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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
South Korea is in mourning for former President Kim Dae-jung, whose burial(葬礼) is on Sunday. His personal courage in standing1 up to the military government in South Korea made him a symbol of universal human rights. William Horsley came to know Mr Kim during his long years of imprisonment2 and persecution（迫害）.
"I am lucky that my thread of life is strong. It's not easily cut." As usual, Kim Dae-jung spoke3 softly, but his modest manner concealed4 an iron determination and self-belief.
This week he died in a hospital bed, aged5 85, and I remembered those words, spoken at his home in Seoul many years ago.
He told how his abductors were preparing to throw him overboard to drown when an American military helicopter appearedHis life was a series of improbable escapes from assassination6 attempts, a death sentence, and long periods in prison and in exile, before he was recognised as one of Asia's all-time champions of democracy.
For me, three dramatic moments - a kidnap, a homecoming and a sudden peaceful revolution - tell the story of how he transformed his country and made himself a legend.
The first was the close brush with death which Kim Dae-jung described when I first met him back in the late 1970s.
Kim was branded a dangerous radical7 by South Korea's military rulersHe was then already a veteran of a long struggle against the harsh military rule which gripped South Korea throughout the Cold War years, when the country was on a constant war alert, for fear of an incident across its frontier with the unpredictable regime in the North.
Kim Dae-jung's devoted8 wife brought his visitors traditional ginseng tea as he spoke about his terrifying kidnapping by Korean intelligence agents a few years before.
He had been in Tokyo for a political meeting in a top international hotel, when a group of men seized him in broad daylight, and drugged him unconscious.
After dark, they took him to Tokyo Bay and bundled him, tied and gagged, into a boat and out to sea.
Death rowHe told how his abductors were preparing to throw him overboard to drown when an American military helicopter appeared and flew low over the boat to indicate that it was being watched.
That saved his life, and he re-appeared several days later at his house in Seoul, the focus of a storm of international press coverage9.
For much of his life Kim Dae-jung was public enemy number one to the successive military strongmen who ruled South Korea.
He had come close to toppling one of them, Park Chung-hee in the 1971 presidential elections, attracting huge crowds to his rallies in Seoul, where he called for real democracy, welfare（福利） policies and detente with North Korea.
His supporters claimed he had actually won, but that the vote was rigged against him.
He set a new flame of democracy alight in Asia, he was ready to die for the cause of human rights for allFor the next 17 years he would be either in jail, under house arrest, or banned from taking part in politics.
In the 1980s his life was again spared, against the odds10.
A mass popular revolt against military rule in Kim Dae-jung's home city of Kwangju in the far south was bloodily11 put down. He was blamed and sentenced to death for sedition12.
After weeks on death row, more US pressure and an appeal from Pope John Paul II, the generals were persuaded to commute13 the death sentence to a jail term, and after two years of ill treatment there he was allowed to go to the US.
Street protestsBut by 1985 he was on a plane from Tokyo going back to his country, determined14 to lead the campaign for democracy despite the risks, and I was one of the reporters who travelled with him to see that homecoming.
Only two years earlier Benigno Aquino, the main leader of the opposition15 in the Philippines to its dictator President Marcos, had been shot dead on his return home from exile.
Kim is probably best known for his efforts to rebuild relations North KoreaBefore long Kim Dae-jung found himself in jail yet again, but his presence in South Korea inspired many and added to the build-up of pressure for democratic change.
After that South Korea's people power revolution came quite soon.
It happened after weeks of street clashes between student protesters and riot police which had filled the centre of Seoul with tear gas and made headlines around the world.
With the 1988 Seoul Olympics coming close, the general then ruling South Korea, Roh Tae-woo, suddenly announced an end to all the government's repressive（镇压） policies, fresh elections and the release of all political prisoners - including Kim Dae-jung.
The final chapter was the one which at last brought him recognition, and the coveted16 Nobel Peace Prize.
Elected South Korea's president for five years from 1998, Kim Dae-jung abolished the death penalty, held the first ever summit of leaders from both halves of Korea, and threw his weight behind Aung Sang Suu Kyi's long-suffering attempt to bring democracy to Burma.
The morality tale is not without its flaws.
Kim Dae-jung's name was tarnished17 by the revelation that big money had been secretly paid to Kim Jong-il in North Korea to persuade him to take part in the inter-Korean summit.
And both of Kim Dae-jung's sons ended up in jail for corruption18. Even so, to me his legacy19 is beyond doubt - he set a new flame of democracy alight in Asia, he was ready to die for the cause of human rights for all, and he made the best use of his "strong thread of life".（本文由在线英语听力室）
"I am lucky that my thread of life is strong. It's not easily cut." As usual, Kim Dae-jung spoke3 softly, but his modest manner concealed4 an iron determination and self-belief.
