纽约客再现（2015）

The New Yorker Presents S01E04

Part 4 Sept. 1, 2020, 10:14 a.m.

我必须承认我喜欢坐在驾驶位上
I have to admit that I love being in the driver's seat.
自♥由♥和可能性的冲击
The rush of freedom and possibility,
和自主感将我淹没
and sense of autonomy is overwhelming.
坐上车然后你就可以出发了
You get in, and you go.
这让我意识到
This, in turn, made me realize
这种直觉以前有过
what I had only intuited before:
枪对很多美国人来说
that guns, for many Americans,
是车的第二种象征
are a sort of secondary symbolic car.
另一个强有力的象征
Another powerful symbol
代表着自主与独♥立♥
of autonomy and independence.
众多的美国人对枪的情感
The attachment to them that so many Americans show,
在世上文明人类中是独特的
unique among the civilized peoples of the world,
也是有代价的
and at a cost so grave
如此沉重以致于经常惊世骇俗
that the rest of that world often turns away appalled,
任何晚学车的人
is nonetheless understandable
都能理解
to anyone who comes late to driving.
在你的掌握之中有潜在致死威力
To have potentially lethal power within your grasp
是威力无穷的毒品
is an immensely empowering drug.
但是汽车不是或者不仅是自♥由♥的象征
But cars are not, or not only, symbols of autonomy.
其他地方也讲得通
They are in every sense vehicles of it.
然而枪♥支♥几乎完全是象征机能
Guns, however, have an almost entirely symbolic function.
没人被救也没入侵者被击退
No lives are saved, and no intruders are repelled.
枪迷是愚钝又歇斯底里的谬论
The dense and hysterical mythology of gun buff
被一次又一次地反驳
has been refuted again and again.
为数不多枪♥支♥的社会功能是
The few useful social functions that guns do have
用于打猎或杀害坏人
in hunting or in killing varmints,
就像我的父亲一个乡下人不得不用枪
as a country man, like my father, has to,
尽管条例苛刻枪是可以被保藏的
can be preserved even with tight regulations,
在加拿大
as in Canada,
还是有意义重大的枪♥支♥限制
yet meaningful restrictions on guns
看起来远超我们的理解
seem beyond our grasp.
全国步♥枪♥协会重新向我们保证
The NRA assures us anew,
在每一次发生在学校、剧院或者办公室的惨案后
after each massacre in school, theater, or office,
枪不会杀人
政♥府♥才会
任何限制都只会限制我们的资源
any limit would curb only our freedom,
而不是无意义的杀害
not the senseless killing.
如果你限制美国公众接触
If you limit the American public's access
半自动科技的权限
to semi-automatic technology,
你就限制了他们生存的能力
you limit their ability to survive.
想象一下我们生活在
Imagine we lived in a city
一个儿童濒临感染而死的城市
where children are dying of a ravaging infection.
好消息是病因是知道的
The good news is that its cause is well understood
治疗的抗生素也是唾手可得
and its cure, an antibiotic, easily at hand.
坏消息是我们的市政♥府♥
The bad news is that our city council
被一个信仰疗法的祭仪接手了
has been taken over by a faith healing cult
他认为传染病是来自恶魔
that believes the infections come from evil
然后竭尽全力
and will go to any lengths
不让儿童注射抗生素
to keep the antibiotics from the kids.
我们会阻碍任何立法
We will filibuster any legislation.
我们就是住在这样一座城
We do live in such a city.
在美国每年有超过2500名儿童
More than 2,500 children and teens
和青少年死于枪♥支♥暴♥力♥
die annually from gun violence in the United States.
绝大多数儿童
The overwhelming majority of those children
本可以在有效的枪♥支♥管制下免于一死的
would be saved with effective gun control.
我们知道这很...
We know this is so-- -
因为社会上存在有效的枪♥支♥管制
...because in societies that have effective gun control,
比如苏格兰澳大利亚和加拿大
like Scotland, Australia, and Canada,
儿童几乎从没有死在枪口下
children almost never die of gunshots.
明天再担心罪恶问题吧
Let's worry tomorrow about the problem of evil.
明天再确保
Let's worry more about making sure
当罪犯出现在一年级教室里
that when evil appears in a first grade classroom
他是拿着铅笔刀
it is armed with a penknife
而不是半自动武器
instead of a semi-automatic weapon.
实现这个可能困难
To make that happen may be hard,
但是对于什么是需要做到
but there's no doubt or ambiguity
是毫无疑问和模糊点的
about what needs to be done,
也不是说如果做到了就会生效
nor that, if it is done, it will work.
一个人必须相信
One would have to believe
美国人是独特的恶魔
that Americans are somehow uniquely evil
或者堕落地认为同样的药
or depraved to think that the same medicine
对地球上的其他地方都管用
that works on the rest of the planet
在这里不管用
won't work here.
车辆安全是困难的
Making cars safe was difficult.
在公共场合
So was limiting
限制和有效的禁止香烟
and then effectively banning cigarettes
是一样的道理
from public places.
某一天
At some point,
我们会变成一个安全用枪
we will become a gun-safe
然后最终变成理智用枪的社会
and then finally a gun-sane society.
这比你想象还要近在咫尺
It's closer than you think.