美国国家公共电台 NPR--'A Place Called Home' is a vivid account of David Ambroz's harrowing childhood

'A Place Called Home' is a vivid account of David Ambroz's harrowing childhood

Transcript¹

It's one thing to be homeless, but it's certainly another to be homeless as a child on the streets of New York with a mother suffering from severe mental illness.

That's what David Ambroz faced for much of his childhood – and now he has described that harrowing experience and how he overcame it in his new memoir², "A Place Called Home."

On a brutally³ cold night in New York when he was about four years old, Ambroz said he thought he might die.

"My sister and brother stopped speaking. We couldn't control our bowel⁴ movements and we started having fuzzy thoughts and collapsing," he told Morning Edition host Rachel Martin. "We sat on tops of grates so the subway air pushed out was warm until we couldn't. So there's moments of neglect. That certainly was a moment I thought my Mom, through her mental illness, might do that, might lead us to death."

A difficult realization⁵ that Ambroz and his siblings⁶ must enter foster care

There were many trying times that followed that cold night. When Ambroz was about 12, he and his older siblings, Alex (13) and Jessica (14), realized they needed to leave their mother and enter foster care.

"Right before I entered foster care was one particularly clear moment in my mind," he recalls. "My mom really lost control and became destabilized, and she brutally beat me to near-death, and that is when I put us in foster care for the final time."

"I was able to stand up and realize that my mom was going to kill me," Ambroz said.

Foster care certainly had its challenges for Ambroz and his siblings, but they had shelter, access to food, and some stability – and perhaps most important to the author, they began going to school on a regular basis.

"School was everything," he said. "I think schools today, and even then, have become so much more than a place where we learn – they are a place where kids are fed, where we access health care and where we're cool or we're warm, we're safe."

"I loved school [and] I mean, I would live for that free lunch. Teachers saw what was going on and did just a little bit more to help my siblings and I get through the day or the moment," Ambroz recalled.

Ambroz finds happiness and ways to support others

He credits foster care and the compassion⁷ he received from teachers as part of the reason he was able to turn his life around and get on the right track – and today, he's found happiness.

"I have the best life," he said. "I'm so happy. I'm in a home that I own. I have a beautiful foster son who's in graduate school [at Cornell University]. My brother and sister are thriving. They have advanced degrees and beautiful, healthy families. I care for my mom. She's no longer homeless, but she's still, you know, fighting her demons⁸ ... and I'm an active member of my community."

In the mid-1990s, he became a leading advocate for child welfare, and remains⁹ one to this day. In 2016, he was recognized by then-President Obama as an American Champion of Change, and Obama had this to say about him: "You will fall in love with David Ambroz, his beautifully-told, gut-wrenching story, and his great big heart."

Ambroz now lives in Los Angeles, where he works for Amazon as head of community engagement for the Western U.S.

He calls it "the best damn job you could possibly imagine."

"I'm literally¹⁰ charged with doing good in the community ... they want me to go out and do good in the community. And I think about that every day," Ambroz said.

"How could this kid that lived in Grand Central go out today with the resources of this company and try and change lives? And literally, my measurement of my success is that impact. How is that possible? And that's why I remain optimistic."

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

3 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

4 bowel   

n.肠(尤指人肠)；内部，深处

参考例句：

• Irritable bowel syndrome seems to affect more women than men.女性比男性更易患肠易激综合征。
• Have you had a bowel movement today?你今天有排便吗？

5 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

6 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

7 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

8 demons   

n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念

参考例句：

• demons torturing the sinners in Hell 地狱里折磨罪人的魔鬼
• He is plagued by demons which go back to his traumatic childhood. 他为心魔所困扰，那可追溯至他饱受创伤的童年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。