名校勵志英語演講 第63期:拯救世界 拯救兒童
I have started reflecting on the fact that my father grew up in the South, in a very poor family.He came of age during the Depression and his own father, who struggled to feed his children,showed little affection towards his family and raised my father and his siblings with an iron fist.Who could have imagined what it was like to grow up a poor black man in the South, robbed of dignity, bereft of hope, struggling to become a man in a world that saw my father as subordinate. I was the first black artist to be played on MTV and I remember how big a deal it was even then. And that was in the 80s!
我回想我的父親是在南方一個非常貧窮的家庭長大的。他來自大蕭條時期，而他自己的父親艱難地養(yǎng)育著孩子，也沒有對家人表現(xiàn)出多少慈愛，我父親和他的兄弟姐妹是在我爺爺?shù)蔫F拳下長大的。誰能想到一個在南方長大的貧窮的黑人的處境是怎么樣的?被剝奪了尊嚴(yán)，失去希望，想拼力在這個視我父親為下等人的世界里爭得立足之地。我是第一個登上音樂電視臺的黑人藝人。我還記得那有多么艱難，那還是在20世紀(jì)80年代!
My father moved to Indiana and had a large family of his own, working long hours in the steel mills, work that kills the lungs and humbles the spirit, all to support his family. Is it any wonder that he found it difficult to expose his feelings? Is it any mystery that he hardened his heart,that he raised the emotional ramparts? And most of all, is it any wonder why he pushed his sons so hard to succeed as performers, so that they could be saved from what he knew to be a life of indignity and poverty?
后來我父親搬到印第安納州并且有了自己的大家庭。他在煉鋼廠長時間工作，那種工作很低下，而且對肺有害，這一切都是為了養(yǎng)家。難怪，他很難表露自己的感情。于是，他心腸變硬了，他樹起了感情壁壘，這一切都不足為怪，不是嗎?于是，他逼他的兒子們成為成功的演員，就是為了讓他們不再過他所知道的那種沒有尊嚴(yán)只有貧困的生活，這一切還奇怪嗎?
I have begun to see that even my father's harshness was a kind of love, an imperfect love, tobe sure, but love nonetheless. He pushed me because he loved me. Because he wanted no man ever to look down at his offspring.
我開始明白，就連父親的咆哮也是一種愛，盡管肯定是一種不完美的愛。他逼我是因為他愛我，他不希望有人會鄙視他的后代。
