PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Jesse Owens

PEOPLE IN AMERICA -June 9, 2002: Jesse Owens

By Barbara Dash

Anncr:

People in America -- a Special English program about people who were important in the history of the United
States. Today Kay Gallant¹ and Harry² Monroe tell the story of athlete Jesse Owens. He once was the fastest runner
in the world.

(Theme)

VOICE 1:

In the summer of nineteen-thirty-six, people all over the world heard the name of
Jesse Owens. That summer, Jesse joined the best athletes from fifty nations to
compete in the Olympic games. They met in Germany, in the city of Berlin.

There was special interest in the Olympic games that year.

Adolf Hitler was ruler of Germany. Hitler and his Nazi³ party believed that white people
-- especially German people -- were the best race of people on earth. They believed that
other races of people -- especially those with dark skin -- were almost less than human.

In the summer of nineteen thirty-six, Hitler wanted to prove his beliefs to the world. He
wanted to show that German athletes could win every important competition. After all,
only a few weeks before the Olympics, German boxer⁴ Max Schmeling had defeated the
great American heavyweight Joe Louis, a black man.

VOICE 2:

Jesse Owens was black, too. Until nineteen-thirty-six, very few black athletes had competed in the Olympics for
the United States. Jesse was proud to be on the team. He was very sure of his ability.

Jesse spent one week competing in four different Olympic track and field events in Berlin. During that time, he
did not think much about the color of his skin, or about Adolf Hitler.

He said later: "I was looking only at the finish line. I thought of all the years of practice and competition, and of
all who believed in me."

VOICE 1:

We do not know what Hitler thought of Jesse Owens. No one recorded what he said about this black man who
ran faster and jumped farther⁵ than any man of any color at the Olympic Games. But we can still see Jesse Owens
as Hitler saw him. For at Hitler's request, motion⁶ pictures were made of the Berlin Olympic games.

The films show Jesse Owens as a thin, but powerfully built young man with smooth brown skin and short hair.
When he ran, he seemed to move without effort. When he jumped, as one observer⁷ said, he seemed to jump clear
out of Germany.

Jesse Owens won the highest award -- the gold medal -- in all four of the Olympic competitions he entered. In the
one-hundred meter run, he equaled the fasted time ever run in that Olympic event. In the long jump and the two-
hundred meter run, he set new Olympic records. And as part of a four-man team, he helped set a new world
record for the four-hundred meter relay⁸ race.

VOICE 2:


Jesse's Olympic victories made him a hero. He returned home to parades in New York
City and Columbus, Ohio, where he attended the state university. Businessmen paid him
for the right to use his name on their stores. No one, however, offered him a permanent
job.

For many years after the nineteen-thirty-six Olympic games, Jesse Owens survived as
best he could. He worked at small jobs. He even used his athletic⁹ abilities, but in a sad
way. He earned money by running races against horses. He and his wife and three
daughters saw both good times and bad times.

VOICE 1:

Poverty was not new to Jesse. He was born in nineteen-thirteen on a farm in the southern state of Alabama. He
was the youngest of thirteen children. His parents did not own the farm, and earned little money. Jesse
remembered that there was rarely enough food to eat. And there was not enough fuel to heat the house in winter.

Some of Jesse's brothers and sisters died while still young. Jesse, himself, was a sickly child. Partly because of
this, and partly because of the racial hatred¹⁰ they saw around them, Jesse's parents decided¹¹ to leave the south.
They moved north, to Cleveland, Ohio, when Jesse was about ten years old.

The large family lived in a few small rooms in a part of the city that was neither friendly nor pleasant to look at.
Jesse's father was no longer young or strong. He was unable to find a good job. Most of the time, no one would
give him any work at all. But Jesse's older brothers were able to get jobs in factories. So life was a little better
than it had been in the south.

VOICE 2:

Jesse, especially, was lucky. He entered a school where one white teacher, Charles Riley, took a special interest
in him. Jesse looked thin and unhealthy, and Riley wanted to make him stronger. Through the years that Jesse
remained in school, Riley brought him food in the morning. He often invited the boy to eat with his family in the
evening. And every day before school, he taught Jesse how to run like an athlete.

At first, the idea was only to make the boy stronger. But soon Riley saw that Jesse was a champion. By the time
Jesse had completed high school, his name was known across the nation. Ohio State University wanted him to
attend there. So it offered him a free education. While at Ohio State, he set new world records in several track and
field events. And he was accepted as a member of the United States Olympic team.

