VOA慢速英语 2008 0405

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
　

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Forty years ago, African American civil rights leader, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior, was shot and killed. He died on April fourth, nineteen sixty-eight in Memphis, Tennessee.

On Friday, in that city, presidential candidates, civil rights leaders, labor¹ activists² and thousands of citizens came together. They honored Doctor King for leading the struggle for racial equality and economic justice.

During the nineteen fifties and sixties, Doctor King had led a campaign of non-violent protests. His work was aimed at ending racial separation and discrimination against African Americans.

His efforts led to passage of the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty-four. That year, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Forty years ago, Doctor King was in Memphis to organize a strike for workers' rights. The sanitation³ workers in the city were protesting their low wages and poor working conditions. Doctor King was thirty-nine years old at the time, and had become the nation’s chief civil rights leader.

His murder incited⁴ riots⁵ in more than one hundred American cities. The race riots lasted for days. Many African American neighborhoods burned. The government ordered about fifty thousand soldiers to help control the violence. An estimated twenty-one thousand people were arrested. Almost fifty people were killed. And millions of dollars in property was damaged or destroyed.

His murder also brought about a divisive and difficult period for race relations in the United States.

In the years since his death, Doctor King has often been called one of the most honored Americans in history. But for many, his work for racial equality remains⁶ unfinished.

In the past forty years, African Americans have become successful in education, business, entertainment and politics. The rise of Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama is a powerful sign of racial progress. If elected in November, Mister Obama would become America’s first black president.

Yet experts say the black population as a whole has not reached equality with white people socially and economically. Black Americans experience greater rates of poverty and crime than whites.

Civil rights leaders say that forty years after his death, many African Americans still seek Doctor King’s dream of equality and opportunity.

Martin Luther King Junior is best remembered for his nineteen sixty-three “I Have a Dream” speech. It brought together millions of people in the United States and around the world to work for racial justice.

(SOUND: "I Have a Dream Speech")

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I’m Steve Ember.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 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》

3 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

4 incited   

刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He incited people to rise up against the government. 他煽动人们起来反对政府。
• The captain's example incited the men to bravery. 船长的榜样激发了水手们的勇敢精神。

5 riots   

n. 暴乱, 骚乱, 暴动 vi. 骚乱, 闹事

参考例句：

• the instigators of the riots 煽动骚乱的人
• The riots are a clear manifestation of the people's discontent. 骚乱清楚地表明了人们的不满情绪。

6 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。