Gun Violence

If you pay attention to the recent world news， you might have heard about gun violence in the U.S.. The continuing shootings in Missouri， in New York City and elsewhere in the country have sparked public anger at the loose gun control and rooted racial issues in America.

I havent had any personal encounter[遭遇] with guns in America. The closest experience I had was riding the same metro train with armed law enforcement officers， or seeing armed traffic cops passing by me at a coffee shop. Its no news that some Americans keep guns at home on the grounds of self protection. Some of my older friends are hunters who own rifles for gaming purposes. I havent seen their weapons though.

Im saddened when hearing the frequent reports of gun violence in America， especially against innocents who were often youngsters. For example， the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut in the winter of 2012. Twenty pupils and six adults were killed. Theres always a new shooting case in America， possibly even right this minute， as youre reading my article. Since Sandy Hook， theres been a debate over whether faculty[全體教員] staff should be armed like security officers on campus. The progun opinion is that by doing so， school children will be well protected by their armed teachers should any life threatening situations occur. The opposing voices say this is a maniacal[發狂的] proposal that is counterproductive， only leading to more deaths.

U.S. Federal Law requires that an individual must be at least 21 years old to purchase handgun ammunition[彈藥]， and at least 18 years old to purchase rifle or shotgun ammunition. But if you look around， therere too many ways for disqualified candidates to attain firearms in America. At WalMart， for instance， theres a section which sells hunting tools including rifles and bullets. Every time I pass by this section， I always wonder what if a desperate man rushes into the store. This would be a good first stop for him to load up on ammunition. And customers who are around this area are prone to be held hostages[人質] as theyre so near to the possible fatal drama. Its not uncommon that if one family member owns guns， the rest of the family and even his/ her unborn descendants[子孫] will or are likely to have weapons as well. Imagine if your best friends are experienced shooters. Wouldnt you be tempted to give it a go？

Akimbo 叉腰

Just like most of other kids， aged two Emilia didnt like washing hands─shes always wiping the dirt off hands on her clothes. One day I accompanied her to have fried cicadae. Habitually she rubbed her grease fingers on her real silk short gown. I held back her from doing it： “What do you want to do？” She was immediately on to her blame， replied at ease： “Im akimbo.”

像大多數別的小孩一樣，兩歲艾咪麗雅不愛洗手，吃東西弄臟手，隨便在身上一抹就得了。一天我正陪她吃炸知了，她手上的油多了，便習慣地往真絲小褂子上蹭，我阻止道：“你想干什么？”她馬上意識到問題所在，從容答道：“我叉腰。”