名校励志英语演讲 104:执着于你的梦想(9)

 　　Now, what did this 92 year-old black woman do that deserved such great honor? What did she do? Well, in 1955, the days of racial segregation¹, she had refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. She had refused. Her simple refusal to move to the back of the bus put into motion events that led to my country’s great civil rights movement. The small protest of a woman that maybe weighed less than 100 lbs. brought down a racist² system. As you can see, the individual can make a difference.

　　这位92岁的黑人妇女到底做了什么竟能获得如此殊荣？她做过什么？1955年，美国那时还处于种族隔离时期，罗莎·帕克斯在公交车上拒绝把座位让给一个白人。没错，她拒绝让座给白人。她拒绝到公交车尾这一简单的举动推动了美国伟大的民权运动的进展。一位体重不足100磅的女人的一个小小的抗议竟瓦解了种族主义制度。由此你们可以看到，个人可以产生深远的影响。

　　Let me tell you about another individual, Ken³ Behring, a millionaire California businessman who found his passion in giving wheelchairs to poor and physically⁴ disabled people all around the globe, including China. He says that he has met people who have spent years in rooms with no window, just lying there and staring up at the ceiling, never seeing the outside world unless someone was willing to pick up that person and take them outside to show them the world. He says that it’s no wonder so many of those physically disabled people dream about being a bird. Mr. Behring says that most of us think that a wheelchair would be a confinement⁵, but to millions of people it is not a confinement, it is freedom, freedom to move and to go to school, freedom to vote, freedom to get a job, and freedom for hope for the future. He has given freedom and wheelchairs to 400,000 people around the world. The individual can make a difference.

　　让我再给你们讲述一个人，这个人就是加利福利亚州的百万富翁肯·贝林，他是一位商人，他对援助轮椅情有独钟，曾向包括中国在内的全世界各个国家的贫困残疾人捐助轮椅。他说他曾见过一些残疾人连续数年待在没有窗户的屋子里面，只是躺在那儿盯着天花板看，看不到外面的世界，除非有人愿意扶起他们，带他们去看外面的世界。他说难怪那么多残疾人都梦想着自己能成为一只小鸟呢。贝林先生说，我们大多数人认为轮椅是一个禁锢，但对于无数残疾人而言，轮椅不是禁锢，而是迈向自由的工具。有了轮椅，他们可以自由行动，自由地去学校，自由地去投票，自由地得到一份工作，甚至自由地畅想未来。他给全世界40万残疾人提供了轮椅和自由。个人可以产生深远的影响。

　　肯尼斯·贝林是一位慈善家。贝林从汽车行业白手起家，19世纪60年代进入地产开发王国。在接下来的35年时间里，他的公司在佛罗里达州和加州建造居民社区。在1989年被美国成就学会吸收为会员，1992年被记入加州名人厅，1994年被记入海湾地区运动中心名人厅。他曾经或目前正在担任无数教育、慈善机构委员会的委员，包括：荣誉勋章基金会、史密森国家委员会、D-Day博物馆、成就学会、中国上海科技馆，并且被伯明翰大学授予荣誉博士。贝林先生被中国很多城市授予荣誉市民。贝林先生和他的太太帕特丽夏现居住在美国加州的黑鹰地区。他们有五个儿子和十个孙子孙女。

　　肯尼斯·贝林于2000年成立了世界轮椅基金会，致力于提高全世界弱势群体的生活，为他的慈善事业翻开了最新的篇章。贝林先生在世界各地遇到无数的残疾人，他们无法行走又没有能力购买轮椅；出于对这些残疾人的关爱，他决定成立世界轮椅基金会。他创办基金会的宗旨是为每一位需要轮椅的男女老幼赠送一部轮椅。目前，贝林和基金会正在共同努力去实现5年里程碑——向各公司、基金会及个人筹集1.5亿美金，在全世界范围发放100万辆轮椅。

1 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。

2 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

3 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

4 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

5 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。