VOA慢速英语--罗莎·帕克斯故居在意大利展出

Rosa Parks' Home Displayed in Italy

Italy is the new home for the house where American civil rights icon¹ Rosa Parks lived after her historic bus boycott². The small, old building can be seen in the central courtyard of the Royal Palace in the city of Naples.

This is the latest stop for the house. When Rosa Parks was alive, the building used to be in Detroit, Michigan. Her niece saved it from destruction after the 2008 financial crisis. She gave it to an American artist who took it apart and rebuilt it for public display in Germany, and now Italy.

The exhibition in Naples opened on Tuesday. It includes a recording³ called "8:46" that lasts eight minutes and 46 seconds. That is the amount of time government lawyers say it took for George Floyd to be killed by Minneapolis police officers in May. The killing⁴ fueled the Black Lives Matter movement and protests around the United States.

Officials later said a white police officer had his knee on Floyd's neck for seven minutes, 46 seconds. They said the one minute difference did not affect the case.

Artist Ryan Mendoza has been working for more than five years to bring attention to the historic value of the old house. Parks lived there for a short time after her 1955 refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama.

For the year that followed, African Americans refused to ride city buses in the first major U.S. protest against racial segregation⁵.

Speaking with The Associated Press, Mendoza said he hoped the grandeur⁶ of the Royal Palace would fuel interest in Park's story. He said it should help America "remember a house it didn't know it had forgotten."

Parks lived in the small house with her brother and his family as she struggled to make a new life for herself after receiving death threats following the bus protest. The family says Parks, who died in 2005, lived there with 17 other relatives.

The house was later abandoned and about to be destroyed, but Parks' niece bought it from the city of Detroit for $500 and gave it to Mendoza. He tried unsuccessfully to get Detroit officials to save the building.

In 2016, Mendoza took the building apart and moved it to Berlin, the German capital. He rebuilt the house on the property near his art studio for the public to see.

Earlier this year, Mendoza asked the Naples-based Morra Greco Foundation to help put together an exhibit. He had once worked for the group. It agreed to help organize the exhibit with the support of the Italian culture ministry⁷ and Campania local government.

For Mendoza, the house represents the experience of many African Americans who went north in the last century, only to face housing discrimination and other problems.

"[The] house, in a word, is a way for people to understand why people in America are so enraged," he said.

The house, he said, is "so fragile that you can almost blow it over."

But now, "instead of being rejected by the walls of the royal palace, it's...protected by these walls," he said.

Words in This Story

icon -n. a person who is revered⁹ for action or words

courtyard – n. an outdoor space surrounded by three exterior¹⁰ walls

niece – n. the daughter of one's sister or brother

display – n. an exhibit or show

segregation – n. the practice of separating black and white facilities and homes

grandeur – adj. majesty¹¹ or great beauty

abandon – v. to leave an object behind

enrage⁸ – v. to become filled with great anger

fragile – adj. delicate or easily broken

1 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

2 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

3 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

6 grandeur   

n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华

参考例句：

• The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
• These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。

7 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

8 enrage   

v.触怒，激怒

参考例句：

• She chose a quotation that she knew would enrage him.她选用了一句明知会激怒他的引语。
• He started another matter to enrage me,but I didn't care.他又提出另一问题，想以此激怒我，可我并没在意。

9 revered   

v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of institutions revered and respected in earlier times have become Aunt Sally for the present generation. 一些早年受到尊崇的惯例，现在已经成了这代人嘲弄的对象了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven. 中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。 来自辞典例句

10 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。

11 majesty   

n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权

参考例句：

• The king had unspeakable majesty.国王有无法形容的威严。
• Your Majesty must make up your mind quickly!尊贵的陛下，您必须赶快做出决定！