(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Rich Kleinfeldt. And I'm Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today, we tell about Bella Abzug. She was a member of the United States Congress in the nineteen seventies. She also was a well-known activist for civil rights and women's rights.
Bella Abzug was well known for many reasons. She was a lawyer and activist. She represented New York City in Congress. She spoke in a loud voice. And she always wore large hats.
Ms. Abzug supported women's rights and civil rights. She had strong opinions on many issues. She opposed the American involvement in the war in Vietnam. She made public her opinions on most important issues. In fact, she was called one of the most outspoken members of Congress.
Bella Abzug also acted on her beliefs. She wrote legislation to prevent unfair treatment of women. She presented the first bill for equal rights for homosexuals. She often denounced the majority of the members of Congress who were white males. She said they did not know about the lives and problems of most people in America.
Bella Abzug did know about the lives of common Americans. She was born Bella Savitsky in the Bronx area of New York City in nineteen twenty. Her parents had come to the United States from Russia. Her father operated a food store called The Live and Let Live Meat Market. Bella said she knew from the age of eleven that she wanted to be a lawyer. At the age of twelve, she gave her first public speech. It was in an underground train station in New York.
Bella attended Hunter College and Columbia Law School in New York City. She married Martin Abzug in nineteen forty-four. He was a stockbroker and writer. He had no interest in politics. But he was his wife's best friend and supporter. They had two daughters.
Bella Abzug became a lawyer in the nineteen forties. She represented labor union workers. She also represented people involved in civil rights cases. She often worked for no payment in these cases. In the nineteen fifties, she represented people accused of subversive activities by Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Bella Abzug began wearing large hats when she was a young lawyer. There were very few women lawyers in America then. She told this story about why she began wearing hats: "Working women wore hats. It was the only way they would take you seriously. After a while I starting liking them. When I got to Congress, they made a big thing of it. They did not want me to wear a hat. So I did."
In the nineteen sixties, Bella Abzug became an anti-war activist. She organized a group of anti-war women, called Women Strike for Peace. She opposed American involvement in the war in Vietnam. And she opposed testing of nuclear weapons. She led demonstrations in Washington against the war and in support of a ban against nuclear weapons. She became a leader of the movement against President Johnson because of his involvement in the war.
In the early nineteen seventies, Ms. Abzug also became a leader of the growing women's rights movement that was spreading across the country. She helped form the National Women's Political Caucus. In speaking to the group in nineteen seventy-one, she demanded equal rights for women in all areas of American life.
In nineteen seventy, Bella Abzug was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat from New York City. She was fifty years old. She was the first Jewish woman elected to Congress. Her campaign statement was: "This woman belongs in the House." She did not mean her house. She meant the House of Representatives. At the time, there were only ten female members in the House of Representatives.
During her first day as a member of Congress, Ms. Abzug introduced a resolution calling for an immediate withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. The resolution was defeated.
Later in her term, she tried other ways to reach that goal. She forced the administration of President Nixon to surrender documents about the Vietnam War that were known as the Pentagon Papers. She also was the first member of Congress to call for an impeachment investigation of President Nixon.
Ms. Abzug supported many programs to help American families. For example, she wanted national insurance to help pay for health care for all Americans. And, she wanted the government to establish centers to care for young children while their mothers worked.
She wanted these programs paid for with money cut from the budget of the Defense Department. She did not succeed in getting this legislation passed in Congress. Yet she kept trying.
Representative Abzug was known for her forceful way of expressing her opinions. Yet House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill chose her as one of his assistants. She helped write the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts. These laws restricted the right of the Federal Bureau of Information to withhold information.
Ms. Abzug served in the House of Representatives for six years. In nineteen seventy-six, she gave up her seat in the House to campaign for the Democratic nomination for senator from the state of New York. She lost the election. She ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York City. She also lost two more elections that would have returned her to the House of Representatives.
For twenty more years, Bella Abzug continued to work for women's rights. In nineteen seventy-nine, President Carter appointed her the head of a National Advisory Committee on Women, a non-paying job. Later, President Carter dismissed her when she criticized his decision to cut money for women's programs. In nineteen ninety, she started the Women's Environmental and Development Organization, which works with international agencies.
Ms. Abzug was one of the leaders of an international conference of women. Thousands of women attended that conference in Beijing, China in nineteen ninety-five. They discussed ways for women around the world to gain equal rights.
