如果拉斯維加斯的案犯是個伊斯蘭教徒
全文圍繞Las Vegas 槍擊案犯Stephen Paddock展開，作者Thomas L. Friedman 做個一個假設，如果Stephen Paddock是個穆斯林，美國社會的反應會是怎樣？
Thomas L. Friedman本身是中東問題的專家，精通希伯來語和阿拉伯語。因為報道黎巴嫩、以色列和恐怖分子，在1983、1988 和2002 拿過3次普利策獎。
讀報大卡里最為推崇的文字工作者。
If Only Stephen Paddock Were a Muslim
作者 Thomas L. Friedman 編者 Hugo TANG
總字數 864 words 估計閱讀時間 5 min
If onlyStephen Paddock had been a Muslim … If only he had shouted 「Allahu akbar」 before he opened fire on all those concertgoers in Las Vegas … If only he had been a member of ISIS … If only we had a picture of him posing with a Quran in one hand and his semiautomatic rifle in another …
文章開頭連用了幾個if only， 拋出了題目裡面的問題：如果Stephen Paddock 是個穆斯林？
表達： 特別注意多用並列；另外注意虛擬語氣的使用。
If all of that had happened, no one would be telling us not to dishonor the victims and 「politicize」 Paddock』s mass murder by talking about preventive remedies.
如果上面的假設都是事實，美國社會會做的事情就是「政治化」。
No, no, no.Thenwe know what we』d be doing. We』d be scheduling immediate hearings in Congress about the worst domestic terrorism event since 9/11.ThenDonald Trump would be tweeting every hour 「I told you so,」 as he does minutes after every terror attack in Europe, precisely to immediately politicize them.Thenthere would be immediate calls for a commission of inquiry to see what new laws we need to put in place to make sure this doesn』t happen again.Thenwe』d be 「weighing all options」 against the country of origin.
如果Stephen Paddock 是個穆斯林，國會就會馬上開聽證會；Trump 會事後諸葛亮；新的法案馬上就會頒布; 人們會考慮所有和立國之本相違背的選擇。
表達：首先還是並列； 其次 put in place = practice weigh = consider
But what happens when the country of origin is us?
What happens when the killer was only a disturbed American armed to the teeth with military-style weapons that he bought legally or acquired easily because of us and our crazy lax gun laws?
但他不是穆斯林，他是一個武裝到牙齒的美國人。合法擁有了槍支。
表達：armed to the teeth = formidably armed 全副武裝
lax 表示鬆散的意思
Then we know what happens: The president and the Republican Party go into overdrive to ensure that nothing happens. Then they insist — unlike with every ISIS-related terror attack — that the event must not be 「politicized」 by asking anyone, particularly themselves, to look in the mirror and rethink their opposition to common-sense gun laws.
因此現實是這樣的：Trump 和共和黨齊刷刷的說沒不要政治化這個事情。
So let』s review:We willturn the world upside downto track down the last Islamic State fighter in Syria — deploying B-52s, cruise missiles, F-15s, F-22s, F-35s and U-2s.We willask our best young men and women to make the ultimate sacrifice to kill or capture every last terrorist. And how many Americans has the Islamic State killed in the Middle East? I forget. Is it 15 or 20? And our president never stops telling us that when it comes to ISIS, defeat is not an option, mercy is not on the menu, and he is so tough he even has a defense secretary nicknamed 「Mad Dog.」
我們來回憶下共和黨在中東問題上的態度：把世界翻了個底朝天，誓死找出最後一個 ISIS 的士兵；在中東的死傷為15/20人（Las Vegas 最終統計死亡人數為59人），但Trump很強硬，寸步不讓，甚至給自己的國防部長取了了「瘋狗」的昵稱來表達他的強硬。
表達： turn the world upside down； 另外注意下和上一期的David Brooks 一樣，文字上的大師，都喜歡用並列。
But when fighting the N.R.A. — the National Rifle Association, which more than any other group has prevented the imposition of common-sense gun-control laws — victory is not an option, moderation is not on the menu and the president and the G.O.P. have no mad dogs, only pussycats.
