（雅思课外精读）命丧美国警察的乔治·弗洛伊德是个怎样的人

中国教育在线小编为大家收集整理了【雅思课外精读】命丧美国警察的乔治·弗洛伊德是个怎样的人？，那么接下来就跟着小编一起来看看，相信你通过以下的文章内容就会有更深入的了解。

*注：本文摘自6月4日《经济学人》

The life pressed out斯人已逝George Floyd was killed on May 25th乔治弗洛伊德于5月25日被杀The unarmed black man whose death has convulsed America was 46这位手无寸铁的黑人享年46岁，他的死亡震惊了美国 1. TUESDAYS WERE usually George Floyds night on security-guard duty at El Nuevo Rodeo club, the hottest venue for Mexican music in Minneapolis. That was urban-music night, when blacks came crowding in to hear RB, soul, hip-hop and rap. Things could get rowdy sometimes, but he kept order with calm and a big smile and the sheer presence of himself, six-feet-six and with bulging muscles under his coat. That wasnt the style of another guy there who had done the job for 17 years, an off-duty white police officer with jittery eyes, who would reach for his pepper spray as soon as a fight broke out and fire it over everyone. But few thought their paths had crossed, or that they ever would.

El Nuevo Rodeo俱乐部是明尼阿波利斯最热闹的墨西哥音乐场地。乔治弗洛伊德是El Nuevo Rodeo俱乐部的保安，周二他一般会去这里值班。在城市音乐之夜，黑人们会蜂拥走进俱乐部，来听RB、灵歌、嘻哈和饶舌音乐。俱乐部有时候会很混乱，但是凭借着他的平静沉稳和灿烂笑容，他总能维持秩序。他身高六尺六，肌肉发达。而另外一个在这里干了17年的白人警察和弗洛伊德却完全不同，他总是紧张不安，一有打斗发生就伸手去拿胡椒喷雾喷向每一个人。但是，没有人会想到他们的人生道路竟会有相交。

2. He liked being a bouncer. His regular stint was at the Conga Latin Bistro on East Hennepin, another Mexican-Latino joint with dining and dancing. There he sometimes wore a blue boiler suit with Security in large white letters, but also a navy jacket and black polo-neck that made him look a million dollars. At the door he always beamed out his warm welcoming smile, and expected a hug in return from the regulars. He would dance badly, just to make them laugh. (Jovanni Thunstrom, the owner, once tried to teach him Bachata dance, but he was so tall he couldnt turn him.) Some customers came early to eat the spicy Mexican food with him. In return he did favours for them: drove them home if they were drunk, put their things in his own closet if they didnt bring spare change for the coat-check. At the end of business, he helped clean down the bar. Mr Thunstrom (Bossman, as he kept calling him), was a friend, almost family, and rented him a duplex in St Louis Park, uptown. He liked his neighbours there, and would spend time chatting over the fence to their little boy, teaching him the proper way to shoot hoops. He had been pretty good at basketball, back in Texas.

弗洛伊德喜欢当保镖。他平常是在东亨内平的墨西哥-拉丁裔的餐馆康加拉丁小酒馆里工作，这是一家吃饭和跳舞结合的餐馆。在这里，他有时会穿着一件蓝色连衫裤套装，上面有大大的白色文字保安，也会穿海军蓝夹克和黑色polo领，这让他看起来像个百万富翁。在店门口，他总是带着热情的微笑，也期待着和常客们来一个大大的拥抱。他会跳出滑稽的舞蹈来逗乐那些顾客（餐馆老板乔万尼斯托姆曾试图教弗洛伊德跳巴塔舞，但是他个子太高了，转不开）有些顾客会提前到店里和弗洛伊德一起用餐，吃那些辣辣的墨西哥菜。作为回报，他会帮他们一些忙：如果他们喝醉了，他就开车送他们回家；如果他们没有带够零钱付存衣服的支票，他就把他们的东西放在自己的柜子里；下班后，他会帮忙打扫卫生。斯托姆（弗洛伊德一直叫他老大哥）是弗洛伊德的朋友，甚至可以说是亲近的家人，为他在圣路易斯公园租了一套复式公寓。他喜欢那里的邻居，经常隔着栅栏和他们的小男孩聊天，教他正确的投篮方法。他在德州时篮球打得很好。

