VOA常速英语2019--2020年马丁·路德·金日

On the third Monday of each January, Americans honor the memory of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King, a Baptist minister from the southern state of Alabama, was a leader in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, advocating social change through non-violent means. On January 15th, he would have celebrated¹ his ninety first birthday.

每年1月的第三个星期一，美国人都要纪念马丁·路德·金博士。马丁·路德·金博士是南方阿拉巴马州浸信会教堂的牧师，是美国民权运动的领袖，主张通过非暴力手段进行社会变革。1月15日，是第90个马丁·路德·金日。

Believing that "change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability², but comes through continuous struggle," Dr. King organized and participated in mass-action boycotts³, sit-ins, peaceful marches and other non-violent acts of civil disobedience.

相信“改变不会随着不可避免的车轮滚滚而来，而是通过不断的奋斗而来，”金博士组织和参与了大规模的抵制、静坐、和平游行和其他非暴力温和反抗行动。

Dr. King once stated that "an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment⁴ in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice⁵, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law." And so, activists⁶ sometimes deliberately⁷, but peacefully and respectfully, broke laws aimed at segregating⁸ the white citizenry from the non-white, thus hoping to bring attention to the inherent unfairness of such legislation.

金博士曾经说过，“一个人违反了法律，良心告诉他这是不公正的，他心甘情愿地接受监禁的惩罚，以唤起社会对其不公正的良心，这实际上是对法律的最高尊重。”因此，活动人士有时会故意地，但以和平和尊重的方式，违反旨在将白人公民与非白人公民隔离开来的法律，从而希望引起人们对此类立法固有的不公平的关注。

Thus, when a black seamstress named Rosa Parks broke the law in Montgomery, Alabama, by refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger, and subsequently was jailed for her transgression⁹, her plight¹⁰ generated national attention and increasing sympathy for her cause across the country.

因此，当一位名叫罗莎·帕克斯的黑人女裁缝在阿拉巴马州蒙哥马利市违反法律，在公交车上拒绝为一名白人乘客让座，并因此被判入狱时，她的遭遇引起了全国的关注，全国上下对她的所作所为引发越来越多的同情。

Dr. King’s, and the Civil Rights Movement’s greatest achievement came in 1964, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act which outlawed¹¹ segregation¹² in public places, as well as employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, gender¹³ or national origin. The Civil Rights Act spawned¹⁴ the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which forbids racial discrimination in voting, and the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in housing and financing for the purchase of a home, based on race and national origin.

马丁·路德·金博士和民权运动最伟大的成就是1964年通过的《民权法案》，该法案禁止在公共场所进行种族隔离，以及基于种族、肤色、宗教、性别或国籍的就业歧视。《民权法案》催生了1965年的《投票权法案》和1968年的《公平住房法案》。1965年的《投票权法案》禁止种族歧视，1968年的《公平住房法案》禁止基于种族和国籍在住房和购房融资方面的歧视。

Dr. King was thirty nine years old when he died by an assassin's bullet on April 4th, 1968. But his legacy¹⁵ lives on. In the fullness of time, all segregationist¹⁶ laws were repealed¹⁷, and discrimination is a legally punishable – and punished – offence.

1968年4月4日，39岁的金博士死于暗杀者的子弹。但他的成果仍然存在。随着时间的推移，所有的种族隔离法律都被废除了，歧视在法律上是一种惩罚和惩罚的罪行。

Dr. King's life is well summed up in his own words: "The quality, not the longevity¹⁸, of one's life is what is important."

金博士的一生可以用他自己的话来很好地总结:“重要的是生命的质量，而不是长度。”

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 inevitability   

n.必然性

参考例句：

• Evolutionism is normally associated with a belief in the inevitability of progress. 进化主义通常和一种相信进步不可避免的看法相联系。
• It is the tide of the times, an inevitability of history. 这是时代的潮流，历史的必然。

3 boycotts   

（对某事物的）抵制( boycott的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their methods included boycotts and court action, supplemented by'sit-ins". 他们的主要方法包括联合抵制、法庭起诉，还附带进行静坐抗议。
• Are boycotts for other purposes illegal? 至于用于其它目的的联合抵制行动是否也是非法的呢？

4 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

5 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

6 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

8 segregating   

（使）分开( segregate的现在分词 )； 分离； 隔离； 隔离并区别对待（不同种族、宗教或性别的人）

参考例句：

• The government has just repealed the law segregating the public facilities. 这个政府已经撤销了分离公共设施的法律。
• Siblings and dizygotic twins share only 50% of their segregating genes. 同卵双生双胞胎和双卵双生双胞胎分享仅50%的基因。

9 transgression   

n.违背；犯规；罪过

参考例句：

• The price can make an action look more like a transaction than a transgression.罚款让一个行为看起来更像是一笔交易而不是一次违法行为。
• The areas of transgression are indicated by wide spacing of the thickness contours.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。

10 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。

11 outlawed   

宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Most states have outlawed the use of marijuana. 大多数州都宣布使用大麻为非法行为。
• I hope the sale of tobacco will be outlawed someday. 我希望有朝一日烟草制品会禁止销售。

12 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。

13 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

14 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。

15 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。

16 segregationist   

隔离主义者

参考例句：

• Recent federal action undermined the segregationist position. 近期的联邦行动消弱了隔离主义者的地位。

17 repealed   

撤销，废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The Labour Party repealed the Act. 工党废除了那项法令。
• The legislature repealed the unpopular Rent Act. 立法机关废除了不得人心的租借法案。

18 longevity   

n.长命；长寿

参考例句：

• Good habits promote longevity.良好的习惯能增长寿命。
• Human longevity runs in families.人类的长寿具有家族遗传性。