美国经典英文演讲100篇:A Whisper of AIDS(2)
This is not a distant threat. It is a present danger. The rate of infection is increasing fastest among women and children. Largely unknown a decade ago, AIDS is the third leading killer of young adult Americans today. But it won't be third for long, because unlike other diseases, this one travels. Adolescents don’t give each other cancer or heart disease because they believe they are in love, but HIV is different; and we have helped it along. We have killed each other with our ignorance, our prejudice, and our silence.
We may take refuge in our stereotypes, but we cannot hide there long, because HIV asks only one thing of those it attacks. Are you human? And this is the right question. Are you human? Because people with HIV have not entered some alien state of being. They are human. They have not earned cruelty, and they do not deserve meanness. They don't benefit from being isolated or treated as outcasts. Each of them is exactly what God made: a person; not evil, deserving of our judgment; not victims, longing for our pity — people, ready for support and worthy of compassion.
My call to you, my Party, is to take a public stand, no less compassionate than that of the President and Mrs. Bush. They have embraced me and my family in memorable ways. In the place of judgment, they have shown affection. In difficult moments, they have raised our spirits. In the darkest hours, I have seen them reaching not only to me, but also to my parents, armed with that stunning grief and special grace that comes only to parents who have themselves leaned too long over the bedside of a dying child.
这不是一个遥远的威胁，它是个迫在眉睫的危险。艾滋病病毒的感染率在妇女和儿童中上升最快。在一个世纪以前尚未被人所知的艾滋病，今天已成为美国年轻人的第三大杀手。然而，它不会在第三位上停留多久，因为与其他疾病不同，这种疾病会传播。青少年不会因为他们之间的性爱传染癌症或心脏病，但艾滋病则不同，我们已经让它传播开来了。由于我们的无知和疏忽，我们的歧视和偏见，我们的放任和沉默，导致我们互相谋杀。
我们可以躲藏在传统的生活方式里逃避艾滋病病毒，但我们不会在那里躲藏多久。当艾滋病病毒向人们攻击时，它只问一个问题：你是人么？这就是问题的实质。你是人么？因为携带艾滋病病毒的人不能成为其他物种，他们是人。不应该野蛮地对待他们，鄙视他们，隔离他们或让他们到处流浪。他们每个人都是上帝的子民：是一个人。他们不是让我们说三道四的魔鬼，也不是等待我们怜悯的牺牲品，他们是需要支持帮助，值得同情的人。
我呼吁你们，所有共和党人，要公开申明自己的立场，要像布什总统和布什夫人那样富有同情心。他们热情拥抱我和我的家庭成员，这一时刻让我难以忘怀。他们不是对艾滋病说三道四，而是表现出诚挚的爱。在我们最困难的时刻，他们让我们重新振作起来。在最黑暗的时候，我看到他们不但关怀我，也关怀我的父母。父母在床边长期照料一个就要死去的孩子，他们品味这一切的不幸太久了，他们的焦虑和痛苦，他们的仁慈和恩典，是别的父母无法体会的。
1. threat n. 威胁, 恐吓
Pollution poses a threat to the continued existence of this species.
污染对这一物种的继续生存造成了威胁。
2. adolescent n. 青少年
It is not unusual for grown adults to act in an adolescent way.
成人表现出青春期的样子是不正常的。
3. stereotype n. 模式化观念, 典型
The idea is an old-fashioned stereotype.
这观点是老一套了。
4. alien n. 外侨, 外国人
I ran into an old friend in the alien land.
我在异国他乡遇到故知。
5. judgment n. 裁判, 判断
He passed judgment on the guilty man.
他对那个罪犯做出了裁决。
6. compassion n. 怜悯, 同情
Compassion often engenders love.
同情常会产生爱情。
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