現(xiàn)代大學(xué)英語口語2答案及原文
She was only about five feet tall and probably never weighed more than 110 pounds, but Miss Bessie was a towering prence in the classroom. She was the only woman tough enough to make me read Beowulf and think for a few foolish days that I liked it. From 1938 to 1942, when I attended Bernard High School in McMinnville, Tenn.,she taught me English, history, civics—and a lot more than I realized.
她只有五英尺高，體重可能從來沒有超過110磅，但卻是班級里舉足輕重的存在。她是唯一一位嚴(yán)厲到能使我讀《貝奧武甫》的女老師。而且有那么幾天，我還真傻乎乎地認(rèn)為我喜歡這部史詩。從1938年到1942年，當(dāng)我進(jìn)入，她教我英語、歷史、公民學(xué)——還有比我所意識到的更多的知識。
I shall never forget the day she scolded me into reading Beowulf.
我永遠(yuǎn)不會忘記她責(zé)備我并讓我讀《貝奧武甫》的那天。
"But Miss Bessie," I complained, "I ain't much interested in it."
“但是貝茜小姐，”我抱怨道，“我對這本書不是太感興趣。”
"Boy," she said, "how dare you say 'ain't' to me! I've taught you better than that."
"噢！小伙子，”她說，“你怎么敢在我面前說“ain't”這個詞？我教過你該怎么說。”
"Miss Bessie," I pleaded,"On the football team, if I go around saying '"it isn't' and 'they aren't,' the guys are gonna laugh me off the team."
“貝茜小姐，”我辯解道，“在足球隊(duì)，如果我到處說“it isn't”和“they aren't”的話，那些人會嘲笑我，把我趕出球隊(duì)的。”
"Boy," she responded, "you'll play football becau you have guts. But do you know what really takes guts? Refusing to lower your standards to tho of the crowd. It takes guts to say you've got to live and be somebody fifty years after all the football games are over."
“小伙子，”她回答著，“你會進(jìn)入足球隊(duì)是因?yàn)槟阌杏職狻５悄阒朗裁床耪嬲枰職鈫幔坎灰虮娙硕档妥约旱臉?biāo)準(zhǔn)。在所有足球比賽都結(jié)束的五十年后，成為名人，出人頭地地活著，說出這樣的話才是需要勇氣的。”
I started saying "it isn't" and "they aren't," and I still did well on the team—and became top of the class—without losing my buddies' respect.
于是我開始說"it isn't" 和 "they aren't,"然而我在球隊(duì)里表現(xiàn)很好——并成為班里的尖子生——沒有失去兄弟們對我的尊重。
During her remarkable 44-year career, Mrs. Bessie Taylor Gwynn taught hundreds of economically deprived black youngsters—including my mother, my brother, my sisters and me. I remember her now with gratitude and affection—especially in this era when Americans are so upt about a "rising tide of mediocrity" in public education and the problems of finding competent, caring teachers. Miss Bessie was an example of an informed, dedicated teacher, a blessing to children and an ast to the nation.
貝茜?泰勒格溫小姐，在她輝煌的44年教學(xué)生涯中，教育過數(shù)以百計(jì)窮困的黑人青年——包括我的母親、兄弟姐妹與我。我至今仍滿懷感激與喜愛地懷念著她——尤其是在這個時代，美國人民對大眾教育“庸才膨脹”的現(xiàn)象和難以尋覓稱職且體貼教師而深感困擾。貝茜小姐是學(xué)問淵博、專注教育的老師的典型代表，她是孩子們的福音，是國家的財(cái)富。 Born in 1895, in poverty, she grew up in Athens, Ala., where there was no public school for blacks. She attended Trinity School, a private institution for blacks run by the American Missionary Association, and in 1911 graduated from the Normal School at Fisk University in Nashville. Mrs. Gwynn, never talked about her years in Athens; only in the months before her death did she reveal that she had never attended Fisk University itlf becau she could not afford the four-year cour.
她于1895年出生于一個貧困家庭，在亞拉巴馬州的阿森斯長大。那里沒有供黑人上學(xué)的公立學(xué)校。她上的是一所由美國教友協(xié)會開辦的私立學(xué)校——三一學(xué)堂，并于1911年畢業(yè)于位于那什維爾的菲斯克大學(xué)附屬師范學(xué)院。格溫老師從沒談過她在阿森斯的生活。直到去世前的幾個月她才說起，由于當(dāng)時交不起四年的學(xué)費(fèi)，她從來沒上過菲斯克大學(xué)。
At Normal School she learned a lot about Shakespeare, but most of all about the profound importance of education—especially, for a people trying to move up from slavery. "What you put in your head, boy," she once said, "can never be pulled out by the Ku Klux Klan, the congress or anybody."
在師范學(xué)院里，她學(xué)習(xí)了很多關(guān)于莎士比亞的作品，但更重要的是她認(rèn)識到教育的深遠(yuǎn)意義——尤其對于一個想擺脫奴役的民族極其重要。她曾經(jīng)說過：“你學(xué)過的知識，一旦記在腦海里，就永遠(yuǎn)不會被那些三K黨、國會或任何其他人掠奪走。”
Miss Bessie's bearing of dignity told anyone who met her that she was "educated" in the best n of the word. There was never a discipline problem in her class. We didn't dare mess with a woman who knew about the Battle of Hastings, the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights—and who could also play the piano.
貝茜小姐端莊的舉止讓所有認(rèn)識她的人都覺得她是受過最好教育的人。在她的課堂上從來沒有人搗亂。我們都不敢給一個既了解黑斯廷斯戰(zhàn)役、大憲章和《權(quán)利法案》，又會彈鋼琴的人惹麻煩。
This frail-looking woman could make n of Shakespeare, Milton, Voltaire, and bring to life Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois. Believing that it was important to know who the officials were that spent taxpayers' money and made public policy, she made us memorize the names of everyone on the Supreme Court and in the President's Cabinet. I
t could be embarrassing to be unprepared when Miss Bessie said, "Get up and tell the class who Frances Perkins is and what you think about her.
這位看似弱不禁風(fēng)的女人竟然能讀懂莎士比亞、彌爾頓和伏爾泰的作品，并且把布克·T. 華盛頓和W. E. B.杜波伊斯講述得栩栩如生。她認(rèn)為記住那些花納稅人的錢并制定國家政策的官員的名字是非常重要的，因此她讓我們記住最高法院和總統(tǒng)內(nèi)閣全體成員的名字。要是貝茜老師說：“站起來，告訴大家誰是弗朗西斯·珀金斯，并談一下你對她的看法”，而你對此毫無準(zhǔn)備，那就太丟臉了。
Miss Bessie knew that my family, like so many others during the Depression, couldn't afford to subscribe to a newspaper. She knew we didn't even own a radio. Still, she prodded me to "look out for your future and find some way to keep up with what's going on in the world." So I became a delivery boy for the Chattanooga Times. I rarely made a dollar a week, but I got to read a newspaper every day.
