PBS高端访谈:奥古斯塔国家高尔夫球俱乐部首次向妇女开放

 　　JEFFREY BROWN: Next: The home of one of golf's most prestigious¹ tournaments, the Masters, admits women for the first time.

　　Ray Suarez has the story.

　　RAY SUAREZ: One of the most exclusive private golf clubs in the country, Augusta National, has been under pressure to admit women for years.

　　Today, the club chairman announced former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore have accepted membership invitations. The news comes a decade after the former club chairman said women wouldn't be admitted—quote—"at the point of a bayonet."

　　Christine Brennan of USA Today and ABC was among those who broke today's story.

　　Christine Brennan, welcome.

　　Today, Augusta National, instead of having no women over its 80 years' history, now has two. Is this a big deal? And, if so, why?

　　CHRISTINE BRENNAN, USA Today: I think it's a very big deal.

　　And it's not just about playing golf and sports, Ray. To me, it's a cultural story.

　　And it comes—it's fitting in many ways that it comes right after the London Olympics, the women's Olympics. We were talking all about the U.S. women winning so many more gold medals than the U.S. men.

　　And then a week later, you have got this last bastion of male supremacy², Augusta National Golf Club, finally in a very public way—and this is a private club that doesn't tell us anything—making this announcement, unprecedented³ that they would go so public and be so forthcoming to talk about not one, but two female members.

　　And I think it's a great step for Augusta National. And I think it speaks volumes about the need to have more women, not only in the game of golf, which is not exactly, you know, the biggest issue in the nation, but also in the corridors of power, which is really what we're talking about when we're talking about Augusta National.

　　RAY SUAREZ: Do we know what precipitated⁴ this decision? Was Augusta National's policy hurting the club or its role as the home of the Masters?

　　CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Certainly, what happened in April with the story of the IBM CEO, Ginni Rometty, first female CEO of IBM, not becoming a member of the club, at least not at that point, the furor⁵ that that created I think stunned⁶ Augusta National and stunned its chairman, Billy Payne, who was the man in charge of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, which were previously⁷ known as the women's Olympics.

　　And Billy Payne is a much more moderate leader of Augusta National than the other men who have come before him. And he was just peppered, blistered⁸ with questions, and from everyone. And I think it took them by surprise. And they realized they had to do something.

　　So that April conversation about the IBM CEO, who, by the way, is not one of the two women named today, I think that precipitated everything and made this very private club go public for the first time ever to discuss its membership issues.

　　RAY SUAREZ: The former Augusta chairman Hootie Johnson told you 13 years ago women would be admitted, what he called, in due time.

　　Should the club be congratulated for doing the right thing or still asked, what took you so long?

　　CHRISTINE BRENNAN: I think it can be a little of both.

　　And I'm smiling because Hootie Johnson is kind of a character right out of history. You remember when he said that he wouldn't be pressured at the point of a bayonet to admit women. You know, what century was Augusta National in? That was 2002 when he said that.

　　So, that—there was a lot to be critical about. And I have been as critical as anyone in my columns in USA Today about this policy, 13 years of writing about it now. But I will say this. They have done it. It was a long time coming, too long, an anguished⁹ and arduous¹⁰ task in many ways, but they have done it.

　　And I picture a 10-year-old girl, 12-year-old girl sitting on the sofa next year with her mom and dad watching the Masters and seeing two women in green jackets and believing that anything is possible. I do believe that these images of people in these places where they have not been before can have a dramatic impact on children.

　　How about a woman, a young boy or girl of color, looking at Condoleezza Rice in a green jacket? That's a very powerful image. And so I think, while we—I have been criticizing Augusta National for so long, I think you can also say, hey, they have done it. And this is a great day for—not only for girls and women in sports and in golf and in our culture, but I think it's a great day for the country.

　　RAY SUAREZ: Similar complaints were heard for years about Augusta's all-white membership. Then, in 1990, with great fanfare¹¹, they admitted a black member.

　　Does this take exclusion¹² off the table? Does this end the argument at Augusta National?

　　CHRISTINE BRENNAN: You know, yes, I actually think this does take it off the table.

　　Certainly, you could imagine a conversation about when will there be the next female member of Augusta National? When will they get to 10? For African-American men, when will there be more black members? There's five, six, seven now.

　　But I think the fact that you have the first is—it means everything. And from the standpoint of what Augusta National has done today in a public way, unprecedented, I think they are making a huge statement that they get it. They know they have been very slow, incredibly slow in getting this done.

　　They know they have been out of step with the nation. They also know the golf industry has been clamoring for this, because women are the growth industry of the sport. And as long as you have the stop sign out saying you cannot come into this sport from the most visible of all clubs, that was a huge problem on the economic side.

　　So for free enterprise alone, this was a great day for the golf industry to welcome women in. And I just think for the most part now this conversation ends. And that's OK with me, because there certainly are other bigger issues hopefully to get to in the future.

　　RAY SUAREZ: Christine Brennan broke the story.

　　Thanks for joining us.

　　CHRISTINE BRENNAN: You bet, Ray. Thank you very much.

1 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

2 supremacy   

n.至上；至高权力

参考例句：

• No one could challenge her supremacy in gymnastics.她是最优秀的体操运动员，无人能胜过她。
• Theoretically,she holds supremacy as the head of the state.从理论上说，她作为国家的最高元首拥有至高无上的权力。

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 precipitated   

v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀

参考例句：

• His resignation precipitated a leadership crisis. 他的辞职立即引发了领导层的危机。
• He lost his footing and was precipitated to the ground. 他失足摔倒在地上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 furor   

n.狂热；大骚动

参考例句：

• His choice of words created quite a furor.他的措辞引起了相当大的轰动。
• The half hour lecture caused an enormous furor.那半小时的演讲引起了极大的轰动。

6 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

7 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

8 blistered   

adj.水疮状的，泡状的v.（使）起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 )；（使表皮等）涨破，爆裂

参考例句：

• He had a blistered heel. 他的脚后跟起了泡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Their hands blistered, but no one complained. 他们手起了泡，可是没有一个人有怨言。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 anguished   

adj.极其痛苦的v.使极度痛苦(anguish的过去式)

参考例句：

• Desmond eyed her anguished face with sympathy. 看着她痛苦的脸，德斯蒙德觉得理解。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The loss of her husband anguished her deeply. 她丈夫的死亡使她悲痛万分。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 arduous   

adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的

参考例句：

• We must have patience in doing arduous work.我们做艰苦的工作要有耐性。
• The task was more arduous than he had calculated.这项任务比他所估计的要艰巨得多。

11 fanfare   

n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布

参考例句：

• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide.这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King.嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

12 exclusion   

n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行

参考例句：

• Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
• He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球，其他运动一概不参加。