2007年NPR美国国家公共电台一月-'Until the Building Falls Down': A Fight

And let's come back to this country now for StoryCorps. This project is recording¹ American voices with interviews around the country, and we hear them on MORNING Edition every Friday.

Today we have a story from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It's our first from that state. In 1947 , Theresa Burroughs was 18 years old and ready to vote but actually exercising that right was difficult. Here she remembers trying to register at the Hale County Courthouse.

I went there for 2 years with a minister named Reverend J.J. Seemings, the white men they would not let us register the vote, they would sit there, they had tables and they would be playing dominos. I didn't even know how to play dominos but do you know I learnt to play standing² there watching them. They would ask you silly questions like this man I never forget his name, Mr. Cox. He was chair of the board of registrars³. He asked me: how many black jellybeans in the jar, how many red ones in there? And I told him you don't know how many jellybeans, he told me to shut my black mouth. Shut up. Well, the next Monday I told Raven⁴ Seemings that I was not going back, I said 'cause I'm not going to be embarrassed like that any more. He said you want to vote, don't you. I said yeah. He said we were gonna go until the building falls down, so we're gonna be there every time they open that door. He said at nine in the morning, I'll be back to pick you up. You're going. And that is the day Mr. Cox asked me to recite part of the Preamble⁵ to the constitution. I don't really think he knew but I recited it. He said: you're gonna pass the day, because we're tired of looking at your black faces. And then he gave me my slip that I was registered to vote. We did vote in the next election. It was a joy but the thing about it is, I didn't feel it, it shouldn't have been this hard. I knew, I knew but I knew it shouldn't have been this hard.

Theresa Burroughs at a StoryCorps booth in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She tells us that she has not missed an election in the last 60 years. StoryCorps interviews are archived at the American Folklife center at the library of congress and you can learn how to record your story at npr.org.
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domino
多米诺骨牌：一个小长方木头或塑料块儿，其面分两半，每半或者空白或者刻有一到六个类似于骰子上的点
jellybean
软心豆粒糖
preamble
序言

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 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。

3 registrars   

n.主管注册者( registrar的名词复数 )；记录者；登记员；注册主任

参考例句：

• Authorization Code is required when attempting to transfer a domain between registrars. 当域名要转移注册商时需要授权代码。 来自互联网
• Only IATF registrars are authorized to conduct the surveillance audit. 仅仅IATF登记官被授权进行监视审计。 来自互联网

4 raven   

n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的

参考例句：

• We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
• Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。

5 preamble   

n.前言；序文

参考例句：

• He spoke without preamble.他没有开场白地讲起来。
• The controversy has arisen over the text of the preamble to the unification treaty.针对统一条约的序文出现了争论。