VOA慢速英语20060709a

PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Anne Morrow Lindbergh: Pilot and Writer of What Book Critics Considered 'Small Works¹ of Art'By Shelley Gollust

Broadcast: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 16:00:00 UTC

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:


Anne Morrow Lindbergh

And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program People in America. Every week we tell about a person who was important in the history of the United States. Today, we tell about Anne Morrow Lindbergh. She was a famous pilot and writer.

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VOICE ONE:

Anne Spencer Morrow was born in nineteen-oh-six in Englewood, New Jersey². Her father was a very rich banker. He later became the American ambassador³ to Mexico. Her mother was an educator and poet. Anne went to Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She wanted to become a writer. She won two major prizes from the college for her writing.

VOICE TWO:

Anne Morrow was a quiet, shy and small young woman when she met Charles Lindbergh in nineteen twenty-seven. He was staying with her family in Mexico City. The twenty-five year old man was tall and good-looking. Charles Lindbergh was one of the most famous people in the world. He had just become the first person to fly a plane alone across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York to Paris. Two years later, Anne and Charles Lindbergh were married. Reports about their marriage were on the front pages of newspapers around the world.

VOICE ONE:

After her marriage to Charles Lindbergh, Anne became a pilot. She learned⁴ to plan an airplane flight as a navigator, operate a radio and fly a plane. She began making many long airplane flights with her husband

In nineteen thirty, she became the first woman in the United States to get a
The Lindberghs before their record flight from Los Angeles to New York

pilot's license⁵ to fly a glider⁶, which does not have an engine. That same year, the Lindberghs set a speed record for flying across the United States. They flew from Los Angeles, California to New York City in fourteen hours and forty-five minutes. Anne Lindbergh was seven months pregnant⁷ at the time.

The Lindberghs explored new ways to fly around the world. They flew almost fifty thousand kilometers over five continents. Anne and Charles Lindbergh were famous around the world. They seemed to enjoy the greatest luck that any young people could have.

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VOICE TWO:

Then in nineteen thirty-two something terrible happened. The Lindbergh's first baby, twenty-month-old Charles, was kidnapped from their home in New Jersey. The body of the baby was discovered more than ten weeks later.

Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested, tried, found guilty and executed⁸ for the crime. There were a huge number of press reports about the case. Newspapers called it The Crime of the Century.

After the trial, the Lindberghs found it difficult to live in the United States. There were threats on the life of their second child. And there were too many newspaper stories about them. So Anne and Charles Lindbergh moved to Europe in nineteen thirty-five. Four years later they moved back to the United States.

VOICE ONE:

Anne Morrow Lindbergh never fully⁹ recovered from the death of her first child. Yet, she and her husband had five more children. She continued flying. In nineteen thirty-four, she became the first woman to win the National Geographic¹⁰ Society's Hubbard Gold Medal. She was honored¹¹ for her exploration, research and discovery.

Anne Lindbergh began writing to ease¹² her sadness. She wrote several books about the flights with her husband. Her first book was North to the Orient¹³ in nineteen thirty-five. She wrote about their flight in a single-engine airplane over Canada and Alaska to Japan and China. This is what she wrote about landing¹⁴ in northern Canada and jumping out of the plane:

VOICE THREE:

Then two little Eskimo boys came up shyly and followed me about. Their bright eyes shone under their caps as they searched my face and costume curiously¹⁵. 'You see,' said one of the traders, 'You're the first white woman they've ever seen. There's never been one here before.'

VOICE TWO:

Three years later Anne Lindbergh wrote Listen! The Wind. It was about the Lindberghs' fifty thousand kilometer flight. It became very popular. One critic said it described the poetry of flight as no other book on flying had ever done.

In nineteen forty, Anne Lindbergh wrote a book called The Wave of the Future. She wrote it while Europe was fighting World War Two. She wrote that she did not support communism or fascism. But she said they were unavoidable. She wrote that she hoped the United States could avoid entering the conflict. And, in a letter, she wrote that she was beginning to feel that the German Nazi¹⁶ dictator¹⁷ Adolf Hitler was a very great man. Her husband had become unpopular for expressing similar beliefs.

Many people criticized¹⁸ the book. Missus Lindbergh later admitted that both she and her husband failed to see the worst evils¹⁹ of the Nazi system. She stopped writing for many years.

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VOICE ONE:

Anne Morrow Lindbergh began writing again in nineteen fifty-five. She wrote a book called Gift from the Sea. It was about women's search for meaning in their lives.

Gift from the Sea was one of the most popular books in America. It has sold more than one million copies and has influenced many women. In Gift from the Sea, Missus Lindbergh wrote about the many different kinds of pressures that women face.

She wrote that women who are wives and mothers have many different interests and duties. They must be able to deal with their husband, children, friends, home and community. She found it difficult for women to balance all these duties and still make a place for themselves. Yet she said that women must try to find a balance in their lives.

VOICE TWO:

In Gift from the Sea, Anne Lindbergh described how women had to perform many jobs that pulled them in different directions like a circus performer.

