历史上的今天-Today in History 2010-04-04

 April 4th, 1968The reverend Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated¹ on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. The civil rights leader was 39.

“And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the Promised Land.”

James Earl Ray, King’s confessed assassin who later claims he’s innocent, spends the rest of his life behind bars. 1841In Washington, President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia², just one month after his inauguration³. Harrison is the first US Chief Executive to die in office and his presidency⁴ remains⁵ the briefest.

1974In Cincinnati, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 714th career home run tying baseball great Babe Ruth’s record. Aaron breaks that record days later.

And 1928,“The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change”

Maya Angelou, poet, writer, actress and African- American activist⁶ is born in Saint Louis. Today in History, April 4th, Sandy Kozel, the Associated Press.

1 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

2 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

3 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

4 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。