2006年VOA标准英语-Martin Luther King Jr.'s Legacy Remembered

By Carolyn Weaver¹
Washington, DC
12 January 2006
 
watch MLKing Legacy² report

Martin Luther King Day honors the civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner who was born January 15, 1929, and who died from an assassin's bullet on April 4, 1968. To the end of his life, he continued to lead a movement against racial discrimination, poverty and war. Several Washington, D.C. area residents talked recently with VOA about what his life has meant to them.

------------------------------------------------------

Martin Luther King, Jr.  
  

In the 1960s, a hundred years after the Civil War, African-Americans were still restricted both by legal segregation³ and brutal⁴ custom. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister, led the struggle for equal rights, using only persuasion⁵ and nonviolent action, a strategy of peaceful resistance for which he was jailed several times.

 

 
Isaiah Leggett
  

Isaiah Leggett met him twice. "To hear him live and to be in his presence was awe-inspiring,” says Mr. Leggett, who is now a law professor at Washington’s Howard University, and a candidate for political office in neighboring Maryland. But as a young civil rights activist⁶, he was on the other side of the established order. 

“One of the responsibilities that I had as a student leader was to lead demonstrations⁷, marches and protests, to try to effect change,” Mr. Leggett remembers. “And change for us in the South was pretty profound, because at the time it was difficult for us to eat at certain lunch counters.  Schools were segregated⁸, all the public accommodations, housing, what have you."

 
Elsie Cooper
 
  
"It's about believing in something. And he led us in that direction,” says Maryland resident Elsie Cooper of Dr. King.  Holding her new grandson Darius on her lap, Mrs. Cooper says she doesn't think she'd have her government job or comfortable home if it weren't for King’s leadership of the civil rights movement. “It made a big difference in the way people really think,” she says, “And not just blacks or Caucasians, it's everybody."

Darius’s mother, Iris⁹ Cook, was planning to spend the Martin Luther King holiday looking for a job. Like most Americans, Iris Cook is too young to have any memory of Martin Luther King. But she feels he made all the difference in her life and her children's. “The things that he stood for and the things that he fought for and I guess died for, are available to me now,” she says. “Had he not, I'm not sure whether the opportunities for everybody would be available."

High school students, members of Operation Understanding DC  
  
Later that day in Washington, some of the high school students who make up Operation Understanding DC, a black-Jewish alliance that works against anti-Semitism, racism¹⁰ and other forms of discrimination, met to talk about Martin Luther King's legacy. The students want to do more than revere¹¹ his memory: they seem to hope to model their lives on King’s.

"He's helped me to understand that we all don't start large, we don't just magically become super-leaders. It takes time,” Maurice Wilkins told a reporter.  “There's still so much work to be done,” Josh Walker said. “A lot of people forget that the civil rights movement is still going on today.” Okezie Nwoka reminded the group, “Most of the marches on the bridges and on the streets were led by students like us."

"I think it's important to remember that Martin Luther King wasn't born a hero,” Alison Wollack commented. “He wasn't very much older than me. Yet he kind of rose to the occasion, and put his life on the line, and fought for rights, and I think it's inspiring to know that normal people can do great things.” 

“He got a lot of work done, and good work done, in the short period of time he was on the earth,” said Liane Alves. “And it's just more motivation for me and my friends in Operation Understanding D.C. to carry on that legacy."  

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

3 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

4 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

5 persuasion   

n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派

参考例句：

• He decided to leave only after much persuasion.经过多方劝说，他才决定离开。
• After a lot of persuasion,she agreed to go.经过多次劝说后，她同意去了。

6 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

7 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

8 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

9 iris   

n.虹膜，彩虹

参考例句：

• The opening of the iris is called the pupil.虹膜的开口处叫做瞳孔。
• This incredible human eye,complete with retina and iris,can be found in the Maldives.又是在马尔代夫，有这样一只难以置信的眼睛，连视网膜和虹膜都刻画齐全了。

10 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。

11 revere   

vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏

参考例句：

• Students revere the old professors.学生们十分尊敬那些老教授。
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven.中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。