VOA标准英语2011-Living Life Fueled by Power of Courage

Whether it is losing a loved one or a job, facing foreclosure or serious illness, people need courage to face what life throws in their path on a daily basis. To explore what courage is and how it can help people transform their lives, authors Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons interviewed dozens of courageous¹ people from all walks of life and across the globe.

They share their findings in their new book, "The Courage Companion."

Rising to the challenge

Sammons knows exactly how it feels when challenges in life arise unexpectedly and all at once.

"I was employed full-time² as a vice³ president at a company and our company was sold," Sammons says. "So I lost the stability of the full-time job. I also lost my father. So it was a sad moment. I also have three children. All those things together, you have to just keep going. So I feel like I had no choice but to find the courage to just get up and keep going and find something new."

In their book, 'The Courage Companion: How to Live Life with True Power,' authors Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons explore what courage is and how it can help people transform their lives.
Among the new things Sammons found was a job working for an inner city school in Chicago, Illinois. There, she says, she was inspired by a courageous African-American grandmother. For years, Lucille Jackson battled gangs and extreme violence in her community to provide hope for her 17-year-old grandson.

"She has lost everything," she says. "She has seen three of her children die of cancer or be killed in this dangerous neighborhood, yet she's determined⁴ that her grandson Michael will beat the odds⁵ and be the first person in the family that will graduate from high school."

'The Courage Companion'

Jackson is one of dozens of courageous people profiled in "The Courage Companion: How to Live Life with True Power," which Sammons co-authored with her friend Nina Lesowitz.

The book also includes the story of Romel Joseph, the blind Haitian violinist who captured worldwide attention after last year's earthquake destroyed his music school in Port-au-Prince.

"He was trapped inside for 17 hours," Sammons explains. "His wife actually died. She was trapped in the building as well, and she did not get out. He kept himself alive by singing the music he loves so much in his head, playing it over and over. When he got out, he was injured and went to a hospital. He's back in Haiti, trying to rebuild his school."

Some people were profiled for their fight against injustice⁶ despite threats, harassment⁷ and violence, in places like South Africa, Nepal and Iran.

Reacting to tragedy

Others rise above their personal misfortune and help others. When her boyfriend committed suicide a few years ago, Amanda Coggin, a writer in San Francisco, California, decided⁸ to do what she could to prevent similar tragedies.

"There have been some organizations that I've connected with," Coggin says. "The first one is Challenge Day. They are based here in California. They go into high schools and do day-long sessions with kids to get to the bottom of the bullying⁹ and teasing and issues that are happening with kids, whether it is high pressure schools or what's happening in kids' families. It was something I was naturally drawn¹⁰ to before I knew it would be my best suicide prevention work."

Helping¹¹ others was also the best way for Maddy Oden to help herself. When her daughter died after being given a drug to induce labor¹², Oden began speaking out against the risks of medical intervention¹³ and the use of certain drugs during childbirth.

"Something inside me said this is not going to happen to anyone else," Oden recalls. "I proceeded to do what I do, which is form a non-profit organization that's educational for pregnant women to empower them around the issues of childbirth and pregnancy¹⁴."

Facing fear

The book also introduces us to Lt. Heidi Kraft, who served as a clinical psychologist in the U.S. Navy. She sees courage not as the lack of fear, but rather the ability to face it. When Kraft was deployed¹⁵ to Iraq in 2004, her twin son and daughter were only 15 months old.

"There was an actual, real possibility that I'd never see their second birthday," Kraft says. "And, as a mother, I sort of panicked. I almost remember feeling frozen, with fear. I had to put that away. I had to take my feelings as a mother and just move them to a place I couldn't touch and focus on being a provider and an officer, a friend, the roles that were required from me at that moment. I knew my patents needed me, I knew my people needed me."

Kraft wrote about her experience in a book titled, "Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital." She says dangerous situations are not all bad. They often transform one's life.

"I learned so much from our 19-, 20-, 21-year-olds that we ask to do much for our country and the loyalty¹⁶ they have for one another, for their mission, even in the face of injury and fear," she says. "It changed everything for me. I know for a fact that I grew, as a psychologist, as a mother, as an officer, as a wife, as a friend and as a woman. It's given me a perspective on what's important in almost every phase of my life."

Courage Companion co-author Sammons says the conclusion she and Nina Lesowitz came to after interviewing Kraft and so many others is that courage means different things in different situations. But, as she notes in her book, it remains the true power we need to live a full life, make a difference and pursue our dreams

1 courageous   

adj.勇敢的，有胆量的

参考例句：

• We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
• He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。

2 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

5 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

6 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。

7 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

11 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。

12 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。

13 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

14 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

15 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

16 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。