2007年VOA标准英语-Pocahontas: In Search of Her True Story

By Susan Logue
Jamestown, Virginia
10 May 2007

Monday (May 14th) marks the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in the United States.  One of the key figures in that history is a young Indian girl named Pocahontas -- the daughter of the Powhatan chief.  VOA's Susan Logue reports Pocahontas' story has been told many times, but not always accurately¹.

A statue of Pocahontas

Disney portrayed² her as the love interest of English colonist³ Captain John Smith. But Smith, who is credited by many historians for saving the colony in the early years, was old enough to be her father.

"Pocahontas, when she met John Smith was no more than 11 or 12 years old.  John Smith was maybe 28 at the time," says James Horn, a historian. He edited Smith's writings about the Jamestown Colony.

He says there was no romance between Pocahontas and Smith. "He describes her at one point as his darling daughter, and quite clearly she thought there was a friendship between them."

The relationship between Smith and Pocahontas has been the subject of not only Hollywood films, but also sculpture, books and paintings.  Many of them are featured in the exhibition "Pocahontas:  Her Life and Legend."

William Rasmussen is curator of the show at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond. "She has been depicted⁴ many times and in many strange ways and this exhibition brings together a number of those." 

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Detail of a painting depicting Pocahontas' rescue of John Smith

Several depictions focus on Pocahontas' dramatic rescue of Smith, which he wrote about in 1624.  But most historians agree that his life was never in danger.  Anthropologist⁶ Angela Daniel, co-author of "The True Story of Pocahontas," says Smith was being put through a ritual to make him a chief of the English colonists⁷. "He says that himself.  Why would you want to kill someone you just made a chief? (In) his first writing in 1608, he doesn't make any mention of being saved by Pocahontas.  Chief Powhatan Wahunsenecawh is going to let him go in four days."

After Smith left the colony in 1609, war broke out between the Powhatans and the English, and Pocahontas was captured by the colonists.

Historian Nancy Egloff continues the history. "Because she was one of Powhatan's favorite children, she was the one who was used as a pawn⁸ toward the end of that 1609-14 war to try to get things back that Powhatan and his warriors⁹ had taken.  He had taken weapons.  He had taken prisoners." 

During her captivity¹⁰, Pocahontas converts to Christianity, taking the name Rebecca, and marries an Englishman, John Rolfe. Museum curator William Rasmussen adds, "Why she converted and why she married we have no idea at all. John Rolfe suggests in his writings that they were in love with one another, which seems likely."

In 1616, Pocahontas travels with her husband and son to England and meets the King and Queen, as depicted in the film, "The New World." While there, the only life portrait is made of her, an engraving¹¹.  She never returned to Virginia.

"What happened is she became ill unexpectedly,” says Rasmussen. “We assume it was some sort of illness for which she had no immunity¹².  She died there and is buried there."

A painting of Pocahontas on her deathbed shows members of her tribe who accompanied her to England.  The Mattaponi Indians say they preserved her version of the story as oral history, now in print as The True Story of Pocahontas.  The book suggests she was poisoned.

"She recognized that the food she took didn't taste right," says Dr. Linwood Littlebear Custalow, who co-authored The True Story of Pocahontas with Angela Daniel. She says, whatever version of history you believe, Pocahontas was a powerful symbol.

"From an anthropological¹³ perspective,” says Daniel, “I thought it was interesting that three major groups of people claimed her as a symbol of peace.  You have the Powhatan people, the American people and the English people."

Others have found their own reasons to be fascinated with Pocahontas' story, which is why she has been so popular for so many generations.

1 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

2 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 colonist   

n.殖民者，移民

参考例句：

• The indians often attacked the settlements of the colonist.印地安人经常袭击殖民者的定居点。
• In the seventeenth century, the colonist here thatched their roofs with reeds and straw,just as they did in england.在17世纪，殖民者在这里用茅草盖屋，就像他们在英国做的一样。

4 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

5 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

6 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。

7 colonists   

n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 pawn   

n.典当，抵押，小人物，走卒；v.典当，抵押

参考例句：

• He is contemplating pawning his watch.他正在考虑抵押他的手表。
• It looks as though he is being used as a political pawn by the President.看起来他似乎被总统当作了政治卒子。

9 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

10 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

11 engraving   

n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• He collected an old engraving of London Bridge. 他收藏了一张古老的伦敦桥版画。 来自辞典例句
• Some writing has the precision of a steel engraving. 有的字体严谨如同钢刻。 来自辞典例句

12 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

13 anthropological   

adj.人类学的

参考例句：

• These facts of responsibility are an anthropological datums- varied and multiform. 这些道德事实是一种人类学资料——性质不同，形式各异。 来自哲学部分
• It is the most difficult of all anthropological data on which to "draw" the old Negro. 在所有的人类学资料中，最困难的事莫过于“刻划”古代的黑人。 来自辞典例句