當對手變成NRA (美國槍支協會)的時候，勝利是不可能的，總統和共和黨都成了kitty 貓
表達：這一段和上一段的內容呼應，特別要注意的是，當內容表達類似的時候，用一樣的結構來寫，這樣易讀性會好很多。
And they will not ask themselves to make even the smallest sacrifice — one that might risk their seats in Congress — to stand up for legislation that might make it just a little harder for an American to stockpile an arsenal like Paddock did, including 42 guns, some of them assault rifles — 23 in his hotel room and 19 at his home — as well as thousands of rounds of ammunition and some 「electronic devices.」 Just another deer hunter, I guess.
共和黨人不願意冒一點點自己政治生涯的風險來提高購買大火力槍支的難度。
On crushing ISIS, our president and his party are all in. On asking the N.R.A. for even the tiniest moderation, they are AWOL. No matter how many innocents are fatally shot — no matter even that one of their own congressional leaders was critically wounded playing baseball — it』s never time to discuss any serious policy measures to mitigate gun violence.
在ISIS問題上，共和黨群起而攻之；在NRA 問題上，他們高高掛起。哪怕是他們自己人別槍傷，也不去討論控槍問題。
表達： AWOL = Absent WithOut Leave 擅離職守
And in the wake of last month』s unprecedented hurricanes in the Atlantic — that wrought over $200 billion of damage on Houston and Puerto Rico, not to mention smaller cities — Scott Pruitt, Trump』s head of the Environmental Protection Agency, also told us that it was not the time to discuss 「the cause and effect」 of these superstorms and how to mitigate their damage. We need to focus on helping the victims, he said. But for Pruitt, we know, it』s never time to take climate change seriously.
同樣的，上個月美國一些地區經歷了史上最大的颶風的肆虐，但Trump 的環境部長，閉口不談颶風和氣候變化之間的關係。
表達： in the wake of: 在...之後
To take ISIS seriously abroad, but then to do nothing to mitigate these other real threats to our backyards, concert venues and coastal cities, is utter madness.
再次回到中東事務和國內事務的對比
It』s also corrupt. Because it』s driven by money and greed — by gunmakers and gun sellers and oil and coal companies, and all the legislators and regulators they』ve bought and paid to keep silent. They know full well most Americans don』t want to take away people』s rights to hunt or defend themselves.All we want to take away is the right of someone to amass a military arsenal at home and in a hotel room and use it on innocent Americans when some crazy rage wells up inside him.But the N.R.A. has these cowardly legislators in a choke hold.
這是政府的腐敗。
背景：在美國要推進槍支充公是要改憲法的，而且也是老百姓基本很難統一的，所以其實最近的一些提案基本都是溫和的，比如說建議精神不正常的不能購槍，但哪怕這樣溫和的提案也被駁回，具體的原因可以看之前的Las Vegas 的相關文章
What to do?
那怎麼辦呢？
Forget about persuading these legislators. They are not confused or underinformed. They are either bought or intimidated. Because no honest and decent American lawmaker would look at Las Vegas and Puerto Rico today and say, 「I think the smartest and most prudent thing to do for our kids is to just do nothing.」
別寄希望於立法者了。
So there is only one remedy: Get power. If you are as fed up as I am, then register someone to vote or run for office yourself or donate money to someone running to replace these cowardly legislators with a majority for common-sense gun laws. This is about raw power, not persuasion. And the first chance we have to change the balance of power is the 2018 midterm elections. Forget about trying to get anything done before then. Don』t waste your breath.
想要改變，就先奪權吧（可以看出來Thomas 不是民主黨，也是偏民主黨的）
表達： don t waste your breath. 別浪費力氣了
Just get power. Start now.
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