Unit12ACaseofSevereBias课文翻译综合教程四

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1、Unit 12A Case of Severe BiasPatricia Raybon1 This is who I am not. I am not a crack addict. I am not a welfare mother. I am not illiterate. I am not a prostitute. I have never been in jail. My children are not in gangs. My husband doesnt beat me. My home is not a tenement. None of these things defin

2、es who I am, nor do they describe the other black people Ive known and worked with and loved and befriended over these forty years of my life. 2 Nor does it describe most of black America, period. 3 Yet in the eyes of the American news media, this is what black America is: poor, criminal, addicted,

3、and dysfunctional. Indeed, media coverage of black America is so one-sided, so imbalanced that the most victimized and hurting segment of the black community a small segment, at best is presented not as the exception but as the norm. It is an insidious practice, all the uglier for its blatancy. 4 In

4、 recent months, I have observed a steady offering of media reports on crack babies, gang warfare, violent youth, poverty, and homelessness and in most cases, the people featured in the photos and stories were black. At the same time, articles that discuss other aspects of American life from home buy

5、ing to medicine to technology to nutrition rarely, if ever, show blacks playing a positive role, or for that matter, any role at all.5 Day after day, week after week, this message that black America is dysfunctional and unwhole gets transmitted across the American landscape. Sadly, as a result, Amer

6、ica never learns the truth about what is actually a wonderful, vibrant, creative community of people. 6 Most black Americans are not poor. Most black teenagers are not crack addicts. Most black mothers are not on welfare. Indeed, in sheer numbers, more white Americans are poor and on welfare than ar

7、e black. Yet one never would deduce that by watching television or reading American newspapers and magazines. 7 Why do the American media insist on playing this myopic, inaccurate picture game? In this game, white America is always whole and lovely and healthy, while black America is usually sick an

8、d pathetic and deficient. Rarely, indeed, is black America ever depicted in the media as functional and self-sufficient. The free press, indeed, as the main interpreter of American culture and American experience, holds the mirror on American reality so much so that what the media say is is, even if

9、 its not that way at all. The media are guilty of a severe bias and the problem screams out for correction. It is worse than simply lazy journalism, which is bad enough; it is inaccurate journalism. 8 For black Americans like myself, this isnt just an issue of vanity of wanting to be seen in a good

10、light. Nor is it a matter of closing ones eyes to the very real problems of the urban underclass which undeniably is disproportionately black. To be sure, problems besetting the black underclass deserve the utmost attention of the media, as well as the understanding and concern of the rest of Americ

11、an society. 9 But if their problems consistently are presented as the only reality for blacks, any other experience known in the black community ceases to have validity, or to be real. In this scenario, millions of blacks are relegated to a sort of twilight zone, where who we are and what we are isn

12、t based on fact but an image and perception. Thats what it feels like to be a black American whose lifestyle is outside of the aberrant behavior that the media present as the norm. 10 For many of us, life is a curious series of encounters with white people who want to know why we are “different” fro

13、m other blacks when, in fact, most of us are only “different” from the now common negative images of black life. So pervasive are these images that they arent just perceived as the norm, theyre accepted as the norm. 11 I am reminded, for example, of the controversial Spike Lee film Do the Right Thin

14、g and the criticism by some movie reviewers that the films ghetto neighborhood isnt populated by addicts and drug pushers and thus is not a true depiction. 12 In fact, millions of black Americans live in neighborhoods where the most common sights are children playing and couples walking their dogs.

15、In my own inner-city neighborhood in Denver an area that the local press consistently describes as “gang territory” I have yet to see a recognizable “gang” member or any “gang” activity (drug dealing or drive-by shootings), nor have I been the victim of “gang violence”. 13 Yet to students of America

16、n culture in the case of Spike Lees film, the movie reviewers a black, inner-city neighborhood can only be one thing to be real: drug-infested and dysfunctioning. Is this my ego talking? In part, yes. For the millions of black people like myself ordinary, hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying Americ

17、ans the medias blindness to the fact that we even exist, let alone to our contributions to American society, is a bitter cup to drink. And as self-reliant as most black Americans are because weve had to be self-reliant even the strongest among us still crave affirmation. 14 I want that. I want it fo

18、r my children. I want it for all the beautiful, healthy, funny, smart black Americans I have known and loved over the years. 15 And I want it for the rest of America, too. 16 I want America to know us all of us for who we really are. To see us in all of our complexity, our subtleness, our artfulness

19、, our enterprise, our specialness, our loveliness, our American-ness. That is the real portrait of black America that were strong people, surviving people, capable people. That may be the best-kept secret in America. If so, its time to let the truth be known.“强烈偏见”之实话实说帕特里夏雷本1 我不是通常想象的那种黑人。我不是吸食强效纯可

