(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Steve Ember. And I'm Shirley Griffith with People in America in VOA Special English.
Today, we tell about the woman who was the most influential wife of any American president, Eleanor Roosevelt.
Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of America's thirty-second president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She helped her husband in many ways during his long political life. She also became one of the most influential people in America. She fought for equal rights for all people -- workers, women, poor people, black people. And she sought peace among nations.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City in eighteen eighty-four. Eleanor's family had great wealth and influence. But Eleanor did not have a happy childhood. Her mother was sick and nervous. Her father did not work. He drank too much alcohol. He was not like his older brother, Theodore Roosevelt, who was later elected president. When Eleanor was eight years old, her mother died. Two years later, her father died. Eleanor's grandmother raised the Roosevelt children. Eleanor remembered that as a child, her greatest happiness came from helping others.
In the early nineteen hundreds, many people were concerned about the problems of poor people who came to America in search of a better life. Eleanor Roosevelt could not understand how people lived in such poor conditions while she and others had so much wealth.
After she finished school, Eleanor began teaching children to read in one of the poorest areas of New York City, called "Hell's Kitchen." She investigated factories where workers were said to be badly treated. She saw little children of four and five years old working until they dropped to the floor. She became involved with other women who shared the same ideas about improving social conditions.
Franklin Roosevelt began visiting Eleanor. Franklin belonged to another part of the Roosevelt family. Franklin and Eleanor were married in nineteen-oh-five. In the next eleven years, they had six children.
Franklin Roosevelt began his life in politics in New York. He was elected to be a state legislator. Later, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him to be assistant secretary of the Navy. The Roosevelts moved to Washington in nineteen thirteen.
It was there, after thirteen years of marriage, that Eleanor Roosevelt went through one of the hardest periods of her life.
She discovered that her husband had fallen in love with another woman. She wanted to end the marriage. But her husband urged her to remain his wife. She did.
Yet her relationship with her husband changed. She decided she would no longer play the part of a politician's wife. Instead, she began to build a life with interests of her own.
In nineteen twenty-one, Franklin Roosevelt was struck by the terrible disease polio. He would never walk again without help. His political life seemed over, but his wife helped him return to politics. He was elected governor of New York two times.
Eleanor Roosevelt learned about politics and became involved in issues and groups that interested her. In nineteen twenty-two, she became part of the Women's Trade Union League. She also joined the debate about ways to stop war. In those years after World War One, she argued that America must be involved in the world to prevent another war.
"Peace is the question of the hour," she once told a group of women. "Women must work for peace to keep from losing their loved ones."
The question of war and peace was forgotten as the United States entered a severe economic depression in nineteen twenty-nine. Prices suddenly dropped on the New York stock market. Banks lost their money. People lost their jobs.
Franklin Roosevelt was elected president in nineteen thirty-two. He promised to end the Depression and put Americans back to work.
Mrs. Roosevelt helped her husband by spreading information about his new economic program. It was called the New Deal. She traveled around the country giving speeches and visiting areas that needed economic aid.
Mrs. Roosevelt was different from the wives of earlier presidents. She was the first to become active in political and social issues. While her husband was president, Mrs. Roosevelt held more than three hundred news conferences for female reporters. She wrote a daily newspaper commentary. She wrote for many magazines. These activities helped spread her ideas to all Americans and showed that women had important things to say.
One issue Mrs. Roosevelt became involved in was equal rights for black Americans. She met publicly with black leaders to hear their problems. Few American politicians did this during the nineteen thirties and nineteen forties. One incident involving Mrs. Roosevelt became international news. In nineteen thirty-nine, an American singer, Marian Anderson, planned a performance at Constitution Hall in Washington. But a conservative women's group refused to permit her to sing there because she was black.
Mrs. Roosevelt was a member of that organization, the Daughters of the American Revolution. She publicly resigned her membership to protest the action of the group. An opinion study showed that most Americans thought she was right. Eleanor Roosevelt helped the performance to be held outdoors, around the Lincoln Memorial.
More than seventy thousand people heard Marian Anderson sing. Mrs. Roosevelt was always considered one of the strongest supporters of the civil rights movement.
The United States was forced to enter World War Two when Japanese forces attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in nineteen forty-one.
Mrs. Roosevelt made many speeches over the radio praising the soldiers she saw on her travels. She called on people to urge their government to work for peace after the war was over.
