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Use Of Guns Likened to Disease

WASHINGTON - The willingness of young men to use guns spreads like a disease, or even a fashion fad[1], often causing youth to view firearms as essential to survival and status, a new study suggests.

Jeffrey Fagan, director of the Center for Violence Research and Prevention, said gun homicides among young men is a contagious[2] impulse that becomes a powerful social current, forcing even violence-averse[3] youth to grab a firearm.

"We found that guns become sort of a social toxin," Fagan said at the national meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "Guns became a major influence on the way that one young man interacts with another."

Fagan said firearms become status symbols, a central part of a violence theme that spreads like a fad from neighborhood to neighborhood.

In interviews with scores of young men in urban neighborhoods, Fagan said, he discovered that a gun, and the willingness to use it, can become a marker for a young man's status in a community. 		   

 

注释：

1． fad：
一时流行的嗜好和狂热。比如：集邮是一种很好的时尚。可以说成：Collecting stamps is a good fad.

2． contagious：
传染性的，感染性的。这个单词当然不只是指疾病，它还能指“富有感染力的”。比如：你那富有感染力的笑声（热情），可以说成your contagious laughter (enthusiasm)。

3． averse：
反对的。它的常用法是be averse to sth.，这种用法常见于否定句。比如：I am not averse to a good meal. 我不反对美餐一顿。 		 

 


"Guns created an ecology of death," he said. "All disputes become potentially lethal." If a young man fails to carry a gun and then loses an argument, he slips in social status and "becomes prey, a potential victim."

The young man's reaction, for safety and to regain status, is often to start carrying a gun and to be ready to use it. And so the gun culture spreads, from youth to youth, and the gun ownership has "eclipsed or devalued other identities," Fagan said.

But like a disease epidemic or a fashion fad, said Fagan, gun violence can fade, become stigmatized[4] and socially unacceptable.

 

     4． stigmatized：
原形是stigmatize，表示“贬低，污蔑”。stigma是它的一个同根词，表示“耻辱”，如“失败的耻辱”可以译为 the stigma of failure。 		 
 
 

 

“玩”枪成病

一项新的研究结果显示，都市年青人的持枪爱好已泛滥成疾，甚至成了一种新的时尚，于是当代的年青人都把武器当作生存必备和地位象征。

暴力研究与预防中心主任Jeffrey Fagan说，持枪杀人——这种泛滥在青年人中传染性极强的冲动行为已经成为强大的社会潮流，迫使反暴力的年青人也不得不操起了枪支。

“我们发现枪支都快成为社会的毒素了，”Fagan在美国科学促进协会全国会议上发言说，“枪支对年青人相互交流方式产生了重大的影响。”

Fagan说，枪支是一种地位的象征。暴力文化的传播，有如在街坊邻里间传递的时尚一样迅速。而枪支，正是这种暴力文化的重要组成。

在与一群都市年青人交谈时，Fagan说，拥有枪和使用枪可以成为一个年青人在自己的社交圈中显露身份的标志。

“枪支创造了一种死亡的生态现象，”他说，“所有的争端都可能成为潜在的致命因素。”如果一个年青人无法持枪，而且在争端中失利，那么他的社会地位就会骤降，并“成为牺牲品，一个潜在的受害者。”

考虑到人身安全，同时也是为了重新赢得社会地位，通常一个年青人的的反应是：去弄支枪来，并时时准备用它。于是枪支文化就这样在年青人中蔓延开来，而这种持枪身份已经使“其他的身份证明变得逐渐暗淡，或者无足轻重，”Fagan这样说。

但是象流行性疾病或某种流行时尚一样，Fagan说，枪支暴力行为也会逐渐消失，并受到世人谴责，为社会所不容。