2007年NPR美国国家公共电台三月-The Guts to Keep Going

Welcome to This I Believe, an NPR series presenting the personal philosophies of remarkable¹ men and women from all walks of life. Support for NPR Podcasts comes from Visa, offering the Visa signature card featuring concierge² services for travel, dining and entertainment at Visa signature. com.

I believe in figuring out my own way to do things.
I believe in the power of numbers.
I believe in barbecue.
Well, I believe in friendliness³.
I believe in mankind.
This I Believe.

Monday is the day that NPR brings you the series This I Believe. Amy Lyles Wilson is our guest today. She writes about feeling a very big change through a very small moment. She's a writer and editor from Nashville, Tennessee, and had stood the Vanderbilt Divinity School, and she's introduced here by our series curator Jay Allison.

People who sent us essays often ground their beliefs in what they were taught by their mothers and fathers when they were young. Amy Lyles Wilson's belief is inspired by her mother, but she acquired it only recently. Here she is with her essay for This I Believe.

I believe in old women who learn new tricks--gutsy, wrinkled broads who eat alone in restaurants and pump their own gas. When my father died 6 years ago, my mother, then 79 had already done quite a lot. She had moved from her hometown in Mississippi to work in the big city even though many of her generation stayed put. She had raised 3 daughters, chaired PTAs, volunteered for a host of causes and nursed her husband through / heart surgery. Along the way she lost a breast and part of her colon⁵ to cancer. What she had not done before Daddy's death, however, was pump her own gas. After the funeral when she stopped the car at a filling station, neither of us moved. We were both waiting, I guess, for Daddy to wink⁶ at us before sliding out to "fill 'er up" .

As I collected myself and turned to open the door, my mother said: I guess you'd better show me how this works. After we finished, she asked:" That's it?" " Yes, ma'am", I said, "you'll do fine." I tried not to think of all the things my mother would now have to do by herself. As we drove off, mother told me about her old friend Betty Ann, whose husband Carl had died recently. It seems Betty Ann got in the passenger seat of their new Buick and waited a full 3 minutes for Carl to appear behind the wheel before / finally hauling herself to the other side of the car and driving downtown.

Telling me this story, my mother was crying just a bit. She said:" I guess you / do what you have to do." I did not marry until age 41, so I know about pumping gas and eating alone in restaurants. But I haven't a clue what it is like to lose your soul mate unexpectedly after 52 years of marriage, leaving you to deal not only with grief, but also with car mechanics. Mother has always been a quick study, though, so it was not long before she could tell her widowed friends which Exxon had the lowest prices, which BP still offered full service, which Chevron⁷ was well-lighted at dusk.

There have been other challenges for my mother, of course, since my father died. From downsizing the family home to allowing a widower⁸ preacher to go Dutch with her at the Olive Garden on occasion. My mother has put one foot in front of the other with grace and fortitude⁹. It is a small thing, perhaps, to believe in elderly women doing nothing more than putting gas into cars and getting themselves from point A to point B without an escort. But to my mind and heart, it's a belief in something much bigger than that---- The guts⁴ to keep going.

Amy Lyles Wilson with her essay for This I Believe. If you would like to join those who like Wilson have submitted essays to our series or if you want to read what others have sent in, visit NPR. org. For This I Believe, I'm Jay Allison.

The series continues Monday and All Things Considered when a man tells us what he had learned to believe from his mental illness.

Support for This I Believe comes from Capella University.

This I Believe is produced for NPR by This I Believe incorporated at Atlanta Public Media. For more essays in the series, please visit NPR. org/thisibelieve.

Support for NPR Podcasts comes from Acura, featuring the all new turbo charged Acura RDX with available voice activated¹⁰ navigation. More at Acura.com/RDX.


host of： 许多；一大群

1 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。

2 concierge   

n.管理员；门房

参考例句：

• This time the concierge was surprised to the point of bewilderment.这时候看门人惊奇到了困惑不解的地步。
• As I went into the dining-room the concierge brought me a police bulletin to fill out.我走进餐厅的时候，看门人拿来一张警察局发的表格要我填。

3 friendliness   

n.友谊，亲切，亲密

参考例句：

• Behind the mask of friendliness,I know he really dislikes me.在友善的面具后面，我知道他其实并不喜欢我。
• His manner was a blend of friendliness and respect.他的态度友善且毕恭毕敬。

4 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

6 wink   

n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁

参考例句：

• He tipped me the wink not to buy at that price.他眨眼暗示我按那个价格就不要买。
• The satellite disappeared in a wink.瞬息之间，那颗卫星就消失了。

7 chevron   

n.V形臂章；V形图案

参考例句：

• He wore shoulderstrap rank slides with sergeant's chevrons.他佩戴标示级别的肩章，上面有中士的V形标志。
• The chevron or arrow road sign indicates a sharp bend to the left or right.V形或箭头路标表示有向左或向右的急转弯。

8 widower   

n.鳏夫

参考例句：

• George was a widower with six young children.乔治是个带著六个小孩子的鳏夫。
• Having been a widower for many years,he finally decided to marry again.丧偶多年后，他终于决定二婚了。

9 fortitude   

n.坚忍不拔；刚毅

参考例句：

• His dauntless fortitude makes him absolutely fearless.他不屈不挠的坚韧让他绝无恐惧。
• He bore the pain with great fortitude.他以极大的毅力忍受了痛苦。

10 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。