国家地理:Martin Luther King 马丁·路德·金

He began his career as a Baptist preacher but went on to lead a sweeping¹ grassroots effort to end racial discrimination, known as the Civil Rights Movement. Along the way, Martin Luther King Junior made history and emerged as one of the most influential² leaders of the 20th century.

Before the Civil Rights Movement began, segregation³ policies known as Jim Crow laws kept African-Americans in a separate and generally inferior world from whites. African-Americans went to separate public schools, ate in separate restaurants, and even had to use separate public restrooms. They had to sit in the back of buses, and give up their seats to any white people standing⁴.

But in 1954, Jim Crow suffered a stunning⁵ defeat. The Supreme⁶ Court declared that separate schools for blacks and whites were inherently unequal in a case called Brown versus⁷ board of education. The following year, in Montgomery, Alabama, a tailor's assistant, named Rosa Parks, refuse to give up her bus seat for a white passenger. Parks was arrested, but Martin Luther King organized a full-fledged boycott⁸ of the Montgomery city bus system. 13 months later, the buses integrated.

The Montgomery boycott inspired more efforts to end segregation. In 1963, King and other civil rights leaders organized the March on Washington. More than 200,000 people came to the nation's capital to demand equality for blacks and urge Congress to pass pending⁹ civil rights laws. Standing at the base of the Lincoln Memorial, King spoke¹⁰ the words "I have a dream today", describing his hope for a future in which all men would be brothers.

The Civil Rights Movement was changing the nation. In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which made racial discrimination in public places illegal. The same year, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

On April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated¹¹ in Memphis, Tennessee. But the movement he helped to lead lived on, inspiring other groups such as Hispanics, women and the disabled to fight for equal treatment under the law, and completing King's legacy¹² of greater social justice for all Americans.

Words

grassroots : The grassroots of an organization or movement are the ordinary people who form the main part of it, rather than its leaders. 基层的,一般民众的;来自民间的
Hispanic: A Hispanic person is a citizen of the United States of America who originally came from Latin America, or whose family originally came from Latin America.

1 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

2 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

3 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

6 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

7 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

8 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

9 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

10 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。

11 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

12 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。