3. Since coming to Minneapolis from Houston, several years ago, he had had no problem getting a job. Friends who had gone north before him had persuaded him to come, and they were right. There was no shortage. He worked as a truck driver, revelling in taking big rigs on the Interstate, and found his two security places. He also found a new girlfriend, Courtney Ross. And with that he seemed determined to stay in Minnesota.

自几年前从休斯顿来到明尼波阿斯里，弗洛伊德很容易就能找到工作。之前来北方的朋友一直劝他来这边，他就来了。他们是对的，这里工作很好找。他是一名卡车司机，喜欢在州际公路上开大卡车。他找到了两家可以去做保安的地方，他还交了新女友，名叫考特尼罗斯。种种迹象都表明，他似乎决心留在明尼苏达州。

4. That was not the plan at first. H-Town was still home. He grew up there in the Third Ward, the old black section of the city, full of shotgun shacks and run-down public housing as well as more notable buildings, like the Jack Yates High School, which he attended, and Wheeler Avenue Baptist church, where Martin Luther King preached. At Yates, with his height, more than six feet at 12 years old, he shone at sports: he was recruited by South Florida State to play basketball, and was on the Yates football team that made the final of the Texas statechampionship in 1992 in the Astrodome. The Houston music scene drew him, too; he was Big Floyd in a group that backed DJ Screw, a legendary hip-hop DJ, inventor of a newremix technique of slowing tracks down and playing the same track on different turntables(chopped-and-screwed, hence the Screw). Best of all, he met attractive women, by several of whom he had children. He was a good father while he was around.

他一开始并没有这样的计划。休斯顿仍然是他的家。他在那里的黑人聚居区长大，那里到处是散置式棚屋和老旧的公共住房，也有一些著名的建筑，比如他曾就读的杰克耶茨高中以及马丁路德金等演讲过的惠勒大道浸礼会教堂。弗洛伊德12岁时就6英尺多高了，在杰克耶茨高中，他在体育方面表现出众：他被录取进入南弗罗里达州篮球队；他所在的耶茨高中也在1992年Astrodome体育馆举行的德克萨斯州立大学橄榄球锦标赛的决赛获得冠军；休斯顿音乐界也向他伸出橄榄枝；他还加入了DJ Screw所在的乐队里面。DJ Screw是一位颇具传奇的嘻哈DJ，他发明了一种新的混音技术，即放慢音轨并在不同唱盘播放同段音轨的混音技巧(注：他的艺名Screw即来源于此)。最重要的是，弗洛伊德遇到了一位迷人的女子，他们有了几个孩子。他是一个好父亲。

5. Yet Houston was tough, too, especially in the Third Ward. He lived in Cuney Homes, otherwise known as The Bricks, a project overrun with drugs, gangs and guns. In 1997 the place was modernised and even won an award, but its reputation did not change much. And as a brickboy he did not escape it. In his early 20s he did jail time for theft with a firearm. After that came various arrests for possession of cocaine. He was not made for crime; he admitted in a video later that bustin a gun was crazy and made his knees shake. But he seemed to drift into these things because there was no line of work or life he was especially good at. His friend Stephen Jackson had become a player for the NBA, in the San Antonio Spurs, and he liked to call Stephen his twin, excited by his successes as if they were his own. But he, Big Floyd, was famous mostly for his sizea size that made people think he was not gentle or calm, but a fighting person.