VOICE 1:

Jesse always remembered the white man who helped change his life. Charles Riley did not seem to care what
color a person's skin was. Jesse learned¹² to think the same way.

Later in life, Jesse put all his energy into working with young people. He wanted to tell them some of the things
he had learned about life, work and success. That it is important to choose a goal and always work toward¹³ it. That
there are good people in the world who will help you to reach your goal. That if you try again and again, you will
succeed.

People who heard Jesse's speeches say he spoke¹⁴ almost as well as he ran.

Jesse received awards for his work with boys and girls. The United States government sent him around the world
as a kind of sports ambassador¹⁵. The International Olympic Committee asked for his advice.

VOICE 2:

In about nineteen-seventy, Jesse Owens wrote a book in which he told about his life. It was called "Blackthink."
In the book, Jesse denounced¹⁶ young black militants¹⁷ who blamed society for their troubles. He said young black
people had the same chance to succeed in the United States as white people.

Many black civil rights activists¹⁸ reacted angrily. They said what Jesse had written was not true for everyone.


Jesse later admitted that he had been wrong. He saw that not all blacks were given the same chances and help that
he had been given. In a second book, Jesse tried to explain what he had meant in his first book. He called it I have
changed. Jesse said that, in his earlier book, he did not write about life as it was for everyone ... But about life as
it was for him.

He said he truly wanted to believe that if you think you can succeed--- and you really try -- then you have a
chance. If you do not think you have a chance, then you probably will fail. He said these beliefs had worked for
him. And he wanted all young people to believe them, too.

VOICE 1:

These were the same beliefs he tried to express when he spoke around the world about being an Olympic athlete.
"The road to the Olympics," he said, "leads to no city, no country. It goes far beyond New York or Moscow,
ancient Greece or Nazi Germany. The road to the Olympics leads -- in the end -- to the best within us."

Jesse Owens died of cancer in nineteen-eighty.

(Theme)

Anncr:

This program was written by Barbara Dash. Your narrators were Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe. This is Shirley
Griffith. Listen again next week at this same time for another People in America program in Special English on
the Voice of America.

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1 gallant   

adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的

参考例句：

• Huang Jiguang's gallant deed is known by all men. 黄继光的英勇事迹尽人皆知。
• These gallant soldiers will protect our country.这些勇敢的士兵会保卫我们的国家的。

2 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

3 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

4 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

5 farther   

adj.更远的，进一步的；adv.更远的，此外；far的比较级

参考例句：

• I can throw the ball farther than you can.这个球我能比你扔得远。
• The farther hill is five kilometres away.那座更远的小山在五公里以外。

6 motion   

n.打手势，示意，移动，动作，提议，大便；v.运动，向...打手势，示意

参考例句：

• She could feel the rolling motion of the ship under her feet.她能感觉到脚下船在晃动。
• Don't open the door while the train is in motion.列车运行时，请勿打开车门。

7 observer   

n.观察家，观察的人，观察员

参考例句：

• I can see you're a careful reader as well as a careful observer.我能看出你既是一位细心的读者，又是一位观察者。
• I want to attend the conference only as an observer.本人只作为观察员身份参加会议。

8 relay   

n.接力赛，中继转播（设备）；vt.转述，转播

参考例句：

• They will relay your message.他们会转达你的口信。
• This metal tower is used to relay television signals to distant villages.这个金属塔是用于向遥远的村子转播电视讯号的。

9 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

10 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

11 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。

12 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

13 toward   

prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝

参考例句：

• Suddenly I saw a tall figure approaching toward the policeman.突然间我看到一个高大的身影朝警察靠近。
• Upon seeing her,I smiled and ran toward her. 看到她我笑了，并跑了过去。

14 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。

15 ambassador   

n.大使，特使，（派驻国际组织的）代表

参考例句：

• He took up office as an ambassador for ten years continuously.他连任十年大使。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

16 denounced   

公开指责( denounce的过去式和过去分词 )； 揭发； 告发； 通知废止

参考例句：

• She publicly denounced the government's handling of the crisis. 她公开谴责政府处理这场危机的方式。
• He was denounced as a foreign spy. 有人告发他是外国间谍。

17 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

18 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》