大學(xué)英語綜合教程第三冊 6

[00:00.00] aim at take the plunge aggressive in one's favor [00:05.49]瞄準(zhǔn) 采取斷然行動(dòng) 侵略的 對(duì)某人有利 [00:10.97]head for depart confirm inflict [00:15.70]向某處行進(jìn) 去世 證實(shí) 使遭受 [00:20.43]circumstance advocate conclude [00:25.44]環(huán)境 提倡 斷定 [00:30.46]insure count on recommend impact [00:35.33]確保 依靠 推薦 沖擊力 [00:40.20]target draw the line at sth./doing sth break in/into on the line [00:52.22]Many people in America own handguns.Some,like Gail Buchalter,buy a gun for self-defense.Others,like her friends, [01:03.61]refuse to do so because they think that guns cause more problems than they solve. [01:10.27]Gail used to share her friends'views,but eventually changed her mind. [01:16.72]Read what she has to say and decide whether she made the right choice. [01:23.04]WHY I BOUGHT A GUN by Gall Buchalter [01:28.50]I was raised in one of Manhattan's more desirable neighborhoods.My upper-middle-class background never involved guns. [01:38.51]If my parents felt threatened,they simply put another lock on the door. [01:44.86]2 By high school,I had traded in my cashmere sweaters for a black arm band.I marched for Civil Rights, [01:54.36]shunned Civil Defense drills and protested the Vietnam War.It was easy being 18 and a peacenik. [02:04.66]I wasn't raising an 11-year-old child then. [02:09.44]3 (1)Today,I am typical of the women whom gun manufacturers have been aiming at as potential buyers [02:17.98]--and one of the millions who have taken the plunge. [02:22.73]4 I began questioning my pacifist beliefs one Halloween night in Phoenix,where I had moved when I married. [02:31.88]I was almost home when another car nearly hit mine head-on.With the speed of a New York cabbie, [02:41.75]I rolled down my window and screamed curses as the driver passed.He instantly made a U-turn, [02:51.05]almost climbing on my back bumper.By now,he and his two friends were hanging out of the car windows, [03:00.19]yelling that they were going to rape,cut and kill me. [03:05.81]5 I already had turned into our driveway when I realized my husband wasn't home.I was trapped. [03:14.46]The car had pulled in behind me.I drove up to the back porch and got unto the kitchen, [03:21.85]where our dogs stood waiting for me.The three men spilled out of their car and into our yard. [03:29.97]6 My heart was pumping.I grabbed the collars of Jack,our 200-pound Irish wolfhound, [03:38.23]and his 140-pound malamute buddy,Slush.Then I kicked open the back door— [03:46.80]I was so scared that I became aggressive--and actually dared the three creeps to keep coming.With the dogs, [03:56.51]the odds had changed in my favor,and the men ran back to the safety of their car, [04:03.12]yelling that they'd be back the next day to blow me away.Fortunately,they never returned. [04:11.61]7 A few years and one divorce later,I headed for Los Angeles with my 3-year-old son, [04:18.98]Jordan(the dogs had since departed).When I put him in preschool a few weeks later, [04:27.68]the headmistress noted that I was a single parent and immediately warned me that there was a rapist in my new neighborhood. [04:37.26]8 I called the police,who confirmed this fact.The rapist followed no particular pattern. [04:44.97]Sometimes he would be waiting in his victim's house,other times he would break in while the person was asleep. [04:53.38]Although it was summer,I would carefully lock my windows at night and then lie there and sweat in fear. [05:02.00]Thankfully,the rapist was caught,but not before he had attacked two more women. [05:09.00]9 Soon the papers were telling yet another tale of senseless horror.Richard Bamirez,who became know as"The Walk-In Killer" [05:19.61]spent months crippling and killing before he was caught.