VOA慢速英语20060210b

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - Black History Month: Remembering Coretta Scott KingBy Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Friday, February 10, 2006

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HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

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I'm Doug Johnson. February is Black History Month in the United States. This week on our show, we celebrate the history of African-Americans.

We answer a question about races in the United States 鈥?eport about a building that is being saved for historic² reasons 鈥?nd remember a leader of the American civil rights movement.

Coretta Scott King

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That song is called We Shall Overcome. It was a major song of the American civil rights movement in the nineteen sixties. Among those who worked toward civil rights for African-Americans were Martin Luther King Junior and his wife, Coretta. Coretta Scott King died last week at the age of seventy-eight. Barbara Klein tells us about her.


Coretta Scott King during The Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Commemorative Service in the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Heritage³ Sanctuary⁴, in Atlanta (File photo - Jan. 17, 2005)

BARBARA KLEIN: Coretta Scott was born in the southern state of Alabama in a family that valued education. She graduated from Antioch College in Ohio. Then she studied singing at the New England Conservatory⁵ of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

Coretta Scott was already involved in civil rights when she met Martin Luther King Junior in Boston. They were married in nineteen fifty-three. She gave up her music studies to work with her husband in the civil rights movement.

The Kings had four children but that did not stop Missus King from taking part in civil rights activities. She sang, read poems and spoke⁶ at more than thirty Freedom Concerts to raise money for the civil rights movement.

After Martin Luther King was murdered in nineteen sixty-eight, Coretta Scott King worked to keep his dreams alive. Here, she speaks to a crowd after her husband's death:

CORETTA SCOTT KING: How long will it take, how many men must die before we can really have a free and true and peaceful society?

Coretta Scott King worked to establish the Martin Luther King Junior holiday that is celebrated⁷ each January. And she started the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Missus King served as its president for twenty-six years. Her son Dexter King has served as president since nineteen ninety-four.

Coretta Scott King also worked for the rights of other minorities and women. She once called on American women to unite and form a solid block of woman power to fight the three great evils of racism⁸, poverty and war.

Coretta Scott King suffered a stroke last August. She also suffered from ovarian cancer. Her last public appearance was last month at a dinner in Atlanta to raise money for the King Center. It also celebrated the twentieth anniversary of Martin Luther King Junior Day.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

HOST: Last month, the local government of Montgomery County, Maryland took ownership of a historic building linked to the American Civil War. It was a part of the life of a black slave whose story affected⁹ the whole country. Faith Lapidus explains.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Josiah Henson was an African-American slave in the southern state of Maryland in the eighteen hundreds. He lived on a farm owned by the Riley family. In eighteen thirty, he decided¹⁰ to flee to Canada with his family. His owner had refused to honor a promise to permit him to buy his freedom.

In eighteen forty-nine, he wrote a short book about his life. He called it Josiah Henson, Formerly¹¹ a Slave. The book described his life as a slave and his escape to the province of Ontario, Canada.

An American writer named Harriet Beecher Stowe read his book. She used Josiah Henson's experiences to write her own book about a man she called Uncle Tom.

Her book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was published in eighteen fifty-two. It told the world about the horrors of slavery in the United States. It sold three hundred thousand copies in the first year and had a huge effect on the country. It helped build support for the movement to end slavery. President Abraham Lincoln once said that Missus Stowe's book helped start the Civil War.

Now, the Riley farmhouse¹² in Maryland is the property of Montgomery County. Officials bought it for one million dollars after its owner died in September. They say it could become a museum or an education center.

People in the area have been calling the house Uncle Tom's Cabin. That is not really correct. Officials say it was not a slave cabin, but an eighteenth century house and kitchen. Josiah Henson's writings show that he did sleep in the kitchen.

There is another Uncle Tom's Cabin, however. A property near the town of Dresden, Ontario, Canada is also known by that name. The Ontario Heritage Foundation owns the property. It includes a cabin, a church and a museum. It is where Josiah Henson settled after escaping from slavery in the United States.

Black History Museum

HOST:

Our VOA Special English question this week comes from Nigeria. Iyke Chinyere asks about racial groups in the United States.

The United States government lists seven different racial and ethnic¹³ populations in the country. They are American Indian and Alaska Native peoples. Asian Americans. Hispanic or Latino populations. Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders. White populations. Multiracial populations. And black or African-Americans.

The United States is beginning to honor its minority groups with museums. In two thousand four, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. opened the National Museum of the American Indian. It shows the history and culture of Native Americans.

Last week, the Smithsonian announced plans to build a similar museum in Washington to honor African-Americans.

The National Museum of African-American History and Culture will tell the stories of African-Americans from slavery through the struggle for civil rights. It will be built on the National Mall near the Washington Monument. Officials say the building will be about the size of the National Museum of the American Indian, which is also on the Mall.

President Bush signed the bill ordering the African-American museum to be built more than two years ago. Smithsonian officials say they hope the museum will be completed in about ten years. They expect it to cost about four hundred million dollars. The federal government will pay half the cost; private money will pay for the other half.

But it is not the only museum honoring African-Americans. The Museum of African-American History opened in Detroit, Michigan in nineteen ninety-seven. In December, the Museum of the African Diaspora opened in San Francisco, California. And the city of Seattle, Washington is building the Northwest African-American Museum. It is expected to open next year.

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HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.

Our show was written by Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver¹⁴ was our producer.

Send your questions about American life to [email protected]. Please include your full name and mailing address. Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

1 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

2 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

3 heritage   

n.传统，遗产，继承物

参考例句：

• The ancient buildings are part of the national heritage.这些古建筑是民族遗产的一部分。
• We Chinese have a great cultural heritage.我们中国人有伟大的文化遗产。

4 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

5 conservatory   

n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的

参考例句：

• At the conservatory,he learned how to score a musical composition.在音乐学校里，他学会了怎样谱曲。
• The modern conservatory is not an environment for nurturing plants.这个现代化温室的环境不适合培育植物。

6 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。

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 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。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

10 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。

11 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

12 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

13 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

14 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。