Who Was Eleanor Roosevelt 安娜·埃莉诺·罗斯福 Chapter 5 Cousin Franklin

Eleanor looked different when she returned to New York after Allenswood. She walked and talked with confidence. She looked attractive in her smart, new clothes. The long dresses suited her. But no matter how confident Eleanor looked or felt, there was one fear that terrorized her. Eleanor was turning eighteen and would have to “come out.”

Coming out meant that girls were presented to society. Eleanor’s family was part of New York society. Her mother and aunts had all been debutantes³. Debutantes were girls from rich families.

When these girls turned eighteen, they had a “coming out” party. The parties were very formal. The girls wore ball gowns⁴. The men wore jackets with tails. The purpose of the parties was for the girls to meet their future husbands. Eleanor’s mother, Anna Hall, had been considered one of the most beautiful debutantes of the late 1800s. Her dance card was always filled. She had many admirers. Eleanor knew she could never live up to her mother’s debut² in society.

The idea of dances, parties, and balls filled Eleanor with terror¹. Her Uncle Teddy was now president of the United States. His own daughter, Eleanor’s beautiful cousin Alice, was also entering society. Eleanor truly felt like the ugly duckling now. She thought no one would ask her to dance. And everyone would notice her blank dance card. Her brother Hall was away at school. Eleanor wrote him every day, but did not tell him of her fears.

Then one day Eleanor was on a train. She was going from New York City to the country. A handsome young man sat down opposite her. He smiled and began to chat. Eleanor shyly smiled back. The man was a distant cousin named Franklin Roosevelt. Eleanor listened as he told her about Harvard. The last time they had spent this much time together was when she was about two years old. Then, Franklin had given her a horseback ride.

Over the next months, Eleanor found herself spending more and more time with Franklin. And though never as pretty or as witty⁵ as her mother or aunts, Eleanor did have dancing partners at the balls. But, by the time the social season was over in December, Eleanor and Franklin were a couple.

Far more important to Eleanor than the parties was her work. She remembered helping⁶ her father serve Thanksgiving dinner long ago. Now she and her friends worked at the settlement houses in lower New York City.

Eleanor taught exercise and dancing to children. While her friends arrived in their carriages, Eleanor took public transportation. People told her it was not safe to do this, but she did it anyway. Eleanor wrote to Franklin, who was still at Harvard, that she found her hours teaching⁷ the children the “nicest part of the day.”

Eleanor also began working to help make factories safer and better for the women and children who worked in them. At this time, factories were called “sweatshops.” Women and children worked up to fourteen hours each day. They worked under dangerous conditions. Often, they were locked in the factories and were not let out until it was time to quit.

Eleanor was horrified⁸. She wanted women and children to have a better life. So she talked to politicians and wrote about what she saw. She made sure other people—people with power—were aware of the horrible working conditions. She urged leaders to pass laws to make factories safer and to shorten⁹ the workday. Eleanor was only nineteen years old. But she was beginning to look at the world and see how she could make it better.

Each night, she wrote to Franklin of her life in New York City. She wrote about her dreams of making the world a better place. He waited eagerly at Harvard for her letters. But their romance¹⁰ was a secret. Franklin’s mother did not want him to be serious about any young lady.

Then on November 22, 1903, Franklin proposed¹¹! Franklin’s mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, said they were too young. They were not ready to marry. So Franklin and Eleanor agreed to wait a year. They also promised not to tell anyone about their engagement¹². The year passed. Finally, the happy couple announced that they were going to be married!
 

1 terror   

n.恐怖；可怖的人(事)

参考例句：

• We were in mortal terror of being found out. 我们非常害怕被发现。
• That guy is a proper terror. 那家伙真是讨厌。

2 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

3 debutantes   

n.初进社交界的上流社会年轻女子( debutante的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For it was as the curtain raiser for society debutantes that Almack's was famous. 集中营之所以著名，因为对初次社交来说它就像是的一个开场戏。 来自互联网

4 gowns   

n.（法官、英国律师、大学学生在特别仪式上穿的）长袍( gown的名词复数 )；女长服；（尤指在医院穿的）罩衣；宽松长外衣

参考例句：

• The guests turned up dressed in sumptuous evening gowns. 客人们身着华丽的夜礼服出现了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "Did you see those two men in black gowns? “看见么？那两个穿黑大衫的。 来自子夜部分

5 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

8 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

9 shorten   

vt.弄短，缩小，减少

参考例句：

• Minor accidents can shorten the life of a car.小事故会缩短汽车寿命。
• My dress is too long I must shorten it.我的连衣裙太长了，我得把它截短些。

10 romance   

n.恋爱关系，浪漫气氛，爱情小说，传奇

参考例句：

• She wrote a romance about an artist's life in Tokyo.她写了一个关于一位艺术家在东京生活的浪漫故事。
• They tried to rekindle the flames of romance.他们试图重燃爱火。

11 proposed   

被提议的

参考例句：

• There is widespread discontent among the staff at the proposed changes to pay and conditions. 员工对改变工资和工作环境的建议普遍不满。
• an outcry over the proposed change 对拟议的改革所发出的强烈抗议

12 engagement   

n.订婚，婚约，约定，约会

参考例句：

• I can't see you on Monday because I have a previous engagement.星期一我不能见你，因为我有约在先。
• It was my mother's very own engagement ring.这正是我母亲自己的订婚戒指。