Bella Abzug wrote two books. The first is called "Bella! Ms. Abzug Goes to Washington." It is about her first year in Congress. Her second book was published in nineteen eighty-four. It is called "Gender Gap: Bella Abzug's Guide to Political Power for American Women." In her later years, she continued to serve as a delegate to Democratic national conventions. She was leader of the New York City Commission on the Status of Women. And she directed the National Parity Campaign to increase the number of women elected to political office.
Ms. Abzug once said that equal rights for women was at the top of the list of the many issues she supported. She was one of the first leaders of the feminist movement. She defined the word feminist this way: A person who believes that there should be social, economic and political equality for women. She thought that the majority of Americans believed this.
Many women supported Ms. Abzug because of her efforts to gain equality for women. She helped make it easier for other women to be elected to public office.
Yet, Bella Abzug had enemies. Many people did not like her. They thought she was too loud, too aggressive, too independent, too liberal. However, most political experts agree that Bella Abzug should be included on any list of the most influential women in American politics in the twentieth century.
Bella Abzug died in nineteen ninety-eight following a heart operation. She had been in poor health for several years. She was seventy-seven. Many of her friends in the women's movement continue to miss her spirit, her voice, and her hats.
重点解析
1.in fact实际上；事实上
People occasionally tell you, "Do that in your free time, "but in fact there's no such thing as"free"time.
人们有时候会对你说：“在你空闲的时候做那件事吧，”但是，实际上这种“空闲”时间是没有的。
2.the majority of大多数的
Yet the majority of these employees have no voice, especially when it comes to their own safety.
然而，这些雇佣员工大多数没有发言权，特别是当涉及到自己的安全时。
3.at the age of在……岁的时候；
Ben holds dear an ambitious goal to retire at the age of 55, but there is nothing concrete that he does in order to succeed.
班有个远大的目标就是要在55岁的时候退休，但是他却没有因为这个目标而做到任何具体的计划。
4.in support of支持；
That’s good news for our community banks, which is why we’ve received letters from some of these banks in support of reform.
这对于社区银行来说是个好消息，也是我们收到一些这类银行来信支持这项改革的原因。
5.serve as担任；充当
Veterinary technologists and technicians serve as nurses to pooches and felines.
动物技师和兽医的服务有点像护理猫狗的护士。
6.at the top of在最高地位，在首位