然而，休斯顿的日子并不好过，尤其是在黑人贫民区。他住在被称为砖房堆的康尼之家社区，这里充斥着毒品、黑帮和枪支。1997年，这里进行了现代化改造，甚至还获了一些奖，但是它的声誉并没有多大改变。而作为一名在这样条件下长大的孩子，弗洛伊德也难逃宿命。在他20多岁的时候就曾因持枪盗窃入狱。此后，他又多次因携带可卡因多次被捕。他并不是为犯罪而生的。在后来的一段视频中，他承认，开枪射击太疯狂了，让他膝盖发抖。但他随波逐流，因为这里并没有他擅长的工作谋生。他的好友斯蒂芬杰克逊是NBA圣安东尼奥马刺队的一名球员，他喜欢称斯蒂芬为自己的孪生兄弟。他因斯蒂芬的成功而兴奋，似乎这就是他的成功一样。但是他，大弗洛伊德，最出名的是他的体型这个体型让人觉得他不够温和冷静，而是一个好斗的人。

6. So it could turn out. In 2007 he and five other men forced their way into a womans house. He held a gun to her stomach and then searched through the rooms and cabinets, looking for money and drugs. This aggravated robbery earned the large suspect five years in prison. When he emerged, he pledged himself to a new life. He became active in his church, Resurrection Houston, organising not only barbecues and basketball games but Bible studies and open-air baptisms, pushing the big tub right into Cuney Homes to evangelise the hardest part of town. It was a Christian work programme that drew him to Minnesota, and he felt ready for that challenge, too. There he could make a completely fresh start, perhaps earn enough money to be a better father. His calls to his friends bubbled with hope for the future.

这可能是事实。2007年，他和五名男子闯入一名妇女家中。他拿枪指着她的肚子，然后在房间和柜子里翻找钱和毒品。这起严重的抢劫案使得这位第一号嫌疑人被判五年徒刑。出狱的时候，他发誓要重新做人。他开始活跃在休斯顿复活教会，不仅组织烧烤会和篮球赛，还组织圣经学习和露天洗礼，把大澡盆推广到居民家里，在城市最贫困的地区布教。一个基督教的工作计划把他吸引到了明尼苏达州，他也觉得自己已经准备好迎接这个挑战了。在明尼苏达，他可以有一个全新的开始，甚至可以赚到足够的钱成为一个更好的父亲。他给朋友们的电话中充满了对未来的希望。

7. By the end of May the picture was cloudier. He had been laid off from his security jobs when covid-19 had closed the restaurants. The rent-money for Mr Thunstrom was scraped togethersomehow, but it was not clear when work would return. He made many calls to friends asking for advice. Meanwhile, the old life brushed him again. On the evening of the 25th he went with two acquaintances to buy cigarettes at Cup Foods on 38th and Chicago, where he was a regular. He tried to pay with a $20 bill which the store clerk thought looked counterfeit, then would not return the cigarettes. The clerk, thoroughly frightened, called 911 and identified the tall guy as the man to blame.

到了今年五月底，境况更糟了。受疫情影响，餐馆停业，他也被迫失业。给汤斯特伦的租金也该交了，但是他并不知道自己什么时候才能复工。他给朋友打了很多电话寻求建议。与此同时，过去的生活又时不时在他脑海中浮现。25号晚上，他和两个熟人一起去芝加哥38街的Cup Foods买烟，他是那里的常客。他用一张20美元的钞票结账，但是店员说这是一张假钞，他因此不得不退还香烟。店员吓坏了，打了911，并说这个人高马大的家伙才是罪魁祸首。

8. When the police arrived he struggled at first, but calmed down once the cuffs were on. Then he refused to get into the squad car. An officer dragged him aside, threw him to the ground helpless and then, for almost nine minutes, knelt on his neck, pressing, pressing, as he cried out for his mother and his breath and his life. He possibly never knew that this was the same white guy with jittery eyes who had worked at El Nuevo Rodeo, the one so ready with the pepper spray to keep the blacks in line.

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