2006年VOA标准英语-Literary Prodigy Shares Passion for Reading and

By Liu Enming
Washington, DC
29 December 2006
 
watch Tiny Literary Giant

After publishing her first book when she was only seven, Adora Svitak was dubbed¹ a "Tiny Literary Giant" by Diane Sawyer of Good Morning America. For producer Liu Enming, Elaine Lu has the story of this child prodigy².

Adora Svitak started writing when she was only four. She published her first book Flying Fingers at seven, and authored more than 400 short stories. Flying Fingers was published in four languages for international audiences. Recently she was invited to New York City's Stony³ Brook⁴ University to speak to aspiring⁵ children and their parents at the Charles Wang Center.

Adora Svitak

"Hello everybody, I am very glad to be here and I hope you are, too," she said, introducing herself. "Today I am going to show you a few pictures, slide shows of myself. I am going to talk about writing and reading. This poem I am going to read to you is from my book Flying Fingers, titled 'Ghost.'"

Adora Svitak was invited in 2005 to appear on Good Morning America, a popular ABC morning television program, to demonstrate her writing talent. The famous late anchor Peter Jennings was on the set that day, and showed great interest in this literary genius. He even sent her his own history book, The Century for Young People, after learning that little Adora loves history.

Under the limelight, Adora might be a celebrity⁶ surrounded by fame and adoration⁷, but at home, she is just an ordinary little girl who loves to play.

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"Under a night with a starry8 sky, under a night with dark blue up high, under the night, they sit together, anonymous9 men, as white as a feather. Quietly they lurk10 around, making not a single sound, at the stroke of midnight, they all vanish, leaving their trail shinning bright." - Adora Svitak excerpt from "Ghost", in Flying Fingers

"I discovered [my love of writing] when I was pretty young, maybe 4 or 5. I just felt that sometimes [I had] so many ideas, and I should write them on paper. When I was 6, I got my first laptop. I wrote quite a few stories. My mom was very surprised, because sometimes I wouldn't go to dinner when I was writing these stories."

Adora reads insatiably: more than 2,000 books over the past five years. She says books are like wings for her imagination. "Yes, I love to read and write because it gives me a chance to express myself and I can share my thoughts with others," she says. "And through reading, I gain knowledge and I have fun, and I can go to other places because books are like wings."

Along with being an avid¹² reader, Adora is a self-proclaimed "amateur historian" and a news junkie who often works today's headlines into her writing.

"I am going to read you a sample of one of my stories, which is called Yang in Disguise. My two new books are called Yang in Disguise and The Pickpocket¹³ Princess,"the girl explains. Yang in Disguise is a political satire¹⁴ of President Bush, because I disapprove¹⁵ of many of his policies."

Adora's mother Joyce Svitak credits dedication¹⁶ and commitment for her daughter's success. She says, "She might be precocious¹⁷, and she is intelligent. But I think the most important component¹⁸ of her success is her hard work."

Adora enjoys traveling to schools and sharing her love of reading and writing with other children, because it is part of her clear goals for the future. "To inspire other children to read and write, I also hope to make the world a better place. I also want to write more books," she says.

1 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 prodigy   

n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆

参考例句：

• She was a child prodigy on the violin.她是神童小提琴手。
• He was always a Negro prodigy who played barbarously and wonderfully.他始终是一个黑人的奇才，这种奇才弹奏起来粗野而惊人。

3 stony   

adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的

参考例句：

• The ground is too dry and stony.这块地太干，而且布满了石头。
• He listened to her story with a stony expression.他带着冷漠的表情听她讲经历。

4 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

5 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

6 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

7 adoration   

n.爱慕，崇拜

参考例句：

• He gazed at her with pure adoration.他一往情深地注视着她。
• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。

8 starry   

adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的

参考例句：

• He looked at the starry heavens.他瞧着布满星星的天空。
• I like the starry winter sky.我喜欢这满天星斗的冬夜。

9 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

10 lurk   

n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏

参考例句：

• Dangers lurk in the path of wilderness.在这条荒野的小路上隐伏着危险。
• He thought he saw someone lurking above the chamber during the address.他觉得自己看见有人在演讲时潜藏在会议厅顶上。

11 excerpt   

n.摘录，选录，节录

参考例句：

• This is an excerpt from a novel.这是一部小说的摘录。
• Can you excerpt something from the newspaper? 你能从报纸上选录些东西吗？

12 avid   

adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的

参考例句：

• He is rich,but he is still avid of more money.他很富有,但他还想贪图更多的钱。
• She was avid for praise from her coach.那女孩渴望得到教练的称赞。

13 pickpocket   

n.扒手；v.扒窃

参考例句：

• The pickpocket pinched her purse and ran away.扒手偷了她的皮夹子跑了。
• He had his purse stolen by a pickpocket.他的钱包被掏了。

14 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。

15 disapprove   

v.不赞成，不同意，不批准

参考例句：

• I quite disapprove of his behaviour.我很不赞同他的行为。
• She wants to train for the theatre but her parents disapprove.她想训练自己做戏剧演员，但她的父母不赞成。

16 dedication   

n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞

参考例句：

• We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
• Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。

17 precocious   

adj.早熟的；较早显出的

参考例句：

• They become precocious experts in tragedy.他们成了一批思想早熟、善写悲剧的能手。
• Margaret was always a precocious child.玛格丽特一直是个早熟的孩子。

18 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。