美国国家公共电台 NPR--Robert Kennedy was killed 55 years ago. How should he be remembered?

Robert Kennedy was killed 55 years ago. How should he be remembered?

Transcript¹

Just after midnight on June 5, 1968, in a ballroom² in the ornate Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, a packed crowd watched charismatic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy give a victory speech after winning the California primary.

Almost five years after his older brother John F. Kennedy was assassinated³ in Dallas, Robert Kennedy was making his own run for the White House. America was divided over the Civil Rights Movement and the war in Vietnam.

The New York senator was gaining momentum⁵ to potentially secure the Democratic nomination⁶. But that night — 55 years ago today — was the last time he would address the public.

A second Kennedy assassinated

As Kennedy walked off stage at the Ambassador Hotel through a pack of eager reporters, the crowd chanted his name.

"We want Bobby," they cheered.

Kennedy shook hands with supporters and exited the ballroom through the kitchen. Then, the crowd heard what witnesses would later describe as the sound of firecrackers. A gunman fired a .22 caliber⁷ revolver, hitting Kennedy and injuring five others.

Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson — one of Kennedy's friends who worked on his campaign — wrestled⁸ the gunman to the ground and tried to disarm⁹ him.

Amid the chaos¹⁰, teenage busboy Juan Romero comforted Kennedy, who was sprawled¹¹ out on the floor.

"I kneeled down to him and put my hand between the cold concrete and his head just to make him comfortable," Romero told StoryCorps in 2018. "I could feel a steady stream of blood coming through my fingers. I had a rosary in my shirt pocket, and I took it out thinking that he would need it a lot more than me. I wrapped it around his right hand, and then they wheeled him away."

Kennedy died the next day. He was 42. His widow, Ethel, was pregnant with their 11th child.

Campaigning on race, with some contradictions

Mourners lined up before dawn outside New York City's St. Patrick's Cathedral for Kennedy's funeral mass. Inside the church, Sen. Ted⁴ Kennedy delivered the eulogy¹².

"As he said many times in many parts of this nation: Some men see things as they are and say 'Why?' " Kennedy said. "I dream things that never were and say 'Why not?' "

Robert Kennedy was memorialized as a liberal icon¹³ who found support among Black and Latino voters.

"He made a virtue¹⁴ of abrasiveness¹⁵ in his 1968 campaign, deliberately¹⁶ taunting¹⁷ affluent¹⁸ constituencies on behalf of the disadvantaged," NPR commentator¹⁹ Rod MacLeish said in 1983.

But Kennedy was complicated and contradictory²⁰, especially when it came to one particular decision. As U.S. attorney general, he authorized²¹ the FBI to wiretap Martin Luther King Jr.'s telephones in 1963, because of suspicion that one of King's aides had communist ties.

But Kennedy was a well-known advocate for marginalized communities and spoke²² about racial equality during his campaign. Two months before his own death, Kennedy gave an impromptu²³ speech to a mostly Black crowd in Indianapolis about the assassination²⁴ of Dr. King.

"What we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but love and compassion²⁵ toward one another, a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer, whether they be white or whether be Black," he said.

On the day Kennedy died, Congress responded by expanding Secret Service protection to include major presidential candidates. The man who shot Kennedy was convicted of first-degree murder and continues to serve a life sentence.

The room where it happened

Today, there is no Ambassador Hotel. It was demolished²⁶ in 2006.

The site in LA is now a complex of public schools called the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. There are vibrant²⁷ murals all over campus and in the hallways. The walls of the school library are adorned²⁸ with portraits and huge, colorful paintings of Kennedy.

Most of the students there are Latino. Over the years, many of the students who graduate are the first in their families to attend college.

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 ballroom   

n.舞厅

参考例句：

• The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
• I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。

3 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

4 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

5 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

6 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

7 caliber   

n.能力；水准

参考例句：

• They ought to win with players of such high caliber.他们选手的能力这样高,应该获胜。
• We are always trying to improve the caliber of our schools.我们一直在想方设法提高我们学校的水平。

8 wrestled   

v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤

参考例句：

• As a boy he had boxed and wrestled. 他小的时候又是打拳又是摔跤。
• Armed guards wrestled with the intruder. 武装警卫和闯入者扭打起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 disarm   

v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和

参考例句：

• The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
• He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。

10 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

11 sprawled   

v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawled full-length across the bed. 他手脚摊开横躺在床上。
• He was lying sprawled in an armchair, watching TV. 他四肢伸开正懒散地靠在扶手椅上看电视。

12 eulogy   

n.颂词；颂扬

参考例句：

• He needs no eulogy from me or from any other man. 他不需要我或者任何一个人来称颂。
• Mr.Garth gave a long eulogy about their achievements in the research.加思先生对他们的研究成果大大地颂扬了一番。

13 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

14 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

15 abrasiveness   

磨耗； 磨蚀； 磨损性； 磨蚀性

参考例句：

• This scale is based on the relative abrasiveness of minerals. 此硬度计的依据是矿物的相对研磨能力。
• The rock abrasiveness encountered in drilling using PDC bit was discussed. 利用微型钻头模拟PDC钻头的切削破岩过程，对PDC钻头的岩石研磨性进行了试验研究。

16 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

17 taunting   

嘲讽( taunt的现在分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落

参考例句：

• She wagged a finger under his nose in a taunting gesture. 她当着他的面嘲弄地摇晃着手指。
• His taunting inclination subdued for a moment by the old man's grief and wildness. 老人的悲伤和狂乱使他那嘲弄的意图暂时收敛起来。

18 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

19 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

20 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

21 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

22 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

23 impromptu   

adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地)

参考例句：

• The announcement was made in an impromptu press conference at the airport.这一宣布是在机场举行的临时新闻发布会上作出的。
• The children put on an impromptu concert for the visitors.孩子们为来访者即兴献上了一场音乐会。

24 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

25 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。

26 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

27 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

28 adorned   

[计]被修饰的

参考例句：

• The walls were adorned with paintings. 墙上装饰了绘画。
• And his coat was adorned with a flamboyant bunch of flowers. 他的外套上面装饰着一束艳丽刺目的鲜花。