VOA慢速英语2016 美国学生观看纪录片，审视种族问题

Students Examine Racism 1 After Watching Documentary 2 美国学生观看纪录片，审视种族问题

A new documentary film aimed mainly at young people attempts to open public debate on the issue.

警察枪击非裔美国人引起了人们对美国社会种族不平等问题的关注。

A new documentary film aimed mainly at young people attempts to open public debate on the issue.

最新的一部纪录片，以年轻人为目标群体，试图引起公众对这个问题的讨论。

The documentary is called “I’m Not Racist 3…Am I?”It follows 12 New York City high school students over nine months.The young people take part in exercises and sometimes difficult discussions concerning the issue of racism.

纪录片名叫《我不是种族主义者，我是吗？》。纪录片花费九个月时间跟踪记录12个纽约高中学生。这些年轻人参与练习，有时还讨论困难的种族主义问题。

The film is not playing in theaters.It is being shown only to groups of young people and their parents.

这部电影并没有在影院上映。只对年轻人群体和他们的父母放映。

Catherine Wigginton Greene is the film’s director.She says the parents often find the documentary difficult to watch.She says what it shows is very different from what many adults think is happening in their children’s lives.

凯瑟琳·威京顿·格林是电影导演。她说父母们都觉得这部纪录片观看起来很有难度。她说该影片展示的孩子们的生活和很多成年人想的不一样。

Greene said the parents “are seeing that children are going to dances, or have friends of different races,and they think ‘Oh, well, they just have it all figured out.’”

格林说父母们“看到孩子去跳舞，交不同种族的朋友，他们会想‘噢，孩子们都明白。’”

But she noted 4, “What we realized in making the film is that the children don’t,and they are not talking about it with their families.”

但她指出，“我们拍电影时发现，孩子们不明白，他们也不会和家人们交流。”

“I’m Not Racist...Am I?” has been shown many times at Woodrow Wilson High school,a large, culturally-mixed public school in Washington, D.C.

《我不是种族主义者，我是吗？》在华盛顿的伍德罗·威尔逊高中放映了多次，这是华府一所文化多样的公立学校。

The school’s principal, Kimberly Martins says her students needed it.

该校校长金伯利·马丁斯表示，她的学生需要看这部纪录片。

“From the first day that I was in this school, I could not believe that there are classrooms that are all African American,or all Latino, and then there are classrooms that are all white.”

“第一天进入这所学校，我不敢相信，有的班都是非裔美国人，有的都是拉美人，然后有的都是白人。”

Student James Sarokin agreed that a diverse school population does not necessarily mean students of different races mix.

学生詹姆斯·萨洛克同意，一个种族多元的学校并不意味着各种族学生都可以融洽相处。

He added, “I think that, honestly,white kids hang out with white kids and black kids hang out with black kids, generally.”

他补充道：“我觉得，老实说，一般白人小孩都和白人小孩玩，黑人小孩都和黑人小孩玩。”

The film persuaded another student, Amilcar Hudson.He now thinks that talking about racial issues is the best way to deal with them.But he believes such discussion is not easy.

该影片还说服了另一名学生，米尔卡·哈德逊。他如今认为处理种族问题最好的方法就是进行讨论。但他认为这种讨论并不容易。

“I think that’s the scariest part about it,” he said.“I know there’s a racial problem in this country, but the fact that people really don’t feel comfortable talking about it,means that we are almost self-consciously satisfied with it, we’re OK with this going on.”

他说：“我觉得种族问题有让人恐惧的因素，我们国家存在种族问题，但人们谈论起时真的感到很不舒服，我们不自觉的就满足于现状，觉得这样发展下去也可以。”

Student Isabel Suarez says the situation is more difficult for victims of prejudice.

学生伊莎贝尔·苏亚雷斯说这样的处境对深受偏见的人群来说愈发艰难。

“I understand it’s so hard to hear that you are inherently 5 racist because of something you can’t control.But isn’t it worse to hear that you are less than people, inherently, because of the color of your skin?”

“我明白因为一些你不能控制的事情就说你是天生的种族主义者非常令人难以接受，但是就因为你的肤色不同，所以你就天生比别人差，这不是更令人难以接受吗？”

Students at Wilson High have formed a group called Common Ground.It is designed to support interaction and communication among students of different cultural backgrounds.

威尔逊高中的学生建立了一个组织，名叫“共同点”。该组织旨在支持不同文化背景的学生进行互动交流。

Words in This Story

figure out – phrasal verb to understand or find (something, such as a reason) by thinking

diverse – adj. made up of people or things that are different from each other

inherently – adv. belonging to the basic nature of someone or something

background – n. the experiences, knowledge, education, etc., in a person's past

kid – n. a child; a boy or girl

hang out – phrasal verb to be somewhere

scariest – adj. causing the most fear; most frightening

comfortable – adj. not causing any unpleasant feelings