This week he died in a hospital bed, aged5 85, and I remembered those words, spoken at his home in Seoul many years ago.
He told how his abductors were preparing to throw him overboard to drown when an American military helicopter appearedHis life was a series of improbable escapes from assassination6 attempts, a death sentence, and long periods in prison and in exile, before he was recognised as one of Asia's all-time champions of democracy.
For me, three dramatic moments - a kidnap, a homecoming and a sudden peaceful revolution - tell the story of how he transformed his country and made himself a legend.
The first was the close brush with death which Kim Dae-jung described when I first met him back in the late 1970s.
Kim was branded a dangerous radical7 by South Korea's military rulersHe was then already a veteran of a long struggle against the harsh military rule which gripped South Korea throughout the Cold War years, when the country was on a constant war alert, for fear of an incident across its frontier with the unpredictable regime in the North.
Kim Dae-jung's devoted8 wife brought his visitors traditional ginseng tea as he spoke about his terrifying kidnapping by Korean intelligence agents a few years before.
He had been in Tokyo for a political meeting in a top international hotel, when a group of men seized him in broad daylight, and drugged him unconscious.
After dark, they took him to Tokyo Bay and bundled him, tied and gagged, into a boat and out to sea.
Death rowHe told how his abductors were preparing to throw him overboard to drown when an American military helicopter appeared and flew low over the boat to indicate that it was being watched.
That saved his life, and he re-appeared several days later at his house in Seoul, the focus of a storm of international press coverage9.
For much of his life Kim Dae-jung was public enemy number one to the successive military strongmen who ruled South Korea.
He had come close to toppling one of them, Park Chung-hee in the 1971 presidential elections, attracting huge crowds to his rallies in Seoul, where he called for real democracy, welfare（福利） policies and detente with North Korea.
His supporters claimed he had actually won, but that the vote was rigged against him.
He set a new flame of democracy alight in Asia, he was ready to die for the cause of human rights for allFor the next 17 years he would be either in jail, under house arrest, or banned from taking part in politics.
In the 1980s his life was again spared, against the odds10.
A mass popular revolt against military rule in Kim Dae-jung's home city of Kwangju in the far south was bloodily11 put down. He was blamed and sentenced to death for sedition12.
After weeks on death row, more US pressure and an appeal from Pope John Paul II, the generals were persuaded to commute13 the death sentence to a jail term, and after two years of ill treatment there he was allowed to go to the US.
Street protestsBut by 1985 he was on a plane from Tokyo going back to his country, determined14 to lead the campaign for democracy despite the risks, and I was one of the reporters who travelled with him to see that homecoming.
Only two years earlier Benigno Aquino, the main leader of the opposition15 in the Philippines to its dictator President Marcos, had been shot dead on his return home from exile.
Kim is probably best known for his efforts to rebuild relations North KoreaBefore long Kim Dae-jung found himself in jail yet again, but his presence in South Korea inspired many and added to the build-up of pressure for democratic change.
After that South Korea's people power revolution came quite soon.
It happened after weeks of street clashes between student protesters and riot police which had filled the centre of Seoul with tear gas and made headlines around the world.
With the 1988 Seoul Olympics coming close, the general then ruling South Korea, Roh Tae-woo, suddenly announced an end to all the government's repressive（镇压） policies, fresh elections and the release of all political prisoners - including Kim Dae-jung.
The final chapter was the one which at last brought him recognition, and the coveted16 Nobel Peace Prize.
Elected South Korea's president for five years from 1998, Kim Dae-jung abolished the death penalty, held the first ever summit of leaders from both halves of Korea, and threw his weight behind Aung Sang Suu Kyi's long-suffering attempt to bring democracy to Burma.
The morality tale is not without its flaws.
Kim Dae-jung's name was tarnished17 by the revelation that big money had been secretly paid to Kim Jong-il in North Korea to persuade him to take part in the inter-Korean summit.
And both of Kim Dae-jung's sons ended up in jail for corruption18. Even so, to me his legacy19 is beyond doubt - he set a new flame of democracy alight in Asia, he was ready to die for the cause of human rights for all, and he made the best use of his "strong thread of life".（本文由在线英语听力室）
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1
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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2
imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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3
spoke
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| 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 | |
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4
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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5
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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7
radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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coverage
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| n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖 | |
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10
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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11
bloodily
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| adv.出血地；血淋淋地；残忍地；野蛮地 | |
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12
sedition
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| n.煽动叛乱 | |
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13
commute
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| vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通 | |
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14
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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15
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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16
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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17
tarnished
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| （通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏 | |
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18
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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19
legacy
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| n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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