论文部分内容阅读
穆罕默德•阿里
主要荣誉：
1960年 意大利罗马奥运会冠军
1964年2月25日 战胜索尼•利斯顿，获WBA重量级拳王
1974年10月30日 战胜乔治•福尔曼，重夺WBA重量级拳王
1978年9月15日 战胜斯平克斯，重夺WBF重量级拳王金腰带
1981年12月11日 阿里最后一场拳击赛，负于特雷沃尔•博比克
历史上第1位3次夺得重量级拳王称号的运动员
2005年11月9日 在美国首都华盛顿，美国总统布什授予阿里“总统自由勋章”
Holding onto my innocence1 as I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s was difficult. I began to recognize the injustice of segregation2 around me.
One of my first encounters with prejudice happened when I was too young. My mother and I were standing at a bus stop. It was a hot day and I was thirsty, so we walked up the block to a small diner, where she asked if she could have a cup of water for her son. The man said he could not help us and closed the door in our faces. I can only imagine the pain my mother felt when she tried to find the words to explain why the man would not give me a glass of water. Even during these times my mother would say, “Hating is wrong, no matter who does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.”
At that early age, I could see that something was very wrong. I didn’t understand it. When I looked in the mirror I thought that my skin was beautiful, I was proud of the color of my complexion, but there were many black people who didn’t want to be black anymore. Indeed, nothing good reflected our image. Superman was white, Santa Claus was white. They even made Tarzan, king of the jungle3 in Africa, a white man. I noticed that Miss America was always white, and the president living in the White House was white, too. We didn’t have any hero who looked like us. Even pictures of Jesus Christ and all the angels were always white. On the contrary, everything black was considered bad, and undesirable.
These may have been subtle messages, but the effects were profound. Every day these messages shaped the images that I and other nonwhite children had of ourselves. I didn’t know how, but I knew that I was going to help my people. Somehow, I was going to make a difference in the world. The more injustice that I saw, the stronger my feelings grew. It made me feel that I was here for a reason. Despite the fact that my heart could harden in a world with so much pain, confusion, and injustice, I knew that if I were going to survive, I could not become bitter. I would have to love even those who could not give it in return. I would have to learn to forgive even those who would not—or my soul would wither away.
我成长于20世纪五六十年代，要保持童真对我来说很难做到。因为那时我开始认识到了身边种族隔离的不公。
在我最初遇到的被人歧视的经历中，有一次发生在我很小的时候。那天我和母亲站在公共汽车站。天气很热，我感到口渴，于是我们就走到街区北边的一家小饭馆，母亲问那儿的人她是否可以为她的儿子讨杯水喝。那个男人说他无能为力，随后当着我们的面摔上了门。我只能在脑海中想象当母亲试图找到合适的语言来向我解释那个男人为什么不肯给我一杯水喝时的痛苦。可即使在那段时期，母亲仍会说：“无论是谁制造的仇恨，怀恨在心显然都是不对的。”
虽然那时我很年幼，但我能看出好多不合理的东西，这让我无法理解。当我看着镜子中的自己时，我觉得我的皮肤很美，我为自己的肤色而骄傲。但是，有许多黑人都不愿再做黑人了。的确，没有什么好的事物是反映我们形象的。超人是白人，圣诞老人也是白人。他们甚至将非洲丛林之王泰山也设定为白人。我注意到美国小姐总是白人，住在白宫里的总统也同样是白人。我们没有任何和我们形象一样的英雄偶像。就连耶稣•基督和所有天使的样子都总是被画成白色的。与之相反，每种黑色的事物都被认为是不好的，让人生厌。
这可能都是些很隐晦的信息，但却起到了巨大的作用。每天，这些信息都在帮助我和其他非白种人的孩子们树立我们自己的形象。我虽然不知道如何才能做到，但我十分清楚：我将要帮助我的同胞，我将以某种方式改变这个世界。见到的不公正越多，我的这种情感就越强烈。它让我感到天生我才必有用。虽然事实是我的心会在这个充满太多痛苦、困惑和不公正的世界里变得坚硬，但我知道如果我想存活，我就不能心存仇恨。我甚至要去爱那些无法返还爱的人，学会宽恕那些不懂得宽恕的人，否则我的心灵之花便会枯萎。
1．innocence [5InEsns] n. 无知；单纯
2．segregation [7segrI5geIFEn] n. 种族隔离
3．jungle[5dVQNgl] n. 丛林；密林
主要荣誉：
1960年 意大利罗马奥运会冠军
1964年2月25日 战胜索尼•利斯顿，获WBA重量级拳王
1974年10月30日 战胜乔治•福尔曼，重夺WBA重量级拳王
1978年9月15日 战胜斯平克斯，重夺WBF重量级拳王金腰带
1981年12月11日 阿里最后一场拳击赛，负于特雷沃尔•博比克
历史上第1位3次夺得重量级拳王称号的运动员
2005年11月9日 在美国首都华盛顿，美国总统布什授予阿里“总统自由勋章”
Holding onto my innocence1 as I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s was difficult. I began to recognize the injustice of segregation2 around me.
