NPR 06-20:Becoming a Parent Is a Gift 当我懂得什么是种族隔离的时候

In the 1950s, Jim McFarland's grandmother took him on annual train trips from New York to see relatives in the South.

And it's time again for StoryCorps, Americans interview each other. We hear their everyday stories and every week we find out how amazing many of those stories are. Today, a story from Jim McFarland.

My grandmother used to take my brother and myself to the south every summer.

Jim McFarland grew up in New York, he had relatives in South Carolina and he was taken to see them regularly in the late 1940s and early 50s.

When we rode the train coming down from New York, when we got to D.C., we would get out of an integrated¹ car. I thought this was the greatest thing that could ever have happened, because now I am in a car with all my people and they got a brown paper bag with the greasy² chicken and sandwiches and we have a good time. When we got off the train, my grandmother would always have my brother and I use the bathroom. The bathrooms were marked colored and white. When I was young, I could read a C, but I didn't know the word colored, so she would say, Use one with the C on it, you can't use the one with a W.

When we went to the movies, we had to sit in a balcony. In New York as a child growing up, I always wanted to sit in a balcony, because the balcony was reserved for adults and people that smoke. When I used to get back to New York, the majority of the little brothers on my block had never been in South. And anyone would ask me, they'd say, boy, you see, what was South about? I used to tell them, man, I say, them bothers got it going on in the South. And they said what do you mean by that? I said, we got our own bathroom. We have our own water fountain. At that particular time, my grandmother would never tell us, the children, why she left the South for anything. Whenever I asked her about this thing called racism³ segregation⁴, she would always tell me, Shh, we don't talk about that, that something we don't say.

It wasn't until I was 11 and that I realized what segregation was about that I told my grandma, I don't wanna go South anymore.

Jim McFarland, did return to the South 20 Years Later. He now lives in Atlanta where his story was recorded. His interview like all the others' will be archived at the Library of Congress⁵. You can hear more of them and subscribe⁶ to the StoryCorps Podcast at npr.org.

Support for StoryCorps comes from AT&T with additional⁷ funding from the cooperation for public broadcasting.

This is NPR news.

1 integrated   

a.整合的，完整的

参考例句：

• A fully integrated low phase noise LC voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is presented.介绍了一种全集成的LC压控振荡器(VCO)的设计。

2 greasy   

adj. 多脂的，油脂的

参考例句：

• He bought a heavy-duty cleanser to clean his greasy oven.昨天他买了强力清洁剂来清洗油污的炉子。
• You loathe the smell of greasy food when you are seasick.当你晕船时，你会厌恶油腻的气味。

3 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

4 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

5 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。

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。

7 additional   

adj.添加的，额外的，另外的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to set down these additional rules.有必要制定这些补充规则。
• I think we can fit in an additional room.我想我们可以再加建一间房子。