美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-07-25

 We mark in this show the life and career of Helen Thomas, who died yesterday at the age of 92, but her story has four distinct chapters. There was Helen Thomas, the classic American success story, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants who settled in the U.S. with less than 20 bucks¹ to their names. 

 

She made it good as a young female reporter in Washington for the United Press news service. 

 

Then there was Helen Thomas, the legendary² White House reporter, breaking stories such as Gerald Ford's full pardon of Richard Nixon for Watergate, a woman so integral(构成整体所需要的) to the Washington experience that political movies cast her to give them a touch of reality. 

 

Though she reported intensely, she did not land many enduring scoops³. Few White House reporters do. But she embraced the theatricality⁴ of her job, asking presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama the inconvenient⁵ questions that many Americans want their leaders to face. 

 

There was Helen Thomas, the path breaker, time and again prying⁶ open doors for women in the notoriously clubby(俱乐部的；友善的；排他的) Washington press corps⁷ by demanding equal status. She became not just White House correspondent but bureau chief(总编辑), not just the first female member of the Gridiron Club, but its president. 

 

She forced open those doors because such recognitions would validate⁸ women reporters in the eyes of politicians and their journalistic peers. She mentored⁹ hundreds of women reporters and inspired countless¹⁰ more. 

 

And then there was Helen Thomas, the liberal gadfly, her beliefs fully¹¹ surfacing as she left United Press International to become a columnist¹² for Hearst Newspapers in 2000, along with skepticism toward Israel and American policy in the Middle East. 

 

For three full years, wary¹³ of her barbed questions, President George W. Bush neglected to call on her. 

 

When he finally did, Thomas asked him why he took the nation to war against Iraq at all. There is a principle in journalism¹⁴ that you don't remember someone solely¹⁵ by the worst thing she did, but a reporter as sharp as Thomas would notice meaningful omissions¹⁶. 

 

Late in life, Helen Thomas called on Jews living in Israel to return to the European lands in which millions of Jews were murdered amid World War II. It was an astonishing and offensive remark. Thomas lost her job at Hearst and it effectively ended her career. Any honest rendering¹⁷ of Thomas' career must acknowledge that moment, but any such account must also recognize the path she blazed, the battles she fought and the spin she exposed.

1 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

3 scoops   

n.小铲( scoop的名词复数 )；小勺；一勺[铲]之量；（抢先刊载、播出的）独家新闻v.抢先报道( scoop的第三人称单数 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• two scoops of mashed potato 两勺土豆泥
• I used three scoops of flour and one(scoop)of sugar. 我用了三杓面粉和一杓糖。 来自辞典例句

4 theatricality   

n.戏剧风格，不自然

参考例句：

• The scene breaks out before you with the theatricality of a curtain lifted from a stage. 景色立即如拉开了舞台的帷幕一般充满了戏剧性地出现在你面前。 来自辞典例句

5 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

6 prying   

adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开

参考例句：

• I'm sick of you prying into my personal life! 我讨厌你刺探我的私生活！
• She is always prying into other people's affairs. 她总是打听别人的私事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

8 validate   

vt.（法律）使有效，使生效

参考例句：

• You need an official signature to validate the order.你要有正式的签字，这张汇票才能生效。
• In order to validate the agreement,both parties sign it.为使协议有效，双方在上面签了字。

9 mentored   

v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They had a fantastic dean who really mentored a lot of people. 那儿的教务长非常出色，的确为许多人提供了指导。 来自互联网
• The famous professor mentored him during his years in graduate school. 那位著名的教授在他读研究生期间指导他。 来自互联网

10 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

12 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

13 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

14 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

15 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

16 omissions   

n.省略( omission的名词复数 )；删节；遗漏；略去或漏掉的事（或人）

参考例句：

• In spite of careful checking, there are still omissions. 饶这么细心核对，还是有遗漏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• It has many omissions; even so, it is quite a useful reference book. 那本书有许多遗漏之处，即使如此，尚不失为一本有用的参考书。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。