2007年VOA标准英语-50th Anniversary of US Landmark School Desegreg

By Deborah Block
Little Rock, Arkansas
24 September 2007
 

Fifty years ago this month, a high school in the U.S. southern city of Little Rock, Arkansas became a crucial battleground in the struggle for civil rights.  Despite prejudice and hostility¹ from a mob of white demonstrators, nine black students attended their first full day of classes at previously² all-white Central High School on September 25, 1957.  VOA's Deborah Block has the story of the courageous³ group who became known as "the Little Rock Nine."

Elizabeth Eckford was on her way to Central High School when she was confronted with racial slurs⁴ from angry white demonstrators. "They were almost immediately on my heels.  Nobody actually touched me other than spit on me.  I felt terrified."

Three years earlier, the U.S. Supreme⁵ Court had ruled that racial segregation⁶ in public schools was unconstitutional.  In Little Rock, high schools were to integrate by September 1957.

Several weeks before school started, Arkansas's governor ordered the state militia⁷ to block the nine black students from entering the school.  The U.S. president stepped in and sent the army to escort them.

Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine, had not expected such stiff resistance, especially since some school districts in Arkansas had already admitted blacks.   He says about 50 of the 2,000 white students began a reign⁸ of terror in the school hallways.

"In the beginning we had the military soldiers that served as our individual guards and went from class to class with us.  After they left the inside of the school mid-year sometime, was when the hostility, violence and intimidation⁹ really increased.  They began to intimidate¹⁰ those (white) students who tried to befriend us.”

Eckford recalls an unwritten rule,"The rule was that we were not to talk back or strike back and if we did we would be expelled.  One of the things that hurt is that so many people turned their backs and didn't acknowledge what was happening."

The Little Rock Nine had volunteered to transfer from a local black school to one of the best high schools in the country.  They were good students who were hoping for a better education and a chance to go to college. Ernest says they were happy about their prospects¹¹. "The prevailing¹² attitude was that African-Americans in Little Rock, as I saw it, and in the south, were happy with segregated¹³ life.  That wasn't my attitude and I thought that if I had a chance, at some point in my life, to show that was not my attitude, I wanted to be able to step forward and do it."

Johanna Miller¹⁴ Lewis is a history professor at the University of Arkansas. She says the Little Rock Nine helped pave the way for the civil rights movement of the 1960s. "I think it was a signal moment, especially to African-Americans that you, the individual, can make a difference."

Ernest Green attended Central during his last year of high school.   He remembers graduation day. "The silence was kind of eerie¹⁵.  The only people clapping were my family.  As I walked across that stage and got that diploma, I really didn't need anybody to clap.  The silence made the statement and I felt that I had accomplished¹⁶ what I'd come there for."

The following school term the Arkansas governor shut down Central High School for a year.  When it re-opened only two of the remaining Little Rock Nine returned.

Today the school is nearly split between black and white and is still one of the best high schools in the country.  Student Dillon Hupp says, "The courage that they had, I can't imagine anyone I know who would have the courage to do that today."

Tafi Mukunyadzi  also attends Central High. Her parents are from Zimbabwe and came to the U.S. to better their lives.   She says her generation takes racial integration¹⁷ for granted. "We live in a world that is so mixed that we have to live together, so we're learning to do that.  And as teenagers we all feel very comfortable with that but we can't become too comfortable because then we cannot continue to progress."

Today Elizabeth Eckford is a probation¹⁸ officer in Little Rock.  She never went back to Central High School and took correspondent courses at home to graduate.  "I found to talk about the past becomes a pain, something you have to work your way through. It has had a very, very deep and significant impact on my life."

Ernest Green works for a global investment firm in Washington, D.C. "The idea I had as a teenager about change, opportunity and the importance of education.  And now 50 years later to look back on it, I made the right decision."

1 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

2 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

3 courageous   

adj.勇敢的，有胆量的

参考例句：

• We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
• He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。

4 slurs   

含糊的发音( slur的名词复数 )； 玷污； 连奏线； 连唱线

参考例句：

• One should keep one's reputation free from all slurs. 人应该保持名誉不受责备。
• Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian. 种族主义辱骂，种族笑话，都是跟亚裔有关的。

5 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

6 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。

7 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

8 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

9 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

10 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。

11 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

12 prevailing   

adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的

参考例句：

• She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
• This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。

13 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

14 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

15 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

16 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

17 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

18 probation   

n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期)

参考例句：

• The judge did not jail the young man,but put him on probation for a year.法官没有把那个年轻人关进监狱，而且将他缓刑察看一年。
• His salary was raised by 800 yuan after his probation.试用期满以后，他的工资增加了800元。