首位美国黑人女性诺贝尔文学奖得主托妮·莫里森逝世,享年88岁

Nobel Winner Toni Morrison Dies at 88

Toni Morrison, an American writer who received the Nobel Prize in Literature, has died at age 88.

Her novels, “Beloved,” “Song of Solomon,” and others explored the way African-Americans search for freedom and identity¹ in a country obsessed³ with skin color.

Morrison’s family released⁴ a statement saying she died in New York Monday night after a short sickness.

“Toni Morrison passed away peacefully last night surrounded by family and friends,” the statement said. She loved the written word and “was most at home when writing,” the statement also said.

Morrison was nearly 40 when she published her first novel “The Bluest Eye” in 1970. Within 25 years, she would win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel Prize committee described her writing as “language itself, a language she wants to liberate” from race.

Her novels discussed America’s past, focusing on black history and the effects of slavery and racism⁵ on individuals. She called her characters “the unfree at the heart of the democratic⁶ experiment.”

In 1988, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel “Beloved,” the story of a mother who kills her baby daughter rather than permit her to be born into slavery. It became a best-seller and was later made into a film with Oprah Winfrey.

Many Americans admired her as the country’s greatest living writer, including former President Barack Obama. During his administration⁷, he awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the U.S.’s highest civilian⁸ honor⁹.

She was born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in Lorain, Ohio, in 1931. Her father worked in a steel mill¹⁰, and her mother was a maid. She attended Howard University, an all-black university in Washington, D.C. At Howard, she read African, British and American literature, including writers William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf.

“The writers who affect me the most were novelists who were writing in Africa: Chinua Achebe, “Things Fall Apart” was a major education for me, she told the Associated Press in 1998.

After a short marriage, she became a single mother of two sons and worked as a book editor in New York. Several publishers rejected her first book, “The Bluest Eye,” but it impressed The New York Times’ book critic John Leonard who believed Morrison was an important new voice. He said her writing was “so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry.”

Morrison enjoyed her literary¹¹ fame and was proud of her Nobel Prize.

“Nobody was going to take that and make it into something else. I felt representational. I felt American. I felt Ohioan. I felt blacker than ever. I felt more woman than ever. I felt all of that and put all of that together and went out and had a good time,” she said.

I’m Jill Robbins.

Words in this Story

novel – n. a long work of fiction

obsess² – v. to think about all the time

character –n. a person who appears in a story, book, movie or play

editor – n. one who works to improve writing

1 identity   

n.身份，本体，特征；同一(性)，一致

参考例句：

• He never revealed his identity.他从未暴露过自己的身份。
• He showed his identity card and went in.他把工作证亮了一下就进去了。

2 obsess   

vt.使着迷，使心神不定，（恶魔）困扰

参考例句：

• I must admit that maps obsess me.我得承认我对地图十分着迷。
• A string of scandals is obsessing America.美国正被一系列丑闻所困扰。

3 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

4 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

5 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

6 democratic   

adj.民主的；民主主义的，有民主精神的

参考例句：

• Their country has democratic government.他们国家实行民主政体。
• He has a democratic work-style.他作风民主。

7 administration   

n.经营，管理；行政，行政机关，管理部门

参考例句：

• Who is in charge of the administration of your company?你们公司的行政工作由谁负责？
• The teachers are responsible to the school administration.教师向学校行政负责。

8 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

9 honor   

n.光荣；敬意；荣幸；vt.给…以荣誉；尊敬

参考例句：

• I take your visit as a great honor.您的来访是我莫大的光荣。
• It is a great honor to receive that prize.能拿到那个奖是无上的光荣。

10 mill   

n.磨坊，碾磨机；制造厂，工厂；vt.磨，碾

参考例句：

• The rice mill was wrecked by the enemy bombing.碾米厂遭到了敌机的轰炸。
• The farmer took his grain to the mill.这个农民把谷子送到磨房。

11 literary   

adj.文学（上）的

参考例句：

• Literary works of this kind are well received by the masses.这样的文学作品很受群众欢迎。
• The book was favourably noticed in literary magazines.这本书在文学杂志上得到好评。