VOA常速英语2017--回顾奥巴马竞选成功后发生的种族歧视事件余波

The decisions in Ferguson, Missouri and in New York City sparked widespread protests and global news coverage 1. Protests continued for days all around the United States, and inspired support across the world, including at this protest in London.

密苏里州弗格森和纽约市做出的决定引起了广泛的抗议和全球媒体的大篇幅报道。美国国内的抗议持续了数天，也激起了全球范围内的广泛支持，包括伦敦市的抗议。

At the city’s King’s College, American Studies students have been talking about the issue in their classes.

伦敦国王学院以美国研究为专业的学生也在课堂上讨论着这一话题。

It’s not a good thing. Xiang Yingchao is a 23-year-old economics student from China, who has studied in the United States. A lot of Chinese press, they said, like, Oh, in the U.S. they always advocate human rights, but look at them. It’s like they have two standards of human rights.

这不是个好事。项小超是一名来自中国的经济学专业学生，今年23岁，他在美国留学。很多中国媒体报道说，美国总是倡导人权，但睁大眼睛看看美国是这样的吗？其实美国对于人权有着双重标准。

These students study America, and all have visited.

这些学生不止研究美国，他们也都去过美国。

They see the incident in New York as a clear case of unpunished police brutality 2, but view the Ferguson incident as less clear cut. But 53-year-old masters’ degree student Paul Zimmerman of London said the details are not as important as the broader point.

他们认为，纽约市发生的这起事件明显表明警方施暴却能逍遥法外，但弗格森事件似乎却没那么明显。今年53岁的硕士学位学生保罗(Paul Zimmerman)来自伦敦，他表示，这些细节在更大的问题面前就显得没那么重要了。

There’s an assumption that somehow there’s something that has gone on that isn’t quite right. Maybe they’ve come up with the right conclusion, but in a sense that doesn’t really matter.

有人认为，有些不妙的因素正在发酵。或许他们已经找到了正确答案，但从某种程度来讲，这并不重要。

24-year-old classmate Mark Eastwood from northern England agreed. I would say it’s exposed a broader issue. It’s more, for me, the story of Ferguson and what’s happened in New York in the last week or so, is more about the issues of structural 3 racism 4.

24岁的马克来自英格兰北部，他也持这种观点。我认为这反映出一个更广泛的问题。对于我来说，上周弗格森和纽约发生的事件不仅与结构性种族主义有关。

There’s also a sense of disappointment that the election of Barack Obama does not mean all of America’s racial issues have been solved.

这其中还有一种失望，在于奥巴马的当选并不意味着美国所有的种族问题都得到了解决。

Electing a black president, in theory, is transformational but there’s a lot that needs to happen to correct many, many years of systemic unfairness.

从理论上来讲，选举一名黑人做总统是变革性的，但若是要改变多年来方方面面的不公平还需要做很多很多。

One black president cannot change these things. They have to change their justice system, even their laws.

一名黑人总统并不能改变这些东西。他们还必须改变他们的司法体系，甚至法律。

Their teacher, Joshua Simon, said some of his students see two aspects to the stories from Ferguson and New York.

他们的老师乔休尔(Joshua Simon)表示，他的一些学生能从两个方面来看待弗格森和纽约的事件。

They’re thinking of it as a pretty shocking demonstration 5 of the remaining racial injustices 6 in the United States and a pretty encouraging sign that the population in the United States isn’t going to take these events lying down.

一方面，他们认为这表明美国还存在种族不公，这令人震惊；另一方面，这也是非常让人欢欣鼓舞的迹象，因为它表明美国人民不会对不公平现象置之不理。

The emotional scenes of the funerals added to the public reaction overseas. Professor Simon said many people give the United States well-deserved credit for progress on race relations. But he said the recent incidents, though, have shifted the focus to how much work remains 7 to be done, while also making the U.S. aspiration 8 to be "a moral leader" more difficult.

葬礼让人动容的场面加剧了海外公众的反应。西蒙教授表示，以前，很多人满心以为美国在改善种族关系上是堪称榜样的。但他表示，最近的几起事件将人们的关注点转向了还有很多工作还没有完成，也让美国希望成为“道德领袖”的愿望愈发难以实现。