One of my first encounters with prejudice happened when I was too young. My mother and I were standing at a bus stop. It was a hot day and I was thirsty, so we walked up the block to a small diner, where she asked if she could have a cup of water for her son. The man said he could not help us and closed the door in our faces. I can only imagine the pain my mother felt when she tried to find the words to explain why the man would not give me a glass of water. Even during these times my mother would say, “Hating is wrong, no matter who does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.”
At that early age, I could see that something was very wrong. I didn’t understand it. When I looked in the mirror I thought that my skin was beautiful, I was proud of the color of my complexion, but there were many black people who didn’t want to be black anymore. Indeed, nothing good reflected our image. Superman was white, Santa Claus was white. They even made Tarzan, king of the jungle3 in Africa, a white man. I noticed that Miss America was always white, and the president living in the White House was white, too. We didn’t have any hero who looked like us. Even pictures of Jesus Christ and all the angels were always white. On the contrary, everything black was considered bad, and undesirable.
These may have been subtle messages, but the effects were profound. Every day these messages shaped the images that I and other nonwhite children had of ourselves. I didn’t know how, but I knew that I was going to help my people. Somehow, I was going to make a difference in the world. The more injustice that I saw, the stronger my feelings grew. It made me feel that I was here for a reason. Despite the fact that my heart could harden in a world with so much pain, confusion, and injustice, I knew that if I were going to survive, I could not become bitter. I would have to love even those who could not give it in return. I would have to learn to forgive even those who would not—or my soul would wither away.
我成长于20世纪五六十年代，要保持童真对我来说很难做到。因为那时我开始认识到了身边种族隔离的不公。
在我最初遇到的被人歧视的经历中，有一次发生在我很小的时候。那天我和母亲站在公共汽车站。天气很热，我感到口渴，于是我们就走到街区北边的一家小饭馆，母亲问那儿的人她是否可以为她的儿子讨杯水喝。那个男人说他无能为力，随后当着我们的面摔上了门。我只能在脑海中想象当母亲试图找到合适的语言来向我解释那个男人为什么不肯给我一杯水喝时的痛苦。可即使在那段时期，母亲仍会说：“无论是谁制造的仇恨，怀恨在心显然都是不对的。”
虽然那时我很年幼，但我能看出好多不合理的东西，这让我无法理解。当我看着镜子中的自己时，我觉得我的皮肤很美，我为自己的肤色而骄傲。但是，有许多黑人都不愿再做黑人了。的确，没有什么好的事物是反映我们形象的。超人是白人，圣诞老人也是白人。他们甚至将非洲丛林之王泰山也设定为白人。我注意到美国小姐总是白人，住在白宫里的总统也同样是白人。我们没有任何和我们形象一样的英雄偶像。就连耶稣•基督和所有天使的样子都总是被画成白色的。与之相反，每种黑色的事物都被认为是不好的，让人生厌。
这可能都是些很隐晦的信息，但却起到了巨大的作用。每天，这些信息都在帮助我和其他非白种人的孩子们树立我们自己的形象。我虽然不知道如何才能做到，但我十分清楚：我将要帮助我的同胞，我将以某种方式改变这个世界。见到的不公正越多，我的这种情感就越强烈。它让我感到天生我才必有用。虽然事实是我的心会在这个充满太多痛苦、困惑和不公正的世界里变得坚硬，但我知道如果我想存活，我就不能心存仇恨。我甚至要去爱那些无法返还爱的人，学会宽恕那些不懂得宽恕的人，否则我的心灵之花便会枯萎。
1．innocence [5InEsns] n. 无知；单纯
2．segregation [7segrI5geIFEn] n. 种族隔离
3．jungle[5dVQNgl] n. 丛林；密林