美国国家公共电台 NPR Renia Spiegel's Diary Survived The Holocaust. People Are Finally Reading It

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Here's a story for you. A Jewish girl begins a diary just as World War II is about to start in Europe. She records the details of daily life, but more and more the war takes over the story, and eventually the diary comes to a heartbreaking end. This is not Anne Frank's diary. This is Renia's diary, a journal that spent decades stored away in a safe-deposit box, now it's being published with help from Renia's niece and sister. NPR's Lynn Neary reports.

LYNN NEARY, BYLINE¹: For a long time, Elizabeth Bellak didn't even know that her older sister Renata had kept a diary as a teenager in Poland. Then one day, her sister's old boyfriend Zygmunt showed up in New York.

ELIZABETH BELLAK: Suddenly in the '50s, somehow Zygmunt appeared in our apartment. We have no idea where he got the diary. And my mother was totally shocked.

NEARY: Elizabeth and Renata - or Renia, as they called her - had been separated from their mother during the war. Though Elizabeth and her mother made it out of Poland and settled in New York, Renia was shot to death by the Nazis². Elizabeth says her mother never read the diary.

E BELLAK: She was too emotionally stricken to read it. She just put it in the vault³ and didn't think about it because she was always heartbroken about my sister.

ALEXANDRA BELLAK: It's the depiction⁴ of a wonderful, intelligent, vibrant⁵ girl who showed great courage in dire⁶ circumstances, and it's hard to confront.

NEARY: Alexandra Bellak is Elizabeth's daughter. She grew up knowing about the diary, but after her grandmother died, her own mother also kept it locked away. Alexandra says as she got older, she was more and more curious about her aunt and her diary.

A BELLAK: You know, my name is Alexandra Renata, so I'm named after this mysterious woman I was never able to meet because she was brutally⁷ killed by the Nazis. And I wanted to learn about my past and heritage and background, and thought, well, if I could read this diary, maybe I'll unearth⁸ some things about my past that I would like to know about.

NEARY: She got the diary from its hiding place and asked a student in Poland to translate it for her. When she read it, Alexandra was stunned⁹. Her aunt was an aspiring¹⁰ writer and a gifted poet. The poems and diary entries reveal a young girl falling in love, missing her mother, afraid that she won't survive the war. In this excerpt¹¹, from one of her poems, Renia expresses her yearning¹² to be with her mother again.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Reading) Know that when the dusk begins, and the tower bell tolls¹³ for evening prayer and the December day has spent all its power - curled and shriveled in a ponderous¹⁴ hour - I will come to you. I'll come in yearning that flows or in a sparkling star that glows or in a silent holiday breath or in a sigh instead. I'll come...

NEARY: At the beginning of the war, the town where Renia lived with her grandparents was occupied by the Soviets¹⁵. Renia's mother was in Nazi-occupied Warsaw and couldn't get to her children. Alexandra Bellak says her aunt's world came to life as the diary shifts between the daily concerns of a teenage girl and the moments when war intrudes¹⁶.

A BELLAK: I do think that her gift as a writer is remarkable¹⁷. Just through the simplicity¹⁸ and naturalness, you can find a connection with her as a young teenager whose questions and challenges are as relevant today, really, as ever - from the very mundane¹⁹, everyday issues that she was facing to the terrible evil around her.

NEARY: And all the while, she is falling in love with Zygmunt, the boy who survives the war and later brings the diary to her family. In one entry, she describes their first kiss.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Reading) It was all so sudden and unexpected and sweet and intimidating²⁰. I was at a loss for words and terribly mixed up. He said, Renuska, give me a kiss, and before I knew it, it happened. He wanted more later, and I couldn't, I was shaking all over.

NEARY: Shortly after that first kiss, the Nazis took control of the town and life became much worse for the Jews who lived there, says Elizabeth Bellak.

E BELLAK: She doesn't only write about poetry and love, but she also writes about the misery²¹ of the war, about the soldiers, about the horrors, what's going on. And my sister can explain how awful it was, but also how life could be so beautiful.

NEARY: Elizabeth and her daughter Alexandra are thrilled that Renia's diary has been published because, they say, it's a story that needs to be heard now more than ever

A BELLAK: We can't forget what happened, and we have to educate each other so we don't repeat the same types of racism²² and prejudice and hate that lead to active violence.

E BELLAK: I'm very happy too because I'm looking for tolerance²³. You know, if some people weren't tolerant, I wouldn't be here today.

NEARY: Elizabeth Bellak wrote a commentary that accompanies her sister's diary, which she finally read decades after the end of the war. Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.

1 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。

2 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。

4 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

5 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

6 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

7 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

8 unearth   

v.发掘，掘出，从洞中赶出

参考例句：

• Most of the unearth relics remain intact.大多数出土文物仍保持完整无损。
• More human remains have been unearthed in the north.北部又挖掘出了更多的人体遗骸。

9 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

10 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

11 excerpt   

n.摘录，选录，节录

参考例句：

• This is an excerpt from a novel.这是一部小说的摘录。
• Can you excerpt something from the newspaper? 你能从报纸上选录些东西吗？

12 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

13 tolls   

（缓慢而有规律的）钟声( toll的名词复数 )； 通行费； 损耗； （战争、灾难等造成的）毁坏

参考例句：

• A man collected tolls at the gateway. 一个人在大门口收通行费。
• The long-distance call tolls amount to quite a sum. 长途电话费数目相当可观。

14 ponderous   

adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的

参考例句：

• His steps were heavy and ponderous.他的步伐沉重缓慢。
• It was easy to underestimate him because of his occasionally ponderous manner.由于他偶尔现出的沉闷的姿态，很容易使人小看了他。

15 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

16 intrudes   

v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的第三人称单数 )；把…强加于

参考例句：

• An outraged movie like Stone's intrudes upon a semipermanent mourning. 像斯通这种忿忿不平的电影侵犯到美国人近乎永恒的哀悼。 来自互联网
• He intrudes upon our hospitality. 他硬要我们款待他。 来自互联网

17 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

18 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

19 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

20 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

21 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

22 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。

23 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。