Franklin Roosevelt died in nineteen forty-five, soon after he was elected to a fourth term as president. When his wife heard the news she said: "I am more sorry for the people of this country than I am for myself."
Harry Truman became president after Franklin Roosevelt died. World War Two ended a few months later. The leaders of the world recognized the need for peace. So they joined together to form the United Nations. President Truman appointed Mrs. Roosevelt as a delegate to the first meeting of the UN. A newspaper wrote at the time: "Mrs. Roosevelt, better than any other person, can best represent the little people of America, or even the world."
Later, Mrs. Roosevelt was elected chairman of the U.N. Human Rights Commission. She helped write a resolution called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That declaration became an accepted part of international law.
Mrs. Roosevelt spent the last years of her life visiting foreign countries. She became America's unofficial ambassador. She returned home troubled by what she saw. She recognized that the needs of the developing world were great. She called on Americans to help the people in developing countries.
A few years before she died, Eleanor Roosevelt spoke about what she believed in life. This is what she said:"This life always seems to me to be a continuing process of education and development. What we are preparing for, none of us can be sure. But, that we must do our best while we are here and develop all our capacities is absolutely certain. We face whatever we have to face in this life. And if we do it bravely and sincerely, we're probably accomplishing that growth which we were put here to accomplish."
Eleanor Roosevelt gave the best she had all through her life. People around the world recognized their loss when she died in nineteen sixty-two.
重点解析
1.influential有影响力的
His boss was rather influential in the government circles.
他的老板在政界还是颇有影响的。
2.nervous 神经质的
He was as nervous as a witch and as cross as a bear.
他象巫婆一样神经过敏，像熊一样横蛮凶狠。
3.raise 养育
He was raised in a poor family.
他是在一个贫困家庭中长大的。
4.In the early nineteen hundreds, many people were concerned about the problems of poor people who came to America in search of a better life.
in search of寻找
Hungry beggars roamed the streets in search of food.
饥饿的乞丐在街上徘徊寻找食物。
5.Later, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him to be assistant secretary of the Navy.
appoint to 任命
The team leader should appoint a team secretary to take and publish meeting notes.