VOICE THREE:

What circus act we women perform every day of our lives. It puts the trapeze artist to shame. Look at us. We run a tight rope daily, balancing a pile of books on the head. Baby-carriage, parasol, kitchen chair, still under control. Steady now! This is not the life of simplicity²⁰ but the life of multiplicity that the wise men warn us of. It leads not to unification but to fragmentation. It does not bring grace²¹; it destroys the soul.

VOICE ONE:

Anne Lindbergh found that one answer to this problem was to be alone. The book described how she spent time by herself on an island by the sea. She studied the sea shells she found. And she made her life simpler.

During the nineteen seventies, Anne Lindbergh wrote several more books about the happy and sad events of her life. One of these is called Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead. She wrote about the joy of flying. She also wrote about the pain she and her husband felt after the body of their baby son was discovered.

VOICE THREE:

We sleep badly and wake up and talk. I dreamed right along as I was thinking 鈥?all of one piece, no relief. I was walking down a suburban²² street seeing other people's children and I stopped to see one in a carriage and I thought it was a sweet child, but I was looking for my child in his face. And I realized, in the dream, that I would do that forever.

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VOICE TWO:

Charles Lindbergh died in nineteen seventy-four at the age of seventy-two. The next year, the readers of Good Housekeeping magazine voted Anne Morrow Lindbergh one of the ten women in the world they liked the most. In nineteen ninety-six, Missus Lindbergh was invited to join the National Women's Hall of Fame. She was honored for her success as a pilot.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh died at her home in Vermont in two thousand one. She was ninety-four years old. Many people have been influenced by the way she dealt with both happiness and sadness. They respect the way she lived life to the fullest. And they like the advice about living that they find in her books.

VOICE THREE:

If you surrender²³ completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly in those moments.

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VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. Our reader was Sarah Long. And our producer was Caty Weaver²⁴. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another People in America program on the Voice of America.

1 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

2 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

3 ambassador   

n.大使，特使，（派驻国际组织的）代表

参考例句：

• He took up office as an ambassador for ten years continuously.他连任十年大使。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

4 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

5 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

6 glider   

n.滑翔机；滑翔导弹

参考例句：

• The glider was soaring above the valley.那架滑翔机在山谷上空滑翔。
• The pilot managed to land the glider on a safe place.那个驾驶员设法让滑翔机着陆到一个安全的地方。

7 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

8 executed   

v.执行（法令）( execute的过去式和过去分词 )；（按计划或设计）作成；履行；演（戏）

参考例句：

• He was executed for treason. 他因叛国罪被处死。
• He was executed in 1887for plotting to assassinate the tsar. 他因密谋暗杀沙皇在1887年被判处极刑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

10 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

11 honored   

adj.光荣的：荣幸的v.尊敬，给以荣誉( honor的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I hope to be honored with further orders. 如蒙惠顾，不胜荣幸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is a time-honored custom. 这是一个古老的习俗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 ease   

n. 安乐,安逸,悠闲; v. 使...安乐,使...安心,减轻,放松

参考例句：

• His mind was at ease and he felt confident in the future. 他心情舒畅,对前途很有信心。
• You should ease up on the child and stop scolding her. 你应该对那个孩子宽松些,不要再骂她了。

13 orient   

adj.[诗]东方的，闪闪发光的；n.东方，珍珠，东方国家；vt.使向东，确定方向，定位，以...为参照，使熟悉或适应；vi.转向东方

参考例句：

• The people in the Orient are mainly yellow or brown.东方国家的人种主要是黄色的或棕色的。
• We must orient our work to the needs of the people.我们必须使我们的工作面向人民的需要。

14 landing   

n.登陆；着陆；楼梯平台

参考例句：

• Owing to engine trouble,the plane had to make a forced landing.由于发动机出了毛病，飞机不得不进行迫降。
• When are we landing?我们什么时候着陆？

15 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

16 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。

17 dictator   

n.独裁者，爱发号施令的人

参考例句：

• We felt quite impotent to resist the will of the dictator.我们感到无力抗拒独裁者的意志。
• A dictator must have a firm hand.独裁者的手段是很厉害的。

18 criticized   

vt.批评(criticize的过去式)v.评论，批评( criticize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The decision was criticized by environmental groups. 这个决定受到了环保团体的批评。
• The movie has been criticized for apparently legitimizing violence. 这部电影因明显地美化暴力而受到了指责。

19 evils   

n.邪恶，罪恶，祸害( evil的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The knowledge of future evils mortified the present felicities. 对未来苦难的了解压抑了目前的喜悦。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The evils we bring on ourselves are the hardest to bear. 自己作的孽最难熬。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

20 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

21 grace   

n.优雅，雅致，魅力，恩惠，慈悲

参考例句：

• She is a beautiful girl with the grace and poise.她是一位仪态优雅的佳丽。
• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。

22 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

23 surrender   

v.投降，自首；屈服；交出，放弃

参考例句：

• He preferred to die rather than surrender to the enemy.他宁死也不愿向敌人投降。
• Liu Hulan would rather die than surrender before the enemy.刘胡兰在敌人面前宁死不屈。

24 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。