2007年NPR美国国家公共电台四月-A Quadruplet with Character: Roberta Keys

It's Friday morning, which is when we hear from StoryCorps. This oral history project is collecting stories of Americans across the country.

And today we'll learn a little of the story of Roberta, Mona, Mary and Leota Keys. They are sisters, quadruplets, all born in 1915. They were among the first quadruplets ever to survive to adulthood¹. And now Roberta has outlived all of her sisters. She recently talked with her daughter about the night 91 years ago when she and her sisters were born.

'It was in the middle of the night, and I guess word got out in a hurry because everybody in the town was excited. And there were some women, they opened up the drugstore, and got us some little clothes to put on because my mother was only prepared for one. And we only had one birth certificate² for four babies. So well it has our names all on one line. And then it says "All Girls". From the time we were very young, I think, 9 months old, we were on display at the Oklahoma State Fair, every year until we were in the third grade. They built a kind of a little, a house for us with tall walls and then people spent 25 cents to come in and look over the wall. We just were on our regular little routine³, we played with dolls and they handed out little postcards with our pictures and later on when we were growing up, some people would say 'Ooh, we paid 25 cents to see you when you were little at the fair'. And we just said 'Do you want your money back?'

"Did they?"

" No."

They were afraid to say.

Oh, I know too that you had chances to go into show business once college was over. What happened?

Well, everybody else was making money, so we had to think of a way. So we devised⁴ a little act where we sang, and played our saxophones, and told little, little stories of our lives.

What broke up that act?

Well, Mona announced that she was going to get married. Everybody thought it was wonderful. It had to be. But I was sad. I like being a quadruplet than wanting anything else.

That's Roberta Keys-Torn, with her daughter Susan Young at the StoryCorps booth⁵ in Houston, Texas.

All of these interviews are archived at the Library of Congress⁶. And today by the way, we're starting the StoryCorps Podcast, to which you can subscribe⁷ at NPR.org.

1 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

2 certificate   

n.证书，证明书；vt.发给证明书，认可，鉴定

参考例句：

• She proudly displayed her degree certificate to her parents.她自豪地向父母展示了学位证书。
• No one had seen her marriage certificate.没人看到过她的结婚证书。

3 routine   

n.例行公事，惯例；adj.例行的，常规的

参考例句：

• It is everyday routine.这是每天的例行公事。
• She found the hospital routine slightly dull.她感到医院的工作有点枯燥乏味。

4 devised   

想出( devise的过去式和过去分词 )； 计划； 设计； 发明

参考例句：

• A new system has been devised to control traffic in the city. 控制城市交通的新系统已经设计出来。
• He has devised a scheme for making money. 他想出一个赚钱的办法。

5 booth   

n.小房间，公用电话亭，岗亭；货摊

参考例句：

• Where can I find a telephone booth?我在哪儿可以找到电话亭？
• Let's walk around to each booth.我们到每个摊子转一转吧！

6 Congress   

n.(代表)大会；(C-:美国等国的)国会，议会

参考例句：

• There were some days to wait before the Congress.大会的召开还有几天时间。
• After 18 years in Congress,he intented to return to private life.在国会供职18年后，他打算告老还乡。

7 subscribe   

vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助

参考例句：

• I heartily subscribe to that sentiment.我十分赞同那个观点。
• The magazine is trying to get more readers to subscribe.该杂志正大力发展新订户。