(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. "And that's the way it is ... And that's the way it is ..." For almost twenty years, that was how Walter Cronkite would end his newscasts. Americans all knew him. So did many world leaders. Today's news anchors could only hope for such recognition. He was often called the most trusted man in America. He anchored the "CBS Evening News" until nineteen eighty-one. The sixties and seventies produced more than enough stories to fill a daily newscast. Those were years of social change and civil rights protests. Years that saw John Kennedy, his brother Robert and Martin Luther King all murdered, the war in Southeast Asia expand, a president resign. Years of worry that the same rockets that could take people to the moon could also bring nuclear war to Earth. And years when most of us still thought of a "mouse" as a small creature. Yet smart minds were thinking up the technology behind today's computers and the Internet. Walter Cronkite brought it all home each evening, Monday through Friday. As President Barack Obama said in a statement: "He was there through wars and riots, marches and milestones, calmly telling us what we needed to know." And when the anchorman was not in front of the camera, there was a good chance he was on his boat. He went sailing up until almost his final days. He died on July seventeenth, two thousand nine, at the age of ninety-two. Walter Cronkite was born on November fourth, nineteen sixteen, in Saint Joseph, Missouri. His father was a dentist, his mother a housewife. With young Walter, the family moved from the Midwest to Texas. He worked on his high school newspaper and later left the University of Texas at Austin to become a journalist. He was a newspaper and radio reporter and sports announcer. In nineteen forty he married Mary Elizabeth Maxwell, known as Betsy. They had three children and were together for nearly sixty-five years, until Betsy died in two thousand five. As a young reporter, Walter Cronkite covered World War Two. He worked for United Press, the wire service which later became United Press International. He landed in Holland with American soldiers in a glider. And he was in a military plane overhead as Allied forces stormed the beach at Normandy, France. It was June sixth, nineteen forty-four, the start of the Allied invasion of Europe, the final push to defeat Nazi Germany. Later, Walter Cronkite reported on the trials of Nazi war criminals at Nuremburg, Germany. One day during the war, the famous journalist Edward R. Murrow offered him a job. It was a chance to report for a major television network, CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System. Yet TV was still young then. Walter Cronkite decided to stay where he was. United Press raised his pay and later made him its chief in Moscow. But in nineteen fifty he accepted another offer and went to work for CBS. One of his early programs was a history show where he questioned actors playing people like Aristotle and Joan of Arc. But he was a serious newsman, and in nineteen fifty-two he led CBS' coverage of the national political conventions. They were the first to be televised coast to coast. Ten years later, on April sixteenth, nineteen sixty-two, he became anchor of the "CBS Evening News." The program was only fifteen minutes long then. It took him two years to get his wish to extend it to thirty minutes. He also became managing editor, which expanded his influence over the program. "I participate very directly in the entire process -- in the decision of what stories we cover, in the decision on how we're covering them, what length of time we're going to give to them. It's a continuing process. I write part of the broadcast. Every bit of copy that goes on the broadcast passes through my hands. I edit every word that I say, I say no words that have not gone through my hand, many of them my own." Walter Cronkite met some of the most important people of his time. This was the time of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. In one interview, though, he asked President John F. Kennedy about another conflict that was growing then. WALTER CRONKITE: "Mister President, the only hot war we've got running at the moment is of course the one in Vietnam." JOHN KENNEDY: "I don't think that, uh, unless a greater effort is made by the government to win popular support, that the war can be won out there." Americans would come to find truth in Kennedy's words. But, just two months after that interview, shots were fired at his open-top car. As we will hear later, Walter Cronkite had the sad duty of reporting that the young president was dead. Happier moments came as he reported on the American space program. In July of nineteen sixty-nine he was almost speechless when Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. WALTER CRONKITE: "Oh, boy! Whew! Boy!" Walter Cronkite rarely expressed his own opinions. That was not a reporter's job. But in the late sixties he went to report on the war to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson and his advisers kept telling Americans that the United States was making progress. Walter Cronkite went to see for himself. Then, in a commentary in February of nineteen sixty-eight, he said the war seemed unwinnable. WALTER CRONKITE: "It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate." Some people denounced him and questioned his loyalty. Others praised him for "speaking truth to power," as some might say. Several weeks later, Lyndon Johnson surprised Americans and announced that he would not seek re-election. The unpopular war had cost him support.
