美国近期接连发生多起严重的枪击事件，导致数十人死伤。开学季在即，不少美国家长因担忧孩子的安全，纷纷购买“防弹书包”。
El Paso natives living in Washington, DC host a vigil for the victims of the recent El Paso shooting in Texas on Aug 10, 2019. [Photo/VCG]
With every mass shooting in the United States comes renewed fear of another.
随着美国每一起大规模枪击事件的发生，人们接着就会恐惧下一次枪击事件的到来。
mass shooting：大规模枪击案
It's a fear particularly potent among parents of young children and especially now, days away from the start of the school year. It's not unwarranted -- CNN examined 10 years of shootings on K-12 campuses and found two sobering truths: School shootings are increasing, and no type of community is spared.
年幼孩子的父母对枪击事件的恐惧尤其强烈，尤其是如今开学在即。这有据可循——美国有线新闻网调查了10年来发生在幼儿园到高中的校园枪击事件，发现了两个发人深省的事实：校园枪击事件在增加，没有哪种类型的社区能够幸免。
potent ['pəʊt(ə)nt]：adj.有效的；强有力的
sobering ['səʊbərɪŋ]：adj.使清醒的；使冷静的；严重的
Instead of letting their children choose a plastic backpack covered in Hello Kitty or Spider-Man, some parents are purchasing bags that double as shields in case kids get caught in gunfire.
一些家长不再让孩子们选择带有凯蒂猫或蜘蛛侠图案的塑料书包，而是购买了可以同时充当盾牌的书包，以防孩子被枪击中。
double as：兼饰两角
Screenshot from CNN
Companies like Guard Dog Security, Bullet Blocker and TuffyPacks designed bulletproof backpacks to quell those concerns.
警卫犬安全公司、子弹拦截器公司和泰菲背包等公司都设计了防弹书包来消除这些担忧。
quell [kwel]：vt.平息；镇压；减轻；消除
The retailers said backpack sales spike during the back-to-school season, and all three said they saw a significant uptick in the aftermath of mass shootings.
零售商表示，防弹书包的销量在返校季期间激增。以上三家公司都表示，在大规模枪击事件发生后，其书包销量明显上升。
uptick ['ʌptɪk]：n.小幅增加，微升；报升
防弹书包是消费者的最爱
Joe Curran founded Bullet Blocker 12 years ago after a shooting at Virginia Tech killed 33 people.To protect his two school-aged children, the former sheriff's deputy inserted body armor into their backpacks, he said. Classmates' parents asked for inserts for their children's bags, and it grew into a business.
12年前，在弗吉尼亚理工大学发生导致33人死亡的枪击案后，乔·柯伦创建了子弹拦截器公司。为了保护他的两个学龄孩子，这位前任副警长把防弹衣塞进了他们的书包里。同学们的父母找他要防弹衣塞进自己孩子的书包，这之后发展成了一门生意。
body armor：防弹衣
The company's website calls the bulletproof backpack a "consumer favorite." Prices range from $160 to $490. Most are JanSport or High Sierra backpacks retrofitted with ballistic panels sewn into the back. The smallest offering, the "Junior Pack," is suggested for preschoolers.
该公司的网站称这种防弹书包是“消费者的最爱”，售价从160美元（人民币约合1125元）到490美元不等。大多数书包是杰斯伯或高山背包改装而成，生产商将防弹板缝进书包背面。尺码最小的产品“少年包”的建议销售对象是学龄前儿童。
Sales have increased 200% since the mass shootings last weekend, Curran said.
柯伦说，自8月初发生大规模枪击事件以来，“防弹书包”销量增长了200%。
Yasir Sheikh, president of Guard Dog Security, said the company launched a line of bulletproof backpacks in 2013. The bags retail for between $119.99 and $299.99.
警卫犬安全公司总裁亚西尔•谢赫表示，该公司于2013年推出了多款“防弹书包”。售价在119.99美元到299.99美元之间。
Raquel K.W. Donahue decided to purchase a bulletproof insert for her 6-year-old son before he starts first grade. She opted for the insert instead of the pricier backpack because he'll outgrow a bag quickly, and the insert was marketed to last 20 years, she said.
拉克尔·K·W·多纳休决定在她6岁的儿子入学前给他买一个防弹板。她说，她没有选择价格更贵的“防弹书包”而是选择了防弹板，是因为书包很快就不够用了，而据产品推广，防弹板的使用寿命长达20年。
Donahue is a reference and instruction librarian at Prairie View A&M University in Texas. About an hour and a half away is Santa Fe, Texas, where 10 people were killed at a high school in May 2018; 10 hours away is El Paso, where a gunman killed 22 people at a Wal-Mart on Saturday.
多纳休是德克萨斯州普雷里维尤农工大学的图书馆的咨询员。这里距离德克萨斯州的圣达菲大约一个半小时车程，2018年5月有10人在圣达菲高中枪击案中丧生；距离8月3日发射枪击事件的埃尔帕索10小时车程，当日有22人在当地的沃尔玛枪击事件中丧生。
Screenshot from CNN
令人痛心的事实
"There is the morbidity factor," Steve Naremore, CEO of TuffyPacks, acknowledged of the product's purpose.
“这其中有病态因素，”泰菲背包公司的首席执行官史蒂夫·纳里尔莫尔坦承了该产品的用途。
morbidity[mɔː'bɪdətɪ]美 [mɔr'bɪdəti]：n. 发病率；病态；不健全
"When I was in school, there was no such thing as active shooter drills," he said. "But times have changed."
他说：“我上学的时候，根本没有枪击演练这种东西。但是时代变了。”
Donahue's son brought it up first. He came home from an active shooter drill in kindergarten and shared what he'd learned to do if a "bad guy comes to hurt him," she said.
多纳休的儿子首先引出了这个问题。她说，他在幼儿园参加完枪击演练回到家后，分享了有“坏人来伤害他”时该怎么做。
"He's worried about things I never dreamed of," she said. "It makes me sad -- and angry."
“他担心的是我做梦也没想到的事情，”她说。“这让我很伤心，也很愤怒。”
She's had active shooter trainings at work, too. After a 2014 shooting in a library at Florida State University in Tallahassee -- the same town where a gunman would kill two women in a yoga studio four years later -- Donahue and her fellow librarians have planned what they'd do in case of an attack.
她在工作中也接受过枪击演练。2014年，位于塔拉哈西市的佛罗里达州立大学的一座图书馆发生枪击事件后，她和同事们就在计划如何应对枪击案。四年后，一名枪手在同一座城市的瑜伽馆杀害了两名女性。
"It's sort of incredible how this is impacting both my personal and professional life."
“这对我的个人生活和职业生涯都产生了不可思议的影响。”
英文来源：CNN
翻译&编辑：yaning
来源：中国日报网
