免費英文學習網誌

今年八月時在美國密蘇里州發生的麥可布朗槍擊事件(Shooting of Michael Brown)震驚全美國，自那時候開始，至今在美國甚至是世界各地也都有多起抗議此事的示威遊行活動。

●事發原因

Brown was walking down the street with a friend when he was shot to death by a Ferguson police officer on Saturday afternoon, all parties acknowledge, but the facts surrounding his killing are *hazy.

星期六的下午，布朗和友人走在街上被一位佛格森的警察射殺。雙方都證實此事的發生，但這起事件的實情依然不明朗。

*Hazy: 朦朧的、模糊的

【線上學英文】

●死者友人的證詞

The friend, Dorian Johnson, 22, told that the officer drove up to them and told them to "get the f--k on the sidewalk" and then *braked in front of Brown.

布朗的友人，現年二十二歲的強森告訴記者當時警察開車朝著他們靠近，而且叫他們「從人行道上滾開」，並在布朗面前把車停下。

*Brake: 剎車，在此作動詞使用

Johnson said the officer threatened, "I'm *gonna shoot you." He fired multiple shots, Johnson said.

強森說警察威脅著要對他們開槍並開了數槍。

*Gonna: Going to的口語化說法

As Brown ran for his life, stopping *at one point with his hands up in surrender and yelling, "I don't have a gun, stop shooting!" But the bullets hit Brown, who collapsed onto the ground. Other witnesses corroborate Johnson's story, saying that Brown had his hands raised as the officer repeatedly fired at him.

當布朗倉皇逃命時一度把雙手舉起來作投降的動作並大喊「我沒有槍，不要開槍！」但還是被子彈擊中並倒臥在地。其他的目擊證人也證實了警察在布朗高舉雙手時依然反覆對其開火。

*At one point: 一度

●警方的說法

Police paint a less peaceful *account of the moments *leading up to the shooting. They say a fight broke out after the officer asked the two to move to the side, and say the officer's gun *went off inside the patrol car. They have not said why the officer approached the men *in the first place. Police say there isn't any security camera footage from nearby buildings or police *dashcam video of the incident.

警方對於導致槍擊案發生所描繪的證詞就沒那麼溫和了。他們表示，當警員要求布朗及其友人移至路旁之後爆發了一場打鬥，該警員的槍是在巡邏車內被擊發的。警方並沒有說明該警員為什麼一開始要接近布朗及其友人。附近的建築物以及警車的行車紀錄器並沒有拍到任何意外相關影像。

*Account: 證詞

*Lead up: 導致

*Go off: 爆炸、(槍枝)擊發、(鬧鐘)響

*In the first place: 首先、當初

*Dashcam (dashboard camera): 行車紀錄器。Dashboard是儀錶板的意思，和camera結合為一個單字

涉案員警在上個月的時候獲不起訴處分，檢察官的這個決定造成了美國各地群情激憤。警察是否執法過當以及白人警察射殺非裔少年是否牽涉種族問題也是大家最關切的部分。大家覺得警察「執法過當」和「正當防衛」的分界線在哪裡？

而台灣雖然號稱擁有多元文化，但是各族群之間的外貌特徵甚至膚色相對之下並沒有像美國一樣有那麼明顯的差異。在人種單一的台灣社會當中，大家覺得我們是不是真的對每個來自不同族群、甚至不同國家的人一視同仁呢？

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資料及圖片來源：

www.ibtimes.com

http://www.nbcnews.com

stlouis.cbslocal.com

bossip.com

www.ibtimes.co.uk