在洪水中消弭的仇恨
在经历了骇人听闻的夏洛特维尔暴力事件后，美国国内反极端主义的声浪正在增强。在休斯敦洪水事件中，人们能够放下种族和政治隔阂，毫无芥蒂地相互帮助，这让因频发的仇恨事件而感到精疲力竭的人们看到了希望。
测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：
wince[wɪns] v.畏缩，退缩
amorphous[ə'mɔːfəs] adj.无组织的
pseudonym['suːdənɪm] n.匿名，假名
anarchic[ə'nɑːkɪk] adj.无政府的
heretical [hə'retɪkl] adj.异教的，异端的
caveat['kæviæt] n.说明，警告
pious ['paɪəs] adj.虔诚的，尽责的
Love, puppies and community: the American backlash(742 words)
By Gillian Tett
In recent years, the word “Reddit” has made some people wince. The reason? Since the website was launched 15 years ago, Reddit has built a business by enabling users to freely exchange views and share links on forums themed around different subjects — from news to gaming, science, sport and more amorphous topics such as NSFW (“Not Safe For Work”). Redditors use pseudonyms, and can vote up (or down) their peers’ contributions.
In many ways, Reddit is just another social platform, though one with significant reach — the site had 48 million US unique monthly visitors in May this year, according to analytics company comScore. But inevitably, at a certain point, a host of message boards for alt-right, nationalist, anarchic and anti-establishment groups sprung up, with some launching vicious attacks against women, minorities and gay people.
Some threads became so dark that earlier this year Reddit suspended the /r/altright message board, provoking furious complaints that “heretical views and opinions are being stifled”.
“There’s a backlash going on,” the youthful-looking Huffman told the FT last week from a warehouse-style office in San Francisco. For proof, he points to a message group called Wholesome Memes, whose 850,000 followers exchange positive, inclusive news in order to build a climate of peace.
This week’s headlines include “Puppies are best!”, “Hug me, brotha!”, “There are good people everywhere when it matters most” and, most recently, “The ‘Cajun Navy’ heads to Texas to aid with Hurricane Harvey Rescues”.
“There is a lot of ugly stuff happening today. But we rarely talk about the resistance communities that are also arising, or the self-healing that is going on,” said Huffman. “There’s a whole new network of wholesome pages which were created after the election for people who are tired of being angry all the time. They have more followers than the Donald group.”
Huffman even thinks that future historians will end up writing almost as much about this resistance movement as anything else. “I think in five to 10 years we will be better off because we have had to renew our vows with human decency,” he said. “It is easy to say that I wish America was not in this situation [of anger]. But because of this we are all having to confront our values and think about things we haven’t had to think about for a long time.”
I believe that Huffman’s argument has at least a grain of truth and deserves wider debate. If you look across the US today, it is clear that the events of the past year have forced more people to question the assumptions they held and, in some cases, this is creating a new mood of political activism, as people try to defend American values and institutions with passion.
Witness the anti-racism demonstrations that have taken place in Boston and elsewhere in recent weeks following the tragic events in Charlottesville. More evidence appears in the social media commentary around the Houston flooding: commentators have seized on the many instances of civilians rescuing others as a sign that Americans retain values of colour-blind decency and self-sacrifice, a counterpoint to the racial hatred seen in Charlottesville.
If you want to see more signs of rising politicisation, look at the Instagram accounts of teenagers or the outpourings of some of the most popular YouTube stars. As I wrote earlier this year, I am struck by how much political discussion is now occurring amid the teenage celebrity news media. Just last week, I was given another tiny example of this backlash as I hopped on to the E-line subway in Manhattan where, on one wall, someone had stuck a poster billed as “A love letter to New Yorkers”.
“Every day we ride the train together, representing the world’s nations,” the missive declared. “In these times of uncertainty and divisiveness may we always remember that inclusiveness [and] diversity is our strength . . . and may we remain the city where you can see the world’s nations represented on these subway cars.”
Perhaps these tiny, anecdotal examples of resistance to the dark mood of today are too scattered to really matter. And I suspect that most of this backlash is concentrated in the liberal coastal areas, not the Trump-loving heartlands. But the key point is this: the tussles that are taking place in cyber space and on sites such as Reddit are just one illustration of a wider clash of values and identity that is unfolding in America. After eight months of Trump, it is still anybody’s guess how the struggle will end.
请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目
1.Why does the social platform Reddit has made some people wince over the past few years?
A. Because it enables people to anonymously post things they wouldn't be allowed to post on other websites.
B. Because Reddit suspended the /r/altright message board to stifle heretical views and opinions.
C. Because it enables users to freely exchange views and share links on forums themed around different subjects.
D. Because it has became a message board for alt-right, nationalist, anarchic and anti-establishment groups.
答案(1)
2.According to the article, which of the following statements about Wholesome Memes is true?
A. It is a showcase for anti-extremist groups who want to build a climate of peace.
B. Its 850,000 followers exchange positive, inclusive news about climate change.
C. It is a message group where the community of participants discuss puppies.
D. It was set up by Steve Huffman in order to to counter extremist voices on Reddit.
答案(2)
3.Which of the following is NOT a sign of rising politicisation according to the author ?
A. Anti-racism demonstrations that took place in Boston.
B. The racial hatred seen in the tragic events in Charlottesville.
C. Political discussions amid the teenage celebrity news media.
D. A poster billed as “A love letter to New Yorkers” on E-line subway.
答案(3)
4.The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements?
A. It is the Houston flooding that stimulated the anti-extremist backlash.
B. Anti-extremist backlash is concentrated only in the liberal coastal areas.
C. Reddit has became a “self-healing” place for anti-extremist groups.
D. The resistance to the dark mood only takes place in cyber space.
答案(4)
* * *
(1) 答案：D.Because it has became a message board for alt-right, nationalist, anarchic and anti-establishment groups.
解释：论坛Reddit让很多人敬而远之，因为在某种意义上它成了另类右派、民族主义者、无政府主义者和反建制派群体的留言板。
(2) 答案：A.It is a showcase for anti-extremist groups who want to build a climate of peace.
解释：Reddit CEO Steve Huffman表示，有很多反极端主义群体开始在Reddit上发声，以对抗极端主义者的言论，Wholesome Memes就是一个例子。
(3) 答案：B.The racial hatred seen in the tragic events in Charlottesville.
解释：夏洛特维尔事件后的反种族主义游行和人们对休斯顿洪水的反应体现了人们不断提高的政治意识。我们还可以从青少年社交媒体上的政治讨论和曼哈顿地铁上的“写给纽约人的情书”看到相同的迹象。
(4) 答案：B.Anti-extremist backlash is concentrated only in the liberal coastal areas.
解释：我怀疑这种反弹仅仅出现在自由主义的沿海地区，而非拥护特朗普的核心地带。