It was Richard Nixon who brought home most of the troops before South Vietnam fell to the north in nineteen seventy-five. But it was also Nixon who became the first and only American president to resign. Americans learned from the press that there was political corruption in his administration. Night after night, millions turned to Walter Cronkite for the latest developments. There were other anchors and other networks. But people thought of him like family -- "Uncle Walter." He anchored the "CBS Evening News" for nineteen years. He was sixty-four when he stepped down on March sixth, nineteen eighty-one. But he explained that he was not leaving the network. WALTER CRONKITE: "Old anchormen, you see, don't fade away; they just keep coming back for more. And that's the way it is. Friday, March sixth, nineteen eighty-one." Now, Steve Ember looks back with a personal story about Walter Cronkite. I remember the afternoon of November twenty-second, nineteen sixty-three. I was a first-year student at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and was relaxing between classes at the student union building. A TV was on. My eyes were elsewhere, but my ear was caught by the unmistakable voice of Walter Cronkite. WALTER CRONKITE: "A bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting." The first bulletins coming in from Dallas were read by Cronkite over the CBS News "bulletin" slide. WALTER CRONKITE: "More details just arrived. President Kennedy shot today, just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas. Missus Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mister Kennedy. She called 'Oh, no!'" Before long, though, there were pictures, with Cronkite at his desk in the CBS newsroom in New York. For so many of us, the presidency of J.F.K. represented a time of promise. "This could not be happening" was the sentiment expressed as a growing crowd gathered around that black-and-white TV set. And Walter Cronkite, in measured tones, informed us that yes it was. What I'll always remember was seeing him, about an hour later, momentarily take off his thick dark rimmed glasses, and announce: WALTER CRONKITE: "From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official, President Kennedy died at one p.m. Central Standard Time, two o'clock Eastern Standard Time, some thirty-eight minutes ago." You could see the flash of emotion as Cronkite removed and replaced his glasses and regained his composure. WALTER CRONKITE: "Vice President Lyndon Johnson has left the hospital in Dallas, but we do not know to where he has proceeded. Presumably, he will be taking the oath of office shortly, and become the thirty-sixth president of the United States." But going beyond this trusted anchor's solid presence in delivering such news, you have to know something about television news in that era. There wasn't the clutter of crawls, flashing graphics or other moving "stuff" that we see today. There was Walter Cronkite in shirtsleeves, with a microphone in front of him. That was it -- nothing to distract the senses from the message. It was up close, and very personal. It was not long after the Kennedy assassination that I actually got to meet Mister Cronkite. He was anchoring live coverage of the nineteen sixty-four Maryland Democratic primary election, originating in Baltimore. I was hired in a minor role on the CBS production team for that night's broadcast. I can't say I remember all that much about the experience, other than it being very fast-paced. But what I do remember was, at the end of that long, continuous coverage -- it must have been about two a.m. -- Cronkite sat down briefly with us production functionaries to chat. I could not begin to tell you what we spoke about. It was enough to be in the presence of this great anchor I so admired, and to realize he was not above having a beer at the end of a very long broadcast with low-level support people. That was the sort of thing that made a young man with broadcasting stars in his eyes ... glow in the dark.
重点解析
1.hope for 希望
The rain dashed their hope for a picnic.
那场雨使他们郊游野餐的希望破灭了。
2.In front of在前面
In front of him there was another wall, a wall like night.
在他前面，有另一堵墙，是一堵黑夜的墙。
3.go through 度过
You only have to go through the conditioning period once.
你只要度过了调节期那段时间就可以了。
4.jump up 跳起来
I jumped up like a good son and tried to figure out how to perform the Heimlich maneuver without touching my mother's breasts, because, well, I had enough nightmares.
我像个孝子一样跳起来试着不碰母亲的胸部来做哈姆立克（Heimlich）急救法，因为，额，我做过太多噩梦了。
5.take off起飞
I sit in the back wearing a harness and we usually take off the doors before flight.
我背好降落伞背带坐在飞机后座，在飞机起飞前我们会离开舱门。
6.at the end of在结束时
The audience applauded wildly at the end of the opera.
