访谈录 2008-09-04&09-06 讲述：记忆中的马丁路德金

We are standing¹ at the Lincoln Memorial in the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King made that speech that will become part of the fabric² of our nation. Imagine this handful of Americans literally³ rubbed shoulders with history that they standing or sitting near Dr. King, we had a hard time tracking them down and they had some surprising things to tell us.

August 28th, 1963, the quarter of a million gathered at the Lincoln Memorial that day, knew they'd heard something momentous⁴.

I still have a dream, it is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

And he started speaking, and it was amazing, err⁵, it was transformed from a type of perhaps festival atmosphere, to almost religious, I suppose.

We wouldn't hear a thing drab, I will never forget it. I'll never forget it. 

Giama spent months tracking down those who stood beside King as he spoke⁶, witnesses captured by the lens of history. Only a handful are still alive, Gordon Gundrum then 25 years old was assigned to protect King that day, that's him standing in the park ranger⁷ uniform.

It was like a great symphony, even to try and describe it today. The hair on the back of my neck stands. Gundrum says that moment with King opened his eyes to the Civil Rights Movement. He shied away from interviews for decades, but now wants the world to remember what King managed to do with just one speech. What he did that day here I felt was very close to God and when I think of doing good things, such as charity, and I think that is the result of the ideals that Dr. King had.

For Charles Jackson, a New Jersey⁸ police officer, the assignment to stand (and) watch over King while he spoke was a career highlight he talked about until his death in 1999. He said I almost trembled, what he said was just magic.

Civil Rights leader Dr. Dorothy Height recalls being most struck by King's ability to unite both the crowd and the divided nation with the speech that last just 15 minutes.

We all felt as one. He was talking, not just about some but about all.

For Theresa Walker, a former Freedom Rider, it was King's reference to the dreams he had for his four little children that brought tears to her eyes.

Cuz I have a dream, my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character...

Well, it was my dream also. I have four children then of course every parent or especially a mother wants the world and the country to be as good as it can be. But I had no idea it was going to have the impact that it did have.

But imagine this, as we research the story we learn something brand new never reported before that I Have a Dream was almost cut from King's speech.

The I Have a Dream climax⁹ was never in the speech. And we just thought it shouldn't be used. King had given the I Have a Dream speech some 30 times in a month, leading up to the march on Washington. And his chief of staff thought he needed new material.

We felt that he used that climax so many times that it’d be hackneyed and trite¹⁰.

Dr. Wyatt T. Walker and others stayed up all night on the eve of the march crafting a new dream-free speech. But when King surveyed the crowd, he threw out the new version deciding instead to talk about his dream. I was standing by Washington Monument, and when he said I have a dream today, I said Oh, (expletively delete it).

Were you suggesting what’ve altered history.

 It just shows how much we didn't know. And those who shared that sliver¹¹ of history with King, say it would be a profound moment of symmetry when Barack Obama takes the stage on the anniversary of the speech that dare to dream about a candidacy like his.

But I think Dr. King would be the first to recognize that our country has moved forward.

But I think it is providential.

It just demonstrates your dreams can come true.

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 momentous   

adj.重要的，重大的

参考例句：

• I am deeply honoured to be invited to this momentous occasion.能应邀出席如此重要的场合，我深感荣幸。
• The momentous news was that war had begun.重大的新闻是战争已经开始。

5 err   

vi.犯错误，出差错

参考例句：

• He did not err by a hair's breadth in his calculation.他的计算结果一丝不差。
• The arrows err not from their aim.箭无虚发。

6 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。

7 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

8 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

9 climax   

n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点

参考例句：

• The fifth scene was the climax of the play.第五场是全剧的高潮。
• His quarrel with his father brought matters to a climax.他与他父亲的争吵使得事态发展到了顶点。

10 trite   

adj.陈腐的

参考例句：

• The movie is teeming with obvious and trite ideas.这部电影充斥着平铺直叙的陈腐观点。
• Yesterday,in the restaurant,Lorraine had seemed trite,blurred,worn away.昨天在饭店里，洛兰显得庸俗、堕落、衰老了。

11 sliver   

n.裂片，细片，梳毛；v.纵切，切成长片，剖开

参考例句：

• There was only one sliver of light in the darkness.黑暗中只有一点零星的光亮。
• Then,one night,Monica saw a thin sliver of the moon reappear.之后的一天晚上，莫尼卡看到了一个月牙。