We should discuss currency issues with China, but the exchange rate should not be at the top of the bilateral agenda.
我们是会与中国政府讨论货币问题，但汇率问题并非如今两国议事日程的首要问题。
参考译文
我是里奇·克莱因费尔特，我是雪莉·格里菲斯。这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天我们讲述贝拉·阿布朱格的故事。在20世纪70年代，她是美国国会的议员。她也是著名的民权和妇女权利活动家。
贝拉·阿布朱格著名的原因有很多。她是一名律师和活动家。她在国会中代表着纽约市。她演讲声音洪亮。而且她经常戴着大帽子。
阿布朱格女士支持民权和妇女权利。她在很多问题上都有坚定的观点。她反对美国参与越战。在重要的议题上，她会公开发表自己的观点。事实上，人们称阿布朱格为最敢于坦率直言的国会议员之一。
贝拉·阿布朱格也按照自己的信念行事。她起草防止女性受到不公正待遇的法案。她提出第一个支持同性恋者享有平等权利的法案。她经常谴责国会中的白人男性成员，他们占国会成员中的大多数。阿布朱格认为他们不了解美国大多数人的生活状况和问题。
贝拉·阿布朱格则知道普通美国人的生活。1920年，她出生在纽约市布朗克斯区的贝拉·萨维茨基。她的父母从俄罗斯来到美国。她的父亲经营了一家“愿意活着”肉食市场。贝拉说，她在七岁时就知道她想成为一名律师。在12岁的时候，她做了第一次公共演讲。地方是在纽约的一个地下火车站。
贝拉曾就读于纽约市的亨特学院和哥伦比亚大学法学院。她在1944年嫁给了马丁·阿布朱格。他是一名股票经纪人和作家。丈夫对政治没有兴趣。但是他是贝拉最好的朋友和支持者。他们育有两女。
贝拉·阿布朱格在20世纪40年代成为了一名律师。她代表工会工人。她也代表那些卷入民权诉讼案的人们。在这些案例中，她经常无偿工作。在20世纪50年代，她代表被参议员约瑟夫·麦卡锡指控从事危险活动的人。
贝拉·阿布朱格在自己是一名年轻的律师时，就开始戴着大大的帽子。当时美国有很少的女性律师。她解释自己为什么开始戴帽子：“工作的女性戴帽子”。只有这样人们才会认真对待你。后来我就开始喜欢帽子了。当我去国会的时候，他们就小题大做。他们不想让我戴帽子。所以我就戴了。”
在20世纪60年代，贝拉·阿布朱格成为了一名反战活动家。她组织了一个反战女性组织，叫做妇女为和平而罢工组织。她反对美国参加越战。她也反对做核武器试验。在华盛顿，她领导了反对战争和支持一个反对核武器实验的禁令。贝拉成为了反对约翰逊总统运动的领导者，因为总统参与了战争。
在20世纪70年代初，阿布朱格也成为了遍及全国的日益高涨的妇女权利运动的领导者。她帮助成立了全国妇女政治委员会。在1971年对该组织的一次讲话中，她要求女性在美国生活的各个方面都享有同等的权利。
在1970年，贝拉·阿布朱格作为一名来自纽约市的民主党人当选为众议院议员。当时她50岁了。她是第一位进入国会的犹太女性。她的竞选宣言是：“这个女人属于众议院”。她指的不是自己家的房子。她指的是众议院。在那时，众议院仅有10位女性成员。
在成为国会议员的第一天，阿布扎格提出了一项决议，呼吁美国立即从越南撤军。决议被否决了。
在她任期的后期，她尝试了其他方法去实现那个目标。她迫使尼克松政府交出有关越南战争的文件，这些文件被称为五角大楼文件。她也是第一位呼吁对尼克松总统进行弹劾调查的国会议员。
艾布扎格女士支持许多帮助美国家庭的项目。例如，她希望国民保险能够帮助支付所有美国人的医疗保健费用。她还希望政府能够建立一些中心，在孩子们的母亲工作时来照顾他们。
她希望用国防部预算削减的资金来支付这些项目。她没能使这项立法在国会通过。但她一直在努力。
众议员艾布扎格以其强有力的表达观点的方式而闻名。即便如此，众议院议长托马斯·奥尼尔还是选择她为助手之一。她帮助起草了《信息自由和隐私法案》。这些法律限制了联邦信息局保留信息的权利。
艾布扎格女士在众议院工作了六年。1976年，她放弃了在众议院的席位，为争取纽约州民主党参议员提名而努力。她选举失败了。她竞选纽约市长也失败了。她还在其他两次竞选中失利，如果成功她将重返众议院。
20多年来，贝拉·艾布扎格继续为妇女权利而工作。1979年，卡特总统任命她为全国妇女咨询委员会主席，这是一份无薪工作。后来，卡特总统解雇了贝拉，因为她批评了他削减妇女项目经费的决定。1990年，她成立了与国际机构合作的妇女环境与发展组织。
艾布扎格女士是国际妇女会议的领导人之一。1995年，数以千计的妇女参加了在中国北京举行的国际妇女会议。他们讨论了世界各地的妇女如何才能获得平等权利。
贝拉·艾布扎格写了两本书。第一本书是《贝拉！艾布扎格女士走向华盛顿》。这本书讲的是她在国会第一年的经历。她的第二本书于1984年出版。这本书是《性别差异：艾布扎格的美国妇女政治权利指南》。在她晚年时，她继续担任民主党全国代表大会的代表。她是纽约市妇女地位委员会的领导人。她还发起了“全国平等运动”，以增加参政的女性人数。
艾布扎格女士曾经说过，妇女的平等权利问题是她所支持的许多问题中的首要问题。她是女权主义运动中的第一批领导者之一。她是这样定义女权主义者的：女权主义者是相信女性在社会、经济和政治中有平等权利的人。她相信大多数美国人是相信这一点的。
因为艾布扎格女士努力为女性获得权力，所以很多女性都支持她。她帮助其他女性更容易当选公职。
但是，贝拉·艾布扎格也有敌人。很多人不喜欢她。他们觉得她太吵，太有侵略性，太独立，太自由主义了。然而，大多数政治专家都认为，贝拉·艾布扎格应该被列入美国20世纪最有影响力的女性之一。
1998年贝拉·艾布扎格在一次心脏手术后过世。七年来，她身体状况一直都不好。她享年77岁。很多参与女权运动的贝拉的朋友仍然想念她的精神，她的声音和她的帽子。
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