美国国家公共电台 NPR Charles Krauthammer, Pulitzer-Winning Columnist, Dies Of Cancer

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist¹ and commentator² Charles Krauthammer has died. He was 68 years old. Krauthammer has been a mainstay of The Washington Post and Fox News for years. The Post confirmed his death this evening less than two weeks after he wrote a farewell column for the paper. NPR's David Folkenflik joins us now. Hi, there David.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE³: Hey, Audie.

CORNISH: Now, Charles Krauthammer - he transformed politically - right? - over time. What defined his writings or even his influence?

FOLKENFLIK: Well, I'd say he was seen as unsparing. I'd say he was seen as intellectually rigorous and precise. He trained as a psychiatrist⁴, but he brought a real intelligence to bear. He's thought of himself initially⁵ as a conservative Democrat⁶. He'd been a speechwriter for Vice⁷ President Walter Mondale, a Democrat, and he had sort of seen himself as part of the hawkish⁸ wing of the party, worked at The New Republic, which was seen as a liberal publication. But he, as its owner, tended towards the right. He himself had a transformation⁹ - really strongly hawkish on issues of the Cold War and others. And he emerged as somebody who was a rallying cry for conservatives, among others, who were looking for somebody intellectual to follow with some vigor¹⁰, particularly in the Reagan years.

CORNISH: What were some of his key issues?

FOLKENFLIK: He was very strong on the Soviet¹¹ Union. He was very strong on Israel, very hawkish towards it. His father and mother had emigrated from what is now the Ukraine - they're Jews - during World War II. And he thought that it was important to sustain the strength of Israel over time. He saw also a sense of what he saw his role for honor in a society, and so he rallied to a lot of the foreign policy issues of Reagan, was very critical, for example, of President Clinton on personal issues, the Lewinsky scandal and others but seen as somebody who was very principled and painstaking¹² in where - in the way he went about his commentary.

CORNISH: Tell us more about his background 'cause I understand he didn't set out to become a journalist.

FOLKENFLIK: No. As I said, he went to medical school. He went, in fact, to Harvard Medical School after studying at McGill in Canada and then at Oxford¹³ in England and had gone to medical school. And then there was a fateful day that changed everything.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: The second it happened...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: You knew.

KRAUTHAMMER: ...I knew exactly what happened. I knew why I wasn't able to move, and I knew what that meant.

FOLKENFLIK: He had been studying that week the spinal¹⁴ cord, and he'd suffered himself what was a crushing spinal cord injury that made him a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. He studied psychiatry¹⁵ and then felt that was unfulfilling and found journalism¹⁶ and in that found another calling even though he practiced as a psychiatrist for years as well.

CORNISH: We mentioned earlier his farewell column. What was in it?

FOLKENFLIK: It was really poignant¹⁷. He talked about a meaning. He talked about living a life that he had intended to leave. He talked about living a life without regrets. I spoke¹⁸ to some of his former colleagues in recent days after that farewell column, and they said it was a quintessential Charles Krauthammer piece, an essay - reflective, insightful. You know, he was somebody who was much championed and celebrated¹⁹ by conservatives and at times really condemned²⁰ by liberals.

And at the same time, he was somebody that his colleagues said could often see the humanity and unexpected moments, could look at people who were being condemned, you know, on personal terms and say, you know, that's not right; we're demonizing people, and people are often working through troubled issues. Charles Krauthammer had what could have been a crushing injury that could have in some ways wrecked²¹ his life, and he emerged in some ways to have lived a life in full.

CORNISH: That's NPR's David Folkenflik. David, thank you so much.

FOLKENFLIK: You bet.

1 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

2 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

5 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

6 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

7 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。

8 hawkish   

adj. 鹰派的, 强硬派的

参考例句：

• My staff's advice that first day was amazingly hawkish. 在第一天，我的僚属们的意见是令人吃惊的鹰派意见。
• Antiwar groups fear Barack Obama may create hawkish Cabinet. 反战团体担心巴拉克·奥巴马可以创建强硬派内阁。

9 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

10 vigor   

n.活力，精力，元气

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• She didn't want to be reminded of her beauty or her former vigor.现在，她不愿人们提起她昔日的美丽和以前的精力充沛。

11 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

12 painstaking   

adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的

参考例句：

• She is not very clever but she is painstaking.她并不很聪明，但肯下苦功夫。
• Through years of our painstaking efforts,we have at last achieved what we have today.大家经过多少年的努力，才取得今天的成绩。

13 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

14 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

15 psychiatry   

n.精神病学，精神病疗法

参考例句：

• The study appeared in the Amercian science Journal of Psychiatry.这个研究发表在美国精神病学的杂志上。
• A physician is someone who specializes in psychiatry.精神病专家是专门从事精神病治疗的人。

16 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

17 poignant   

adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的

参考例句：

• His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
• It is especially poignant that he died on the day before his wedding.他在婚礼前一天去世了，这尤其令人悲恸。

18 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

19 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

20 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

21 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