美国国家公共电台 NPR--2 new Ted Kennedy biographies are not just for Boomers but for voters of all ages

2 new Ted¹ Kennedy biographies are not just for Boomers but for voters of all ages

Transcript²

Two books about the late senator are out. John Farrell's book is called, Ted Kennedy: A Life. Neal Gabler's book is titled, Against the Wind: Edward Kennedy and the Rise of Conservatism, 1976-2009.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Before the rise of Donald Trump³ or Barack Obama or Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan, the definition of charisma⁴ in American politics was the Kennedys. Three Kennedy brothers were elected to the U.S. Senate and then ran for president. John Kennedy won and was assassinated⁵. His brother Robert was running for president when he was assassinated. And Edward, known as Ted or Teddy Kennedy, was a senator and part of the Democratic Party conversation, as well as the national conversation, from the 1960s until he died almost four decades later. He served 46 years in the U.S. Senate and compiled an extraordinary record.

This fall has brought two enormous new biographies of Ted Kennedy, both by writers who have won numerous awards for earlier biographies on prominent figures. One is called "Ted Kennedy: A Life." It's by John Farrell. And Neal Gabler wrote "Against The Wind: Edward Kennedy And The Rise Of Conservatism." NPR's Ron Elving has read them both. Ron, congratulations. It's a lot of pages.

RON ELVING, BYLINE⁶: Thank you, Steve. Good to be with you.

INSKEEP: What makes this a moment to think deeply about Ted Kennedy?

ELVING: Steve, reading these accounts is like leafing back through 50 years of front pages. It's not just the headlines but the stories in detail as well. So people who were around for those times will find themselves reliving much of their own lives as well. But this should not be seen as just a couple of boomer books. The ultimate audience would be the people who did not live through those years, and most especially the Gen Z voters who got involved in the last two election cycles. Now, they've heard these names before - LBJ, Nixon, the Kennedys - but this is a chance for them to experience who those people were.

INSKEEP: This is interesting because Ted Kennedy, of course, was a celebrity⁷. He was super famous, in some ways scandalous. But I believe it's argued that he was more significant for the less famous things that he did.

ELVING: Absolutely. Now, Ted Kennedy's one run for president - the one time he actually ran in 1980, it was ill-timed and poorly prepared. But the opposite seems to have been true of his Senate career. There is great care taken in these books to show Kennedy at his best, working behind the scenes, hiring extraordinary staff people. So in the end, he was important in every major effort by Democrats⁸ for nearly half a century, from civil rights and voting rights to the 18-year-old vote and the Americans with Disabilities Act, all the way to the Affordable⁹ Care Act in 2009, the year he died.

INSKEEP: He lasted long enough for the Senate, I suppose, to see Democrats lose control and regain¹⁰ control and lose control and regain control. Was he important when he was in the minority as well as the majority?

ELVING: Remarkably¹¹ so. Ted Kennedy was built for the Senate. He was affable and even chummy with his colleagues across the aisle¹², including uber-Republicans such as Bob Dole¹³ of Kansas and Orrin Hatch of Utah. He was a master at insider negotiation¹⁴ and deal cutting, whomever he was dealing¹⁵ with. He would have the information when others didn't. He had command of the substance and the politics, incredible patience. He would talk to all sides, all interests, and he was tireless in pursuit of the best deal he could get.

INSKEEP: How does that match up, though, with the scandals, the infamous¹⁶ elements of his story? He cheated in college. He drank a lot, serial¹⁷ infidelity, Chappaquiddick, in which some - a woman who was with him died, drowned in a car accident - on and on.

ELVING: These authors present the ugly facts. Now, John Farrell devotes several chapters to Chappaquiddick, restaging that night in the summer of 1969, when, as you say, Kennedy drove off a bridge off Martha's Vineyard, left a young staffer named Mary Jo Kopechne trapped in his car. Farrell devotes quite a bit of time to a profile of Mary Jo Kopechne. She drowned. He waited nine hours to contact police. He looked for ways to cover it all up. In the end, while a judge found him negligent¹⁸, he was not charged with manslaughter, as he might have been. But his national profile and his national ambitions would never be the same. There are other lesser-known incidents as well, and through it all, the long decline of Kennedy's first wife, Joan, a victim of his behavior and her own alcoholism. And we are shown much of this. We see Kennedy at what we imagine to be his worst.

