人物:为妮娅伸张正义

 Justice for Nia? 为妮娅伸张正义？

The fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Nia Wilson in a California subway station raises questions about whether the color of her skin made her a target 18岁的妮娅·威尔逊(Nia Wilson)在加利福尼亚一地铁站被刺伤身亡，这引发了质疑：她的肤色是否造成了她的死亡

After a day spent at a barbecue with family and friends in Martinez, Calif., on July 22, 18-year-old Nia Wilson and her sister Letifah, 26, were in the busy MacArthur BART station, waiting for a train to their Oakland home. 7月22日，18岁的妮娅·威尔逊和她26岁的姐姐莱蒂法(Letifah)在加州马丁内斯(Martinez)与家人和朋友结束了一天的烤肉野餐，来到繁忙的麦克阿瑟BART站，等回到奥克兰的列车。

Suddenly, at 9:38 p.m., a stranger approached, pulled out a knife and stabbed both sisters. 晚上9点38分，一名陌生人突然走近，掏出一把刀捅了两姐妹。

As Nia lay bleeding in her sister's arms, police rushed to the platform—but were too late. Nia was pronounced dead at the scene. 妮娅倒在她姐姐的怀里流着血，这时警察冲向了站台——但是已经太晚了。妮娅当场死亡。

"We were blindsided by a maniac¹, for what I don't know," Letifah would later tell Oakland's ABC7 News. “我们被一个疯子搞得措手不及，我不知道为什么，”莱蒂法后来告诉奥克兰的ABC7新闻。

"I looked back, and he was wiping off his knife and stood at the stairs and just looked... he just stood there, like it was nothing." “我回头一看，他正在擦拭刀，站在楼梯上，只是看了看……他只是站在那里，好像根本不算什么。”

By the next night police had arrested 27-year-old John Cowell, an ex-con with a history of mental illness—according to his family—and charged him with murder. 到第二天晚上，警方逮捕了27岁的约翰·考威尔，并以谋杀罪起诉他，据他的家人说，他有犯罪前科，也有精神病史。

But while authorities struggled to uncover a motive² for the attack, the city erupted in grief³ and anger. 但当局努力查明袭击动机时，这座城市的悲愤已难以抑制。

Protesters lined the streets of Oakland for days chanting "Justice for Nia" and demanding that Cowell be charged with a hate crime. 几天来，抗议者们在奥克兰的街道上游行，高呼“为妮娅伸张正义”，并要求以仇视性犯罪控告考威尔。

(Alameda County D.A. Nancy O'Malley said authorities are studying the evidence to determine if Nia and Letifah were attacked because of their race.) （阿拉米达县地方检察官南希奥马利说，当局正在研究证据，以确定妮娅和莱蒂法是否因为种族原因受到攻击。）

Meanwhile, celebrities⁴ like Viola Davis, Janelle Monáe, Busy Philipps and Anne Hathaway called attention to the murder on social media. 与此同时，维奥拉·戴维斯(Viola Davis)、詹妮尔·莫奈(Janelle Monae)、贝茜·菲利普斯(Busy Philipps)和安妮·海瑟薇(Anne Hathaway)等名人在社交媒体上呼吁人们关注这起谋杀案。

"The murder of Nia Wilson—may she rest in the power and peace she was denied here—is unspeakable and MUST NOT be met with silence," Hathaway wrote on Instagram, encouraging use of the hashtag #SayHerName in social-media posts to raise awareness⁵ about black women who become victims of violence. 海瑟薇在Instagram上写道：“妮娅·威尔逊，愿她在从未得到的权利与和平中安歇。她已不能开口，我们决不能沉默对待。”借此鼓励公众在社交媒体发文时使用#SayHerName标签，让人们更加关注遭受暴力袭击的黑人女性。

But for Nia's family, the loss is achingly personal. "That's my heart, she was my heart," Letifah said. "She was the sweetest person on the earth." 但对于妮娅的家人来说，这种失去难以释怀，令人肝肠寸断。“那是我的心，她是我的心，”莱蒂法说。“她是世界上最可爱的人。”

1 maniac   

n.精神癫狂的人；疯子

参考例句：

• Be careful!That man is driving like a maniac!注意！那个人开车像个疯子一样！
• You were acting like a maniac,and you threatened her with a bomb!你像一个疯子，你用炸弹恐吓她！

2 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

3 grief   

n.悲伤，悲痛，悲伤的事，悲痛的缘由

参考例句：

• Don't allow yourself to sink into grief,it can do no good.不要使自己陷入悲哀之中，这样一点好处也没有。
• After her mother died,she abandoned herself to grief.母亲死后，她沉浸于悲痛之中。

4 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

5 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。