2006年NPR美国国家公共电台十月-A Father's Promise F

And it's time again for Storycorps, the traveling oral history project that is recording¹ stories all across the country. We hear them each Friday on Morning Edition.

When people stepping into a StoryCorps booth, some of their most vivid memories can be inspired by simple gestures. That was the case for Mary Fischer and Walt Shaffner. They are brother and sister who came into a StoryCorps booth in Sarasota, Florida. Walt Shaffner, who is a middle school principal shared this story about their father.

Dad was a real fan of that principal in that movie. That was "Lean on Me". The principal used to walk the halls with a baseball bat, a bullhorn. When I got the promotion² to assistant principal, I got this box. There was this tiny megaphone, little toy thing, you know a tiny toy baseball bat. He sent a note with it.

It says: Dear Walt, Many more happy ones. When you get your next promotion to principal, I will make it real, bullhorn and ball bat, love dad.

So I had that thing. I stuck it in the window, and you see it's kind of faded and then of course just a few years later, Dad passed away, very unexpectedly. It was a quick thing. I did get a principalship just before dad passed away. And if you remember, there were all of us re-assembled in church and then we came back from the church. And Mom made us all sit down in the living room, and then she brings out this box and a note card. And it was a real baseball bat and a real bullhorn.

This note says: Congratulations. I'm proud of you, Walt. You've earned the real thing. Love, dad.

It was a hard thing to speak at that time. Even now. Years later, I would move from school to school. In those moves I kind of lost the notes. I was upset about that. You know you pack things up and you move to another school. A few years ago, in unpacking³ my supplies at another school that I was at, I came across the notes. And as I took them out to look at them, I noticed something is strange. Their handwriting was different on the two notes. What I got out of that was the fact that mom was aware of the promise, the second note mom wrote.

I think the, the fact that mom had the wherewithal to sit down to write this. You know, as she was grieving⁴ for her husband, with her children. That was remarkable⁵
That was kind of a powerful one for me. The power of a promise kept.

That's Walt Shaffner and Mary Fischer remembering their father Tent Shaffner. Walt Shaffner is currently⁶ principal of a middle school of Tampa. StoryCorps interviews are archived at the Library of Congress and you can learn how to participate by going to NPR.org.

Major funding for Storycorps comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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megaphone
扩音器
wherewithal
The necessary means, especially financial means:
didn't have the wherewithal to survive an economic downturn.

 

1 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

2 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

3 unpacking   

n.取出货物，拆包[箱]v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的现在分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等）

参考例句：

• Joe sat on the bed while Martin was unpacking. 马丁打开箱子取东西的时候，乔坐在床上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They are unpacking a trunk. 他们正在打开衣箱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 grieving   

感到悲痛，伤心( grieve的现在分词 )； 使…伤心

参考例句：

• They are still grieving for their dead child. 他们还在为死去的孩子伤心。
• The news brought no solace to the grieving relations. 这个消息并未给悲痛的家属带来什么安慰。

5 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

6 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。