INSKEEP: How did the biographers then judge the complexities¹⁹ of the man?

ELVING: They highlight how devastating²⁰ Chappaquiddick was, not only for Kennedy and his family, but for Democrats generally, nationally, at a critical moment. And while it stands alone for its egregiousness²¹, Chappaquiddick was not a completely isolated²² incident. Many people remember that 20 years later, Kennedy instigated²³ a night of carousing²⁴ in Palm Beach, Fla., that involved one of his nephews, William Kennedy Smith. And that night resulted in Smith being accused of rape²⁵. But in the end, while these authors don't defend these lapses²⁶ - what some have called crimes - these authors do eventually move on. They continue their larger narrative²⁷, and they do not dismiss their subject.

INSKEEP: How did his legislative²⁸ work change the country?

ELVING: There's no question that most every liberal cause and every piece of legislation that was passed - and also programs other than legislation, such as dealing with the AIDS crisis - benefited from the extraordinary efforts of Ted Kennedy. This may have been why he was forgiven for things that perhaps others might not have been, because he was such an effective champion for causes that no one else could have done the same way that he could.

INSKEEP: Did he also advance people?

ELVING: After Kennedy got over his own presidential ambitions, he was an important player in those of others. And in the last chapter of his life, he decided²⁹ that he thought that the magic of his older brothers was revisited to some degree in a young first-term senator from Illinois named Barack Obama. And so he surprised many people by coming out foursquare for Obama when he was running against Hillary Clinton for the nomination³⁰ in 2008 and pushing him in a way at a time with the kinds of voters that mattered the most for him to seize that nomination. It was a crucial role in the emergence³¹ of Barack Obama's presidency³². And of course, he was there, at least in the early phases, to help pass the signature achievement of the Obama administration, the Affordable Care Act, which was also the fulfillment of Ted Kennedy's holy grail of legislative achievements.

INSKEEP: NPR's Ron Elving is reviewing two giant biographies of the late Senator Ted Kennedy. Ron, thanks so much.

ELVING: Thank you, Steve.

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1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 charisma   

n.(大众爱戴的)领袖气质，魅力

参考例句：

• He has enormous charisma. He is a giant of a man.他有超凡的个人魅力，是个伟人。
• I don't have the charisma to pull a crowd this size.我没有那么大的魅力，能吸引这么多人。

5 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

8 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

10 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

11 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

12 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

13 dole   

n.救济，（失业）救济金；vt.（out）发放，发给

参考例句：

• It's not easy living on the dole.靠领取失业救济金生活并不容易。
• Many families are living on the dole since the strike.罢工以来，许多家庭靠失业救济金度日。

14 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

15 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

16 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

17 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

18 negligent   

adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的

参考例句：

• The committee heard that he had been negligent in his duty.委员会听说他玩忽职守。
• If the government is proved negligent,compensation will be payable.如果证明是政府的疏忽，就应支付赔偿。

19 complexities   

复杂性(complexity的名词复数)； 复杂的事物

参考例句：

• The complexities of life bothered him. 生活的复杂使他困惑。
• The complexities of life bothered me. 生活的杂乱事儿使我心烦。

20 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

21 egregiousness   

Egregiousness

参考例句：

22 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

23 instigated   

v.使（某事物）开始或发生，鼓动( instigate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The government has instigated a programme of economic reform. 政府已实施了经济改革方案。
• He instigated the revolt. 他策动了这次叛乱。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

24 carousing   

v.痛饮，闹饮欢宴( carouse的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• During the next nine years he alternated between service in several armies and carousing in Paris. 在那以后的九年里，他时而在几个军队中服役，时而在巴黎狂欢作乐。 来自辞典例句
• In his youth George W. Bush had a reputation for carousing. 小布什在年轻时有好玩的名声。 来自互联网

25 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

26 lapses   

n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He sometimes lapses from good behavior. 他有时行为失检。 来自辞典例句
• He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. 他可以宽恕突然发作的歇斯底里，惊慌失措，恶劣的莫名其妙的动作，各种各样的失误。 来自辞典例句

27 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

28 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

29 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。

30 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

31 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

32 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。