Who Was Anne Frank 安妮·弗兰克 Chapter 1 A Happy Home

Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929, in the city of Frankfurt, Germany. Twelve days later, little baby Anne and her mother, Edith, came home from the hospital.
The Franks were like many other families of the time. Anne’s father, Otto, was a businessman. Her mother stayed at home caring for Anne and Anne’s older sister, Margot.
The Franks led a comfortable life. There was a nanny to help Mrs. Frank. The family had nice clothes and good food. Anne had her own little sandbox to play in. Their apartment in Frankfurt was full of books.
Otto Frank was many years older than his wife. In many ways they were opposites. Otto was tall and thin; Edith was plump¹. Otto loved being around people. He was high-spirited and outgoing. Edith was shy and quiet.
Otto loved to read to his daughters. He also made up wonderful stories at bedtime. Some were about two sisters named Paula. One of the Paulas was very well behaved and polite, like Margot. The other Paula was always getting into lots of trouble. That Paula was more like Anne, who was full of mischief².
Both girls adored³ their father. Their nickname⁴ for him was Pim. Besides telling stories, Pim loved to play games. He was also a very good photographer. He took many pictures of his girls and kept a photo album for Anne.
Anne was also very close to her grandmother, who was called Oma. Oma loved spoiling Anne. Once, when Anne was on a bus with Oma, Anne looked around and said, “Won’t someone offer a seat to this old lady?” Anne was only four and a half at the time! But that was Anne. She was always outspoken⁵.
Her father understood her. He and Anne were very much alike. Anne did not get along nearly as well with her mother. They often had fights. Anne was jealous because she felt that her sister was her mother’s pet. While Margot was serious and mild-mannered, Anne was moody⁶ and had a temper. But she was also lively and full of fun. Both sisters had dark shining hair, large eyes, and lovely smiles.
The Frank family was Jewish. They followed certain customs and went to pray at their synagogue on important days. They celebrated⁷ some Jewish holidays but not all of them. There were Jewish practices that they chose not to follow.
Many of Anne and Margot’s friends in the neighborhood were not Jewish. They sometimes came to the Franks’ house to celebrate Jewish holidays such as Hanukkah.
Hanukkah Menorah
Like all small children, Anne was not really aware of the bigger world around her. She knew her home, her family, her friends. That was her world. She did not know that Germany was going through many changes—many frightening changes.
World War I had ended in 1918 with Germany’s defeat. Unlike Otto Frank, many Germans were out of work after the war’s end. And prices for everything—even milk and bread—were sky high.
A new leader came to power in 1933: Adolf Hitler. He was head of the National Socialist⁸, or Nazi⁹, party. Hitler made the Germans feel better about themselves. He said German people were smarter and better than any other people on earth. “Pure” Germans, that is. Not Jews. In loud speeches before huge crowds, Hitler blamed Jewish people for all of Germany’s problems.

Anti-Semitism is a word that means “hatred of Jews.” There was anti-Semitism long before Adolf Hitler in many places besides Germany. Throughout the world, at different times in history, Jewish people had to live in special neighborhoods. They couldn’t go to schools with Christians¹⁰ or hold certain kinds of jobs.
But Adolf Hitler went much further.
His plan was to get rid of all Jews. Of course, he did not say that out loud. Not at first. But as soon as he came to power he started making life harder for German Jews like the Franks.
Hitler was dangerous. Otto Frank saw that. He decided¹¹ that his family would be safer if they left Germany. It must have been a hard decision for Anne’s father to leave home. He loved his country. He had fought for Germany in World War I. In 1933, there were more than five hundred thousand German Jews. In the next six years, more than half of them fled the country.
For a short time, the family lived with one of Anne’s grandmothers in Switzerland. Then, in the fall of 1933, Otto Frank moved to Amsterdam. By January 1934, the rest of the family had moved there, too.
Amsterdam is the largest city in the Netherlands, a small country to the west of Germany. Why did the Franks pick this country? It was close by, for one thing. And Otto already knew how to speak Dutch, the language of the Netherlands. But even more important, the people were known for getting along with everyone—including Jews.
In Amsterdam, Otto started a new company. It made pectin. Pectin is a powder used to make jam. The Franks moved into an apartment in a block of new houses. The girls started school. They made new friends. They learned to speak Dutch right away. Only Edith Frank had trouble with the new language. She stuck to German, which made her feel out of place in the Netherlands. Still, Otto thought that his family was now safe from Hitler. But he was wrong.
WORLD WAR I
WORLD WAR I, A TERRIBLE WAR THAT LASTED FROM 1914 TO 1918, WAS ALSO CALLED THE “GREAT WAR.” THE CENTRAL POWERS (AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, GERMANY, AND TURKEY) FOUGHT AGAINST THE ALLIES¹² (RUSSIA, BRITAIN, BELGIUM, ITALY, FRANCE, AND, LATER On, THE UNITED STATES).
EVENTUALLY, THE ALLIES WON. GERMANY WAS FORCED TO PAY A LOT OF MONEY AS PUNISHMENT FOR ITS ROLE In THE WAR. THIS LEFT THE COUNTRY VERY POOR AND MANY OF ITS PEOPLE VERY RESENTFUL. A NEW GOVERNMENT WAS SET UP——A DEMOCRACY. BUT IT WASN’T VERY STRONG. In 1933, THE GERMANS LOOKED TO A DANGEROUS LEADER, ADOLF HITLER, TO MAKE THEIR COUNTRY GREAT AGAIN.
WORLD WAR I WAS ALSO CALLED THE WAR TO END ALL WARS. BUT, UNFORTUNATELY, IT DIDN’T. WORLD WAR II BEGAN BARELY¹³ TWENTY YEARS LATER.
 

1 plump   

adj.丰满的，丰富的，直接的；vi.下降，支持，变丰满；vt.突然放下，支持，使丰满；n.突然膨胀，坠落；adv.骤降，直线下降，不加限制的

参考例句：

• The baby is plump and very cute.那个婴儿白白胖胖的，十分可爱。
• The grains are quite plump.谷粒儿很饱。

2 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

3 adored   

爱慕，崇拜( adore的过去式和过去分词 )； 非常喜欢

参考例句：

• For all her faults, Tallulah's friends tolerated and even adored her. 尽管塔卢拉有缺点，她的朋友们却宽容她，甚至崇拜她。
• They adored her as a living goddess. 他们把她当作活女神崇拜。

4 nickname   

n.绰号，昵称；v.给...取绰号，叫错名字

参考例句：

• She called me by my nickname.她叫我的外号。
• Why do you fasten such a nickname on her?你为什么给她取这样一个绰号？

5 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

6 moody   

adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的

参考例句：

• He relapsed into a moody silence.他又重新陷于忧郁的沉默中。
• I'd never marry that girl.She's so moody.我决不会和那女孩结婚的。她太易怒了。

7 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

8 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

9 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

10 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 allies   

联盟国，同盟者； 同盟国，同盟者( ally的名词复数 )； 支持者； 盟军

参考例句：

• The allies would fear that they were pawns in a superpower condominium. 这个联盟担心他们会成为超级大国共管的牺牲品。
• A number of the United States' allies had urged him not to take a hasty decision. 美国的一些盟友已力劝他不要急于作决定。

13 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。