小组的领导人应指定秘书做好会议记录，发布会议纪要。
6.It was there, after thirteen years of marriage, that Eleanor Roosevelt went through one of the hardest periods of her life.
go through 经受
You didn't know what I have gone through.
你不知道我遭受了什么苦难。
参考译文
我是史蒂夫·恩贝尔。我是雪利·格里菲斯。这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天，我们将讲述的是美国历史上最具影响力的第一夫人—埃莉诺·罗斯福。埃莉诺·罗斯福是美国第32位总统富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福的妻子。在总统漫长的政治生涯中，她在多方面帮助她的丈夫，并成为了美国最具影响力的人物之一。她为所有人的平等权利而战—工人、妇女、穷困人民、黑人，同时也寻求各国之间的和平。
1884年，安娜·埃莉诺·罗斯福出生于纽约市。埃莉诺的家族富有且具影响力。但是埃莉诺的童年并不快乐。她的母亲患病且非常神经质，她的父亲不工作且酗酒。而父亲的哥哥，西奥多·罗斯福，之后当选总统。埃莉诺八岁的时候，她的母亲去世了。两年后，她的父亲也去世了。埃莉诺的祖母抚养着罗斯福的孩子们。
埃莉诺回忆自己的童年时期，她最大的快乐是帮助别人。1900年代早期，很多人都担心穷人们为了寻求更好的生活而涌入美国。埃莉诺·罗斯福不能理解人们在如此贫困的条件下如何生活，而她和其他人相较之下很富有。在完成学业后，埃莉诺开始在纽约市最穷困的地区之一（地狱厨房）教孩子们读书。她调查那些工厂，据称这些工厂里的工人遭到了虐待。她目睹了一些五六岁的孩子在工厂工作直到倒在地板上。她加入了其他一些女性，她们都想改善社会现状。富兰克林·罗斯福开始来拜访埃莉诺。富兰克林属于罗斯福家族中的另一支。1905年，富兰克林和埃莉诺结婚，在接下来的11年里，他们养育了六个孩子。
富兰克林·罗斯福开始了纽约的政治生涯，他当选为一名州立法委员。之后，伍德罗·威尔逊总统任命他为海军助理部长。1913年，罗斯福一家搬至华盛顿。正是在那里，在他们婚姻历经13年后，埃莉诺·罗斯福经历了一生中最艰难的时期。她发现她的丈夫爱上了另一个女人，她想结束这段婚姻。但是她的丈夫强烈要求维系婚姻。她同意了。但是他们之间的关系发生了变化。她决定不再扮演政客妻子的角色，并开始建立自己感兴趣的人生。
1921年，富兰克林·罗斯福患上可怕的脊髓灰质炎，没有帮助的话，他再也不能走路了。他的政治生涯似乎要结束了，但是他的妻子帮助他重返政治舞台，他两次被选为纽约州长。埃莉诺·罗斯福学习政治并参与那些她感兴趣的问题和团体。1922年，她成为妇女工会联盟中的一员。她还参与了停止战争方法的辩论。在一战后的那些年里，她争论到美国必须融入世界阻止另一场战争。“和平是时间问题，”她曾跟一个女性团体说。“女性必须支持和平才不会失去爱人。”1929年，随着美国进入一场严重的经济萧条后，战争与和平的问题就被遗忘了。纽约股票市场价格突然下跌，银行蒙受损失，人们失业。1932年，富兰克林·罗斯福当选总统，他承诺要结束萧条，将美国拉回正轨。罗斯福太太帮助她的丈夫传递新经济项目的消息。这个新经济项目被称为罗斯福新政。她走遍全国发表演讲并参观那些需要经济补助的地区。
罗斯福太太和早前的那些总统妻子不同，她是第一位活跃在政治和社会问题上的。虽然她的丈夫是总统，但罗斯福太太为女性记者举办了三百多场记者招待会。她撰写日报评论，还为很多杂志写文章。这些活动帮助向所有美国人传达了她的思想并展现出女性也有话语权。罗斯福太太参与的一个问题是美国黑人的平等权利问题。她公开与黑人领导会面倾听他们的问题。在1930年代和1940年代，也有少数几个美国政客这么做。一件关于罗斯福太太的插曲变成了国际新闻。1939年，一名美国歌手玛丽安·安德森计划在华盛顿宪政大厅表演。但是一个保守派女性团体拒绝让他来这里演唱，因为她是黑人。罗斯福太太是该组织—美国革命女儿会的成员。她公开辞去成员身份抗议这个组织的行为。一项舆论研究显示多数美国人都认为她是对的。在埃莉诺·罗斯福的帮助下，演出得以在林肯纪念堂周围举行。七万多人来听玛丽安·安德森唱歌。罗斯福太太一直被认为是公民权利运动的强大支持者之一。
1941年，日本袭击美国夏威夷珍珠港军事基地，美国被迫加入二战。罗斯福太太通过广播进行多次演讲赞扬她所看到的士兵。战争结束后，她号召人们要求政府为和平而努力。1945年，富兰克林·罗斯福逝世，此时距离他连任第四届总统不久。当他的妻子听到这个消息时，她说：“相较自己，我更为这个国家的人民感到遗憾。”富兰克林·罗斯福死后，哈里·杜鲁门成为总统。几个月后，二战结束。世界各国领导人意识到了和平的需要，因此他们共同组建了联合国。杜鲁门总统任命罗斯福太太为联合国第一次会议的代表。那时的一家报社写到：“罗斯福太太，比其他人更能代表美国的普通人，甚至是世界的普通人。”之后，罗斯福太太被选为联合国人权委员会主席。她帮助起草了《世界人权宣言》。该宣言被列入国际法。罗斯福太太在生命后期拜访多个国家，并成为美国非官方大使。她回国后被自己的所见困扰，她意识到发展中世界的巨大需求。她号召美国人帮助那些发展中国家的人们。在她去世的前几年，埃莉诺·罗斯福讲述了她一生的信仰。她说：“生命对我而言就是教育和发展的持续进程。未来不可预期。但是我们必须尽全力，因为我们在这里，发展自己的能力是绝对能够确定的事实。我们必须面对生活中的一切。如果我们勇敢真诚地去面对，我们就可能完成所需的成长。”埃莉诺·罗斯福献出了自己一生中最好的部分。1962年，当她去世时，世界各国人民都意识到这是人类的损失。
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