名人轶事:One of the Most Honored Reporters in the United States

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

I’m Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Doug Johnson with the VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN

AMERICA. Today, we tell about the life of writer and reporter, Carl Rowan. He

was one of the most honored reporters in the United States.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Carl Rowan was known for the powerful stories that he wrote for major

newspapers. His columns were published in more than one hundred newspapers

across the United States. He was the first black newspaper columnist¹ to have

his work appear in major newspapers.

Carl Rowan     

Carl Rowan called himself a newspaperman. Yet, he was also a writer of best-

selling books. He wrote about the lives of African American civil rights

leader, Reverend Martin Luther King Junior and United States Supreme² Court

Justice, Thurgood Marshall.

Carl Rowan also was a radio broadcaster and a popular public speaker. For

thirty years, he appeared on a weekly television show about American

politics.

VOICE TWO:

Carl Rowan won praise over the years for his reports about race relations in

America. He provided a public voice for poor people and minorities in

America. He influenced people in positions of power.

VOICE TWO(cont):

Mister Rowan opened many doors for African Americans. He was the first black

deputy Secretary of State in the administration of President John F. Kennedy.

And he was the first black director of the United States Information Agency

which at the time supervised the Voice of America.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Carl Rowan was born in Nineteen-Twenty-Five in the southern city of

Ravenscroft, Tennessee. He grew up during the Great Depression, one of the

worst economic times in the United States. His family was very poor. His

father stacked wood used for building, when he had work. His mother worked

cleaning the homes of white people when she could. The Rowan family had no

electricity, no running water, no telephone and no radio. Carl said he would

sometimes steal food or drink warm milk from the cows on nearby farms.

The Rowans did not even have a clock. As a boy, Carl said he knew if it was

time to go to school by the sound of a train. He said if the train was late,

he was late.

VOICE TWO:

Growing up, Carl had very little hope for any change. There were not many

jobs for blacks in the South. The schools were not good. Racial tensions were

high. Laws were enforced to keep blacks and whites separate.

It was a teacher who urged Carl to make something of himself. Bessie Taylor

Gwynn taught him to believe he could be a poet or a writer. She urged him to

write as much as possible. She would even get books for him because blacks

were banned from public libraries.

Bessie Taylor Gwynn made sure that Carl finished high school. And he did. He

graduated at the top of his class.

VOICE ONE:

Carl entered Tennessee State College in Nineteen-Forty-Two. He almost had to

leave college after the first few months because he did not have enough

money. But on the way to catch a bus, his luck changed. He found the twenty

dollars he needed to stay in college.

VOICE ONE(cont):

Carl Rowan did so well in college that he was chosen by the United States

Navy to become one of the first fifteen black Navy officers. He said that

experience changed his life.

Carl served on ships during World War Two. Afterward³, he returned to college

and graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio. He went on to receive his master

’s degree in journalism⁴ from the University of Minnesota.

VOICE TWO:

In Nineteen-Forty-Eight, Carl Rowan became a reporter for the Minneapolis

Tribune newspaper in Minnesota. He was one of the first black reporters to

write for a major daily newspaper.

As a young reporter, he covered racial tensions in the South during the civil

rights movement. In Nineteen-Fifty-Six, he traveled to the Middle East to

cover the war over the Suez Canal. He also reported from Europe, India and

other parts of Asia. He won several major reporting awards.

1 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

2 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

3 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

4 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

5 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

6 deplored   

v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They deplored the price of motor car, textiles, wheat, and oil. 他们悲叹汽车、纺织品、小麦和石油的价格。 来自辞典例句
• Hawthorne feels that all excess is to be deplored. 霍桑觉得一切过分的举动都是可悲的。 来自辞典例句

7 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。

8 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。