访谈录 2009-09-10&09-14 劳拉•布什专访

How do you make governments have literacy a priority? Because if you look at Africa, you look at Asia and so many other places around the world, governments have to struggle with so many other things. There's Corruption¹, there's... How do you do it?
What UNESCO is trying to do is focus on the 34 most illiterate² countries, the countries with the highest rate of illiteracy³. And they have two programs. One is an assessment⁴ program so that they will help governments really assess how many people are illiterate, who they are, where they are and what they can do to intervene in their lives. And then the other program out of UNESCO is called LEAP and it's an adult literacy program.
Right now Afghanistan you know is facing allegations of its election being marred⁵. There are more civilian⁶ deaths and the Taliban seems to be getting stronger, none of which is good for women especially. What’s your reaction to the state now?
Well, I’m very concerned, of course. And I think everybody who’s invested anything in the lives of the people of Afghanistan is concerned. We’re concerned for our own troops who are there and their safety. And of course I’m concerned with the women who are there who are trying to really make a life.
Do you think it could fall apart? Is it on the brink⁷?
I don’t know if I would say that but I think it’s worrisome and I want people… I hope that people will redouble their efforts both within Afghanistan and all the people that help from outside the country.
You’ve been very outspoken⁸ too about Burma and the plight⁹ of Aung San Suu Kyi the pro-democracy leader. Do you think the military junta¹⁰ is just scared of her and don’t want her to contest in the election.
Sure. Absolutely, that’s the reason I think why she’s always been held under house arrest. They are afraid of her popularity. They think that undermines their regime but I hope that they’ll see what she really wants. She wants a dialogue.
What’s your message for her?
Well I just admire her so much. My message to her is how much I admire her courage and watch from afar, I hope someday I have a chance to meet her.
What’s it like for you being a private citizen?
Well it’s great. Really it’s nice. We’re enjoying our home in Texas a lot. We have a new house, getting furniture. And we've had a lot of fun working on that. We’re both working on our memoirs¹², writing our memoirs and then we’re also building the Presidential Library.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_library)
Give us a taste of your memoirs, give us a tease.
It’s been fun and interesting to work on because it’s, you know, there is something sort of psychological, I think, about writing your memoir¹¹. As you go through it you'll see a lot of sides of every part of it that happened to you.
How’s President Bush doing? Is he glad to be out of the spotlight¹³?
He’s doing very well. Thank you for asking. He’s riding this mountain bike a lot. He likes that. He’s very disciplined about writing his memoirs. In fact I’m ashamed everyday.
Better than you?
Yes, a lot better than me. He’s always been a lot disciplined than I am. So he’s working on those. I keep telling him that I’ve got to the second grade in my memoir.
How do you think the world would remember him?
Well I think the world would remember him for really what he is. And that’s what I think people will get to see both from his memoirs and from mine. And that is somebody who stood for freedom and who stood for the security of our country and I think people know that. I think the people that really know him, know what he’s like and they see what he’s stood for. That’s the freedom of 50 million people in Afghanistan and in Iraq.
Many around the world would say that he stood for divisiveness and destructiveness.
Well I would say that’s absolutely not right and I don’t think they have either the right view of him or what his responsibilities are and were, as President of the Untied¹⁴ States.
Do you think he is doing a good job, President Obama?
I think he is I think he’s got you know he’s got a lot on his plate and he’s tackled a lot to start with and that’s probably made it more difficult.
How do you think Michelle Obama is doing?
I think she’s doing great.
What strikes you? You know you’ve been there.
I saw her at the funeral, Teddy Kennedy’s funeral last week and asked her about the girls and how they are doing and I know what she is doing you know it’s what every woman who moves there does and that's to try to make it home, both for her husband who’s the President and for her children.
What about you daughter Jenna. She’s going to be a correspondent and contributing to the Today Show. What do you think of that?
That’s right. I’m proud of her for that. I think she’ll have a lot fun with that. She wants to bring stories about the education ’cause she’s a teacher and she knew she’s continuing to teach as well to the attention of American people.
 

1 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

2 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

3 illiteracy   

n.文盲

参考例句：

• It is encouraging to read that illiteracy is declining.从读报中了解文盲情况正在好转，这是令人鼓舞的。
• We must do away with illiteracy.我们必须扫除文盲。

4 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

5 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

6 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

7 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

8 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

9 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

10 junta   

n.团体；政务审议会

参考例句：

• The junta reacted violently to the perceived threat to its authority.军政府感到自身权力受威胁而进行了激烈反击。
• A military junta took control of the country.一个军政权控制了国家。

11 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。

12 memoirs   

n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数)

参考例句：

• Her memoirs were ghostwritten. 她的回忆录是由别人代写的。
• I watched a trailer for the screenplay of his memoirs. 我看过以他的回忆录改编成电影的预告片。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

14 untied   

松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决

参考例句：

• Once untied, we common people are able to conquer nature, too. 只要团结起来，我们老百姓也能移山倒海。
• He untied the ropes. 他解开了绳子。