20、卡因的瘾君子。我不是靠救济来生活的母亲。我不是文盲。我不是妓女。我从没蹲过大牢。我的孩子们没有混迹黑帮。我老公不会对我家暴。我家不住廉租房。这些都不能用来界定我，也不能描述我40年生命中认识、共事、热爱、交往的任何其他黑人。2 大多数美国黑人也与此无关。就这么回事。3 然而美国新闻媒体眼中的美国黑人恰恰如此：贫穷，有犯罪倾向，吸毒，与社会格格不入。千真万确，媒体关于美国黑人的报道如此片面，如此失衡，黑人群体中受伤最深、同时也是害人最深的那些人那顶多是一小部分人被描述成常态，而非例外。这真是用心险恶，这种做法因其肆无忌惮而格外丑陋。4 最近几个月，我观察到一系列媒体报道，主题是毒瘾婴儿1、帮派混

21、战、行为暴虐的年轻人、贫困以及无家可归。多数情况下，报道和配图中的主角都是黑人。与此同时，关于美国生活的其他方面从买房置地到医药领域，从技术发展到营养健康极少见到甚至可以说没有见到黑人扮演积极正面的角色，甚至可以说，压根见不到他们扮演任何角色。5 日复一日，周复一周，这样的信息，即美国黑人与主流社会格格不入、非病即残，传遍美国各地。很遗憾，这样的结果就是美国从来就无法认识到黑人实际上是优秀、生机勃勃、创意无限的人民。6 大多数美国黑人不穷。大多数黑人青少年不是吸食强效纯可卡因的瘾君子。大多数黑人母亲不靠救济过活。事实上，单纯就数量而言，生活拮据、靠救济度日的美国白人比黑人更多。但是如果光看电视

22、或阅读报章杂志，人们永远不会得出这个结论。7 但是，为什么美国媒体坚持玩这种鼠目寸光、错漏百出的图片游戏？在这种把戏中，美国白人永远健康向上、可爱动人、全面发展，而美国黑人永远疾病缠身、可怜巴巴、缺陷多多。千真万确，媒体笔下的黑人极少是有用之才，自给自足。千真万确，作为美国文化和美国经验的主要诠释者的自由媒体，高举反映美国现实的明镜，以至于他们说什么就是什么，即便事实真相大相径庭。媒体带有强烈偏见，这个问题亟待纠正。这个问题就是：这是比懒惰的新闻报道更严重的问题，新闻报道懒惰消极已经够糟糕了，现在的问题是，这是失实的新闻报道。8 对于像我自己这样的美国黑人，想被人看得起不仅仅是个虚荣心的问题。

23、这也不仅仅是对城市下层社会现实问题视而不见的问题。毫无疑问，这个下层社会中黑人比例畸高。老实说，使下层黑人陷入困境的问题值得媒体最高程度的重视，也需要其他美国人理解与关注。9 但是，如果下层黑人的问题总被当作黑人现实生活的全部来描写，那么他们其余的经历就失效了，甚至被认为是虚假的。在这个场景中，数百万黑人被边缘化了，我们的身份和社会地位不是以事实为依据，而是以虚幻的形象和直觉为依据。这就是身为一名美国黑人的感受，我们的生活方式绝非媒体以偏概全形容的那样偏离常规。10 对我们黑人当中的许多人而言，生活就是一系列的奇遇，就是总碰到想要弄明白我们与其他黑人为何“不同”的白人。但事实上，我们当中的大多

24、数只是和通常的黑人负面形象“不同”而已。这些负面形象如此泛滥以至于大家不仅仅把这些当成常规定式，而且已经接受了这样的模式。11 比如，我想起颇具争议性的12 事实上，千百万美国黑人居住的社区中，最常见的景象就是孩子在玩耍，夫妻在遛狗。在我自己居住的丹佛市中心地区，我从没见过任何带有明显特征的“黑帮”分子或类似于毒品交易、驾车枪击这样的“黑帮”活动，我也从来没有成为黑帮暴力的牺牲品。然而，即便这样，当地媒体还是经常把市中心描述为黑帮地盘。13 对评论斯派克14 我希望被认可。我希望我的孩子们被认可。我希望我这么多年来一切相识相爱的美丽、健康、风趣、聪明的美国黑人们都得到认可。15 我也希望其他美国人都得到认可。16 我希望这个国家真正认识我们我们中的全部人真正认识我们是什么样的人。真正全面了解我们的复杂，我们的细腻，我们的精明，我们的进取，我们的特别，我们的可爱和我们带有的美国特征。我们是身体强健的人，为生存打拼的人，能胜任工作的人这才是美国黑人的真实形象。这或许是美国最深藏不露的秘密。如果是这样，现在该是揭开事实真相的时候了。