(2)His alleged crimes were so brutal, [05:29.04]his desire to inflict pain so intense,that I began to question my beliefs about not taking human life under any circumstances. [05:40.38]The thought of taking a human life disgusts me,but the idea of being someone's victim is worse. [05:49.41]And how,I began to ask myself,do you talk pacifism to a murderer or a rapist? [05:57.43]10 Finally,I decided that I would defend myself,even if it meant killing another person. [06:05.35](3)I realized that the one-sided pacifism I once so strongly had advocated could backfire on me and worse,on my son. [06:17.39]Reluctantly,I concluded that I had to insure the best option for our survival. [06:25.52]May choices:to count on a cop or to own a pistol. [06:32.33]11 I called a man I had met a while ago who,I remembered,owned several guns. [06:38.60]He told me he had a Smith & Wesson 38 Special for sale and recommended it, [06:45.79]since it was small enough for me to handle yet had the necessary stopping power. [06:52.71]12 I bought the gun.That same day,I got six rounds of special ammunition with plastic tips that explode on impact. [07:04.41]These are not for target practice;these are for protection. [07:10.37]13 For about$50,I also picked up a metal safety box.Its push-button lock opens with a touch [07:19.61]if you know the proper combination,possibly taking only a second or two [07:25.70]longer than it does to reach into a night-table drawer.Now I knew that my son, [07:33.77]Jordan,couldn't get his hands on it while I still could. [07:38.63]14 When I brought the gun home,Jordan was fascinated by it.He kept picking it up,while I nervously watched. [07:48.17]But knowledge,I believe,is still our greatest defense.And since I'm in favor of education for sex, [07:57.02]AIDS and learning to drive,I couldn't draw the line at teaching my son about guns. [08:04.28]15 Next,I took the pistol and my son to the target range.I rented a 22-caliber pistol for Jordan. [08:14.52](A.38 was too much gun for him to handle.)I was relieved when he put it down after 10 minutes--he didn't like the feel of it. [08:25.08]16 But that didn't prevent him from asking me if he should use the gun if someone broke into our house [08:32.71]while I wasn't home.I shouted"no!" so loud,we both jumped.I explained that,if someone ever broke in, [08:44.07]he's young and agile enough to leap out the window and run for his life. [08:50.34]17 Today he couldn't care less about the gun.Every so often,when we're watching television in my room, [08:58.59]I practice opening the safety box,and Jordan times me.I'm down to three seconds. [09:07.34]I'll ask him what's the first thing you do when you handle a gun, [09:12.28]and he looks at me like I'm stupid,saying:"Make sure it's unloaded. [09:19.05]But I'm not to touch it or tell my friends about it."Jordan's already bored with it all. [09:26.73]18 I,on the other hand,look forward to Mondays--"Ladieds'Night" at the target range--when I get to shoot for free. [09:36.81]I buy a box of bullets and some targets from the guy behind the counter, [09:42.37]put on the protective eye and ear coverings and walk through the double doors to the firing lines. [09:50.55]19 Once there,I load my gun,look down the sights of the barrel and adjust my aim. [09:58.36]I fire six rounds into the chest of a life-sized target hanging 25 feet away. [10:06.28]As each bullet rips a hole through the figure drawn there, [10:11.58]I realize I'm getting used to owning a gun and no longer feeling faint when I pick it up. [10:19.86]The weight of it has become comfortable in my hand.And I am keeping my promise to practice. [10:27.07]Too many people are killed by their own guns because they don't know how to use them. [10:33.52]20 It took me years to decide to buy a gun,and then weeks before I could load it.It gave me nightmares. [10:42.17]21 One night I dreamed I woke up when someone broke into our house. [10:47.84]I grabbed my gun and sat waiting at the foot of my bed.Finally,I saw him turn the corner as he headed toward me. [10:57.55]He was big and filled the hallway--an impossible target to miss.I didn't want to shoot,but I knew my survival was on the line. [11:09.99]4)I wrapped my finger around the trigger and finally squeezed it,simultaneously accepting the intruder's death at my own hand [11:21.27]and the relief of not being a victim.I woke up as soon as I decided to shoot. [11:29.55]22 I was tearfully relieved that it had only been a dream. [11:35.14]23 I never have weighed the consequences of an act as strongly as I have that of buying a gun--but, [11:43.22]then again,I never have done anything with such deadly consequences.Most of my friends refuse even to discuss it with me. [11:53.93]They believe that violence leads to violence. [11:58.55]24 They're probably right. [11:59.90]目標(biāo) 拒絕做某事 強(qiáng)行進(jìn)入 冒險(xiǎn)

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