波士顿马拉松 The Boston Marathon

始于1897年的波马是世界上首个城市马拉松赛，创办至今从未间断。优美的沿途风光、热情的现场观众、起伏不定的道路以及严格的参赛条件，都让赛事散发出别样的魅力。然而，2013年波马的恐怖爆炸案却让其蒙上了永远的污点，无辜的人为之殒命，包括一名年轻的中国女孩儿。身在波士顿亲身经历这一事件的作者又会以怎样的视角解读这次悲剧呢？

Each year, Boston celebrates Patriots’ Day, a holiday that commemorates the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775. This is a holiday unique to Boston, and the annual Boston Marathon is traditionally held on this day.

On April 15, I woke up, excited and energized to start the day. Because of the Boston Marathon, most schools in the area are closed to allow students to celebrate the holiday as well as cheer on the runners, who may be friends or family members. The marathon runs right through my school, and it is a tradition for the girls of my school to form a “scream tunnel”—essentially, the girls make a line right where the runners pass by, and scream and cheer them on as they continue the race.

I stood with all of the other cheering girls, holding my hand out for the runners to high five as they ran by, hoping that my encouragement might help motivate them to continue fighting through the race. Some of the more serious runners ignored us and ran determinedly on, eager to get a good time, but others smiled and nodded their heads at us, grateful for the boost. A few hours later, my throat was hoarse and my side was sore from leaning over the gate, and I went back to my room feeling slightly sick.

As I lay on my bed, I began to feel sweaty and cold at the same time. I had a 102 degree fever temperature, and I fell asleep. I was awoken by friend, who informed me that two bombs had gone off at the finish line of the marathon. Horrified, I struggled to keep up with the news. As the hours passed, it began to emerge that this wasn’t a small scale act of violence. This was a huge attack. The memory of the Boston Marathon was going to be forever tainted.

In the past few days, the news continues to provide updates regarding the status of the bombings. Last night, before I went to sleep, I was notified that there was a shooting at the MIT campus, which is only a few miles away from me. This morning, April 19, I checked the news, only to find that the search for the gunman escalated into a full scale gunfight, where one of the Boston Marathon bombers was shot and killed. As I write this, the other bomber is still on the loose and the city of Boston is on lockdown. All public transportation has been shut down .

I woke up for my 8:30 class this morning wondering if I should go to class. I decided to anyway, and ten minutes into the lecture, we were instructed to return back to our dorms. I sit in my dorm as I write this and can’t help but feel frightened for all of us. Sometimes things like these make me doubt my faith in humanity. But right after the attack, I saw runners reaching the finish line and continue running to donate blood to victims in need. Thousands of people have offered their personal information online, welcoming their homes to any visitors who have no place to stay. An ex-NFL player was photographed carrying a woman to safety. Acts like these remind me that for every evil person there is, there are a thousand good ones. In the aftermath of the tragedy, comedian Patton Oswalt said: “The good outnumber you, and we always will. ” I think that is a very accurate statement that we need to believe in in order to continue to live our lives happily.

The city of Boston is much stronger and much more resilient than the bombers could have ever imagined. While it hurts me that my hometown has had to experience something like this, I am so proud that people have shown their true colors in such a time. We have shown solidarity in hockey, basketball, and celebrations and we will continue to do so in this tragedy. We will continue to reach out to each other, open our homes to those in need, and offer resources for those in pain. We will continue to stay strong. We are Beantown , we are Boston, we are a community.

词汇:

The Boston Marathon: 波士顿马拉松，是每年于爱国者日（四月的第三个星期一）在美国马萨诸塞州波士顿举行的马拉松比赛。1896年夏季奥林匹克运动会的成功催生了波士顿马拉松于1897年创立，波马是全世界最古老的马拉松比赛，也是世界五大马拉松之一（其他四个分别是伦敦马拉松、柏林马拉松、芝加哥马拉松和纽约马拉松）。每年约有两万多人参赛，有不下50万人沿路在穿越美国马萨诸塞州八个城市的跑道旁围观。 2013年共有来自九十多个国家的2.8万名跑步者参赛。

Battle of Lexington and Concord: 列克星敦和康科德战役，是美国独立战争中发生的第一场军事冲突。1775年4月19日，这场战役发生在马萨诸塞州米德尔塞克斯县，波及城镇包括列克星敦、康科德、林肯、阿灵顿以及毗邻波士顿的剑桥。这场战役意味着英国与其北美十三个殖民地正式爆发了战争。

high-five: v. <美口>（运动员等）举手击掌向……致意。

determinedly: 决意地，坚决地；boost: 激励，支持。

hoarse: （嗓音）嘶哑的，粗哑的；side: （人体的）侧边，肋；sore: 痛的，感到疼痛的。

102 degree: （体温）华氏102度，等于38.9摄氏度。

波士顿马拉松将在人们记忆中永远蒙上污点。

过去一段时间，新闻媒体不断提供着关于爆炸案情况的最新消息。

此处指的是4月18日发生在位于波士顿美国麻省理工学院的枪击案，一名警察遭枪击身亡，枪击案嫌疑犯被认为参与了波士顿爆炸案。

on the loose: 逍遥法外的；lockdown: <美>（尤指监狱暴动时为重新掌握局面而采取的）监房严拘，此处指严密监控。

shut down: 停止运转，此处指交通管制，不许车辆通行。

一位前国家橄榄球联盟运动员被拍到正护送一位女士去安全场所，NFL: =National Football League，（美）全国橄榄球联盟。

Patton Oswalt: 帕顿•奥斯瓦尔特，1969年1月27日 出生于美国弗州朴次茅斯 ，喜剧演员，曾出演《告密者》、《料理鼠王》等影片。

“善行终将压倒恶行，并永将如此。”

resilient: 有复原力的，适应性强的。

Show one’s true colors: 宣布观点（或立场、打算等）。

Beantown: 豆城（波士顿的别称，源出该城人喜爱的熏豆）。