观众在歌剧结束时狂热地鼓掌喝彩。
参考译文
我是史蒂夫·恩伯，我是雪莉·格里菲思。这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。“事情就是这样，事情就是这样”在长达几乎二十年的时间里，这句话就是沃尔特·克朗凯特结束自己新闻报道的方式。美国人都知道他，世界上的很多领导人都知道他。现在的主播都希望得到这样的认可，人们常称沃尔特为美国最值得信赖的人，他在1981年之前一直担任CBS晚间新闻的主播。20世纪六七十年代有足够多的故事供每日新闻报道，那是社会变革和民权抗议的年代。在那个年代，约翰·肯尼迪和他的兄弟罗伯特以及马丁·路德·金遇刺，东南亚战争加剧，总统下台。人们担心能把人类送上月球的火箭也可能把核战争带到地球。那些年，大多数人仍然认为“老鼠”是一种小动物。然而，聪明的人类发明了当今计算机和互联网背后的技术。沃尔特·克朗凯特从星期一到星期五每天晚上都把这些东西带回家。正如美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马在一份声明中所言:“他在那里经历了战争、骚乱、游行和重要的事件，然后平静地告诉我们需要知道的事情。”当沃尔特不在镜头前时，他很有可能就在自己的船上。他一直航行到他生命的最后几天。他于2009年7月17日去世，享年92岁。沃尔特·克朗凯特于1916年11月4日出生在密苏里州的圣约瑟夫。他父亲是牙医，母亲是家庭主妇。一家人带着年幼的沃尔特从中西部搬到了德克萨斯州。沃尔特之前是在自己的高中校报工作，后来他离开德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校，成为了一名记者。他是一名报纸、电台记者和体育播音员。在1940年他娶玛丽·伊丽莎白·麦克斯韦为妻，人们叫她贝琪。他们有三个孩子，在一起生活了将近65年，直到2005年贝琪去世。作为一名年轻的记者，沃尔特·克朗凯特报道了第二次世界大战。他在美国合众社工作，这家通讯社后来成为美国合众国际新闻社。他和美国士兵乘坐滑翔机降落在荷兰。当盟军突袭法国诺曼底的海滩时，他正在一架军用飞机上。那是1944年6月6日，盟军开始入侵欧洲，最终打败纳粹德国。后来，沃尔特·克朗凯特报道了纳粹战犯在德国纽伦堡的审判。战争期间的一天，著名记者爱德华·R·默罗为他提供了一份工作。这是一个为哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS)这一大型电视网报道的机会。然而那时电视才刚发明不久。沃尔特·克朗凯特决定继续原来的工作。联合出版社提高了他的工资，后来任命他为驻莫斯科的首席执行官。但在1950年，他接受了另一份工作，开始为CBS工作。沃尔特早期的节目之一是一个历史类节目，在节目里，他给扮演成亚里士多德或圣女贞德这样的人物的演员提问题。但是他是一名严肃的新闻工作者，在1952年他引导了CBS关于全国政治会议的报道。CBS是全国第一个通过电视转播的媒体。十年后，1962年4月16日，他成为“CBS晚间新闻”的主持人。当时这个节目时间只有15分钟。他花了两年的时间才实现了把节目延长到三十分钟的愿望。他还成为了总编，这扩大了他对节目的影响。我非常直接地参与整个过程——参与决定我们报道哪些新闻，决定如何报道这些新闻，要给这些新闻多少时间。这是一个持续的过程。我写了部分新闻稿。要报道的每一份新闻稿都会经我过目。我编辑我说的每一个词，我说过的每一个词都是经我过目的，其中许多词是我自己创作的。沃尔特·克朗凯特遇到了他那个时代的一些最重要的人物。当时正值美国和苏联之间的冷战时期。不过，在一次采访中，他问了约翰·F·肯尼迪总统当时正在加剧的另一场冲突。沃尔特·克朗凯特：“总统先生，我们目前进行的唯一一场热战当然是越南战争。”约翰·F·肯尼迪：“我认为，除非政府做出更大的努力来赢得民众的支持，否则这场战争是不可能打赢的。”美国人将会在肯尼迪的话中找到真相。但是，就在那次采访的两个月后，有人向他的敞篷汽车开了枪。