英语名人堂：维罗妮卡·米歇尔·巴切莱特·赫里亚

维罗妮卡·米歇尔·巴切莱特·赫里亚（英语:Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria，西班牙语:Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria） （1951年9月29日——）智利女医生、外交家、政治家、历史上首位女总统。巴切莱特1951年出生于圣地亚哥一军人家庭，1970年前往智利大学医学院进修医学，同年加入智利社会党，1975年遭军政府逮捕，后被驱逐出境，流亡澳大利亚、东德。1979年返回智利，继续在智利大学攻读医学，毕业后成为一名儿科医生，1995年当选为智利社会党中央委员会成员，后前往智利军队政治和战略研究院和美洲防务学校进修军事，1998年担任国防部长顾问，2000年～2002年担任卫生部长，2002年～2004年担任国防部长，是为智利第一位女性国防部长。2006年作为民主联盟候选人当选为智利总统，成为智利首位女性总统，任期4年，2010年卸任，后被联合国秘书长任命为联合国妇女署执行主任，2013年辞去主任职务，2014年再度当选为总统，任期至2018年。

Michelle Bachelet was born in 1951. She is the first woman to become President of Chile. She won the 2006 election in a runoff, campaigning to help reduce the country’s huge gap between rich and poor. In 2008, ‘Time’ magazine ranked her fifteenth on its list of the world's 100 most influential¹ people. She is a qualified² surgeon and speaks five languages fluently.

 

Bachelet was born in Santiago, Chile. Her mother was an archaeologist and her father was an air force officer. She spent most of her childhood traveling around Chile, living on different military bases. She attended a prestigious³ girls-only public school and excelled in her studies. She started studying medicine in 1970. She said: "It was a concrete way of helping⁴ people cope with pain."

 

Augusto Pinochet came to power in a 1973 coup⁵ and her life changed forever. Her father died in 1974 after months of daily torture. Bachelet and her mother were also tortured. In 1975, they were exiled to Australia. A year later she went to the German Democratic Republic, where she completed her medical studies and learnt German.

 

In 1979, Bachelet returned to Chile and helped children whose parents were being tortured by Pinochet’s government. She became a consultant⁶ for the World Health Organization. She also earned a Master’s in military science. In 2002 Bachelet became Latin America’s first female Defence Minister. Four years later, she became president. A record number of foreign heads of states attended her swearing in ceremony.

1 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。

2 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

3 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

6 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。