(dāng)晚的穿著，就在那天晚上，齊默曼認(rèn)為他行為不軌，決定跟蹤。 The shooting took place in the gated community where Mr Zimmerman lives. He had recently started a neighbourhood-watch scheme and he frequently called the police to report everything from potholes to people he thought might be involved in a spate of burglar

5、ies. When he spotted Mr Martin while out driving on a rainy evening, he called the police from his car. The operator told him there was no need to follow Mr Martin, but Mr Zimmerman did so anyway. From that point, details are scant: the two men somehow got into a fight, during which Mr Zimmerman say

6、s his nose was broken, before he shot the unarmed 17-year-old. Mr Martin, it turns out, had been walking back to the house of his fathers girlfriend in the gated community, having bought some sweets and iced tea at a nearby corner store. 槍擊案發(fā)生在齊默曼所居住的封閉式小區(qū)。齊默曼最近剛剛加入鄰里守望計劃，他時常向警方報告附近發(fā)生的一切事情，報告內(nèi)容從路面的新

7、出的大坑一直到他認(rèn)為可能參與盜竊案的嫌疑人。當(dāng)他在雨夜駕車外出時發(fā)現(xiàn)了馬丁，并在自己的車?yán)飯罅司?。警方接線員告訴他沒有必要追蹤馬丁，但齊默曼不聽勸告。從那時開始，后面發(fā)生具體情節(jié)語焉不詳。兩人不知何故打了起來，打斗中，齊默曼的鼻子被打折，然后他向這名手無寸鐵的17歲少年開了槍。后來才知道，馬丁剛剛從街角商店買完甜食和冰茶后，正趕回位于該小區(qū)的父親的女友家里。 The local police did not arrest Mr Zimmerman, saying they had no evidence to dispute his claim that he had acted in sel

8、f-defence. That decision prompted a cascade of protest, from other branches of government as well as the public. Sanfords city council passed a motion of no confidence in the citys chief of police, who is now suspended. The Justice Department announced it would conduct an investigation into the kill

9、ing. Local prosecutors said they would convene a grand jury to consider the incident on April 10th. 齊默曼稱自己的行為是正當(dāng)防衛(wèi)，當(dāng)?shù)鼐秸J(rèn)為并沒有證據(jù)能夠推翻這一點(diǎn)，于是沒有逮捕齊默曼。這一決定引發(fā)了一連串的抗議活動，有的抗議來自公眾，有的來自政府其他分支機(jī)構(gòu)。三福市議會通過了對該市警察局長的不信任案，警察局長現(xiàn)已停職。司法部宣布將對此次槍擊案展開調(diào)查。當(dāng)?shù)貦z察官們表示將要在4月10日召開大陪審團(tuán)會議討論此事。 Florida is one of 20-odd states to have a

10、dopted a “stand your ground” law, which exempts those with reason to believe their lives are in jeopardy from any legal obligation to attempt to retreat before resorting to deadly force. Many have speculated that the police thought that the existence of the law would impede Mr Zimmermans prosecution

11、. Findings of justifiable homicide have tripled since the law took force in 2005. But Mr Zimmermans lawyer says he does not intend to invoke the law if his client is arrested, while one of the laws authors says it would not apply in this case, anyway, as Mr Zimmerman seems to have gone out of his wa

12、y to confront Mr Martin. 佛羅里達(dá)州是采用“無限防衛(wèi)權(quán)”法律的20多個州的一員。這項法律規(guī)定若行為人有理由認(rèn)為自己的生命面對威脅，可以在訴諸致命暴力前免除首先嘗試逃跑的法律義務(wù)。很多人推測警方可能認(rèn)為這項法律是阻礙起訴齊默曼的絆腳石。自2005年，這項法律生效以來，正當(dāng)殺人的案件增長了兩倍。但是齊默曼的律師表示如果他的當(dāng)事人被捕，自己并不打算援引這項法律。同時這項法律的一名起草人表示不管怎樣，這項法律并不適合這一案件。因為齊默曼本可以避免遇到馬叮 Others have focused on the role of race in the killing. The Na

13、tional Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, for instance, has complained that the authorities neglected the case because Mr Martin was black. Many assume that Mr Zimmerman, whose father is white and whose mother is Hispanic, decided that Mr Martin looked suspicious simply because of t

14、he colour of his skin. Mr Obama seemed to allude to such a view when he said, “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.” 而其他人把注意力放在本案的種族因素上。例如，全國有色人種進(jìn)步聯(lián)合會對此案頗有微詞，認(rèn)為當(dāng)局之所以忽視此案是因為馬丁是名黑人。很多人假設(shè)，齊默曼之所以認(rèn)為馬丁形跡可疑理由僅僅是馬丁的膚色，而齊默曼的父親是名白人，母親是拉丁裔。奧巴馬似乎暗示自己贊同這種假設(shè)，因為他說，“如果我有個兒子，他長得會跟特雷萬一樣”。 Rick Santorum and New

15、t Gingrich, two of the four remaining Republican presidential candidates, saw that as an opening, as did Mr Limbaugh. They declared themselves appalled that the president would view the shooting through the lens of race. From the left, Mr Obama has been criticised for not speaking loudly enough about the racial aspect of the killing. No incident is too tragic, it seems, for political point-scoring. 在四名尚未退出共和黨初選的總統(tǒng)候選人中，