始于1897年的波馬是世界上首個城市馬拉松賽，創辦至今從未間斷。優美的沿途風光、熱情的現場觀眾、起伏不定的道路以及嚴格的參賽條件，都讓賽事散發出別樣的魅力。然而，2013年波馬的恐怖爆炸案卻讓其蒙上了永遠的污點，無辜的人為之殞命，包括一名年輕的中國女孩兒。身在波士頓親身經歷這一事件的作者又會以怎樣的視角解讀這次悲劇呢？

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.

詞匯:

The Boston Marathon: 波士頓馬拉松，是每年于愛國者日（四月的第三個星期一）在美國馬薩諸塞州波士頓舉行的馬拉松比賽。1896年夏季奧林匹克運動會的成功催生了波士頓馬拉松于1897年創立，波馬是全世界最古老的馬拉松比賽，也是世界五大馬拉松之一（其他四個分別是倫敦馬拉松、柏林馬拉松、芝加哥馬拉松和紐約馬拉松）。每年約有兩萬多人參賽，有不下50萬人沿路在穿越美國馬薩諸塞州八個城市的跑道旁圍觀。 2013年共有來自九十多個國家的2.8萬名跑步者參賽。

Battle of Lexington and Concord: 列克星敦和康科德戰役，是美國獨立戰爭中發生的第一場軍事沖突。1775年4月19日，這場戰役發生在馬薩諸塞州米德爾塞克斯縣，波及城鎮包括列克星敦、康科德、林肯、阿靈頓以及毗鄰波士頓的劍橋。這場戰役意味著英國與其北美十三個殖民地正式爆發了戰爭。

high-five: v. <美口>（運動員等）舉手擊掌向……致意。

determinedly: 決意地，堅決地；boost: 激勵，支持。

hoarse: （嗓音）嘶啞的，粗啞的；side: （人體的）側邊，肋；sore: 痛的，感到疼痛的。

102 degree: （體溫）華氏102度，等于38.9攝氏度。

波士頓馬拉松將在人們記憶中永遠蒙上污點。

過去一段時間，新聞媒體不斷提供著關于爆炸案情況的最新消息。

此處指的是4月18日發生在位于波士頓美國麻省理工學院的槍擊案，一名警察遭槍擊身亡，槍擊案嫌疑犯被認為參與了波士頓爆炸案。

on the loose: 逍遙法外的；lockdown: <美>（尤指監獄暴動時為重新掌握局面而采取的）監房嚴拘，此處指嚴密監控。

shut down: 停止運轉，此處指交通管制，不許車輛通行。

一位前國家橄欖球聯盟運動員被拍到正護送一位女士去安全場所，NFL: =National Football League，（美）全國橄欖球聯盟。

Patton Oswalt: 帕頓?奧斯瓦爾特，1969年1月27日 出生于美國弗州樸次茅斯 ，喜劇演員，曾出演《告密者》、《料理鼠王》等影片。

“善行終將壓倒惡行，并永將如此。”

resilient: 有復原力的，適應性強的。

Show one’s true colors: 宣布觀點（或立場、打算等）。

Beantown: 豆城（波士頓的別稱，源出該城人喜愛的熏豆）。