2007年NPR美国国家公共电台四月-The Measure of a Man, and a Father

This another American story is told to you by the people who lived it. StoryCorps comes to you every Friday. Today we will learn about Thurman Weaver¹. Mr. Weaver was a janitor², chauffeur³ and also a father. A few weeks ago, Thurman's son, William Weaver remembered him at a StoryCorp booth in Atlanta, Georgia. And here, William speaks with his daughter Kimberly.

My father was everything to me. And it' actually kind of difficult talking about him without becoming very emotional. Up until, you know, he died, every decision I made I'd always call him. And he would never tell me what to do, but he would always listen and say well, what do you want to do? And he made me feel that I can do anything that I wanted to do. I could remember when we integrated the schools that there were many times when I was just scared. And I didn' think that I would survive, and I looked up he would be there. And whenever I saw him, I knew that I was safe. And I always tell you that truth your mama is just the smartest person I've ever met. But I think my father ranks right up there as brilliant.

When I was in high school, I was taking algebra⁴, and I was sitting at the kitchen table, trying to do my homework. And I got frustrated⁵, so I asked him figured this out, I'm just... So my father said what's the problem? He came by, "hey, what's the problem?" And I said it's just algebra, he said well, let me look at that. Dad they didn't even have algebra in your day. And I went to sleep and around four o'clock that morning he woke me up, he said, come on son, get up. He sat me at the kitchen table and he taught me algebra. What he had done is set up all night and read the algebra book, and then he explained the problem to me, so I could do it, and understand them. And to this day, I live me life trying to be half the man my father was, just half the man. And I would be a success if my children love me half as much as I love my father.

William Weaver, remembering his father, with his daughter Kimberly in Atlanta Georgia. Dr. Weaver is chairman of surgery at the Morehouse Medical School in Atlanta.
By the way, all Storycorps interviews are archived at the library of Congress, and you can hear more or subscribe⁶ the StoryCorp podcast by going to npr.org

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 janitor   

n.看门人，管门人

参考例句：

• The janitor wiped on the windows with his rags.看门人用褴褛的衣服擦着窗户。
• The janitor swept the floors and locked up the building every night.那个看门人每天晚上负责打扫大楼的地板和锁门。

3 chauffeur   

n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车

参考例句：

• The chauffeur handed the old lady from the car.这个司机搀扶这个老太太下汽车。
• She went out herself and spoke to the chauffeur.她亲自走出去跟汽车司机说话。

4 algebra   

n.代数学

参考例句：

• He was not good at algebra in middle school.他中学时不擅长代数。
• The boy can't figure out the algebra problems.这个男孩做不出这道代数题。

5 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。