正如我们稍后将听到的，沃尔特·克朗凯特有一项令人感到悲伤的职责，那就是报告这位年轻的总统已经去世。当他报道美国太空计划时，更开心的时刻来了。1969年7月，当尼尔·阿姆斯特朗成为第一个登上月球的人时，他几乎说不出话来。沃尔特·克朗凯特：“噢，这个家伙！”沃尔特·克朗凯特很少表达自己的意见。因为那不是记者的工作。但在60年代后期，他去报道战争，以防止共产党接管南越。林登·约翰逊总统和他的顾问们不断告诉美国人，美国正在取得进展。沃尔特·克朗凯特亲自去看了。然后，在1968年2月的一篇评论中，他说这场战争似乎是不能战胜的。沃尔特·克朗凯特：“沃尔特越来越清楚地认识到，当时唯一理性的出路就是谈判”。一些人谴责他，质疑他的忠诚。其他人则称赞他“向有权人说真话”，有些人可能会这么说。几周后，林登·约翰逊让美国人大吃一惊，他宣布将不会寻求连任。这场不得人心的战争使他失去了支持。在1975年南越沦陷前，是理查德·尼克松撤回了大部分军队。但尼克松也是第一位也是唯一一位辞职的美国总统。美国人从媒体了解到他的政府存在政治腐败。一夜又一夜，数百万人向沃尔特·克朗凯特寻求最新进展。世上还有其他的主播和广播。但人们就是把沃尔特当做家人一样——“沃尔特叔叔”。沃尔特主持CBS晚间新闻节目长达19年。在1981年3月6日卸任时，他64岁。但他解释说，他不会离开CBS。沃尔特：“老主持人，是不会凋零的;他们只是不断地回来索取更多。就是这样。1981年3月6日星期五。”现在，史蒂夫恩伯回顾了一个关于沃尔特·克朗凯特的个人故事。我记得1963年十一月二十二日的下午。我是巴尔的摩的约翰霍普金斯大学的一年级学生，在学生会大楼的课间休息。电视开着。我的眼睛在别处，但沃尔特·克朗凯特那清清楚楚的声音把我的耳朵吸引住了。沃尔特·克朗凯特:“哥伦比亚广播公司新闻。在德克萨斯州的达拉斯，肯尼迪总统的车队在达拉斯市中心遭到三次枪击。第一批报道称肯尼迪总统中了枪击严重受伤。克朗凯特在哥伦比亚广播公司新闻“公告”幻灯片上宣读了来自达拉斯的第一批公告。沃尔特·克朗凯特:“更多细节刚刚出炉。今天，肯尼迪总统在车队离开达拉斯市中心时中枪”。肯尼迪太太跳起来抓住肯尼迪先生。她喊道，哦，不!”但不久之后，就有了照片，克朗凯特坐在纽约CBS新闻编辑室的办公桌前。对我们许多人来说，肯尼迪总统代表着一个充满希望的时代。当人们聚集在黑白电视前得知这一消息时，人们的感觉是“这是不可能发生的”。沃尔特·克朗凯特则沉着的告诉我们这个消息是真的。我永远记得的是，大约一个小时后，我看见他，立刻摘下他那副又厚又黑的镶边眼镜，宣布:沃尔特·克朗凯特“官方消息，据德克萨斯州达拉斯快报，肯尼迪总统于下午1点去世。中央标准时间，东部标准时间2点，大约38分钟前。”克朗凯特摘下眼镜，重新戴上眼镜，恢复镇静，这时你可以感受到他一闪而过的情感。沃尔特·克朗凯特：“副总统林登·约翰逊已经离开达拉斯的医院，但我们不知道情况如何。”据推测，他很快就会宣誓就职，成为美国第36任总统。但是，要想超越这位值得信赖的主播在播报此类新闻时的扎实功底，你必须对那个时代的电视新闻有所了解。没有我们今天看到的杂乱的爬行、闪烁的图像或其他移动的“东西”。沃尔特·克朗凯特穿着衬衫，面前放着麦克风。就是这样——没有什么能分散人们对信息的注意力。这是近距离的，非常私人的。肯尼迪遇刺后不久，我就见到了克朗凯特先生。他在主持1964年马里兰州民主党初选的直播，这起源于巴尔的摩。我被聘为负责当晚的广播的CBS制作团队的一个小角色。我不能说我记得这次经历的所有的事情，只记得它节奏是非常快的。但我所记得的是，在那篇长时间、连续不断的报道结束后——那一定是凌晨两点左右——克朗凯特坐下来与工作人员进行了短暂地聊天。我不知从哪开始告诉你我们当时谈了些什么。能出现在我如此崇拜的这位伟大主持人面前，这就够了，而且我意识到他并不是高高在上，在一个很长时间的广播节目结束时，他只是和底层的工作人员喝杯啤酒。这就是那种让年轻人崇拜的广播明星，在黑暗中仍闪闪发光。
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