From a Small Town to the Top of the World: What Shaped Melania Trump

From a Small Town to the Top of the World: What Shaped Melania Trump¹

LJUBLJANA — 

Former model Melania Trump will soon become the first foreign-born woman to be first lady of the United States in almost 200 years. Before the election campaign, many Americans knew little of Melania Trump or her country of origin, the former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia, a tiny nation of fewer than two million people tucked among Austria, Italy and Croatia.

Visually, Slovenia is reminiscent of fairy tales: a little-known land of castles on hilltops, green forests, pristine² rivers, and tall Christmas trees. As Slovenians see it, Melania Trump is putting their country on the map.

“Slovenia, what is Slovenia? Is that a food? Is that a car? Nobody knows it’s a country. Nobody knows it’s a nation and nobody knows that Melania is from Slovenia,” said Jakob Susteric, the young CEO of a medical device company, out celebrating Christmas with friends in Ljubljana. “This is a big opportunity that our two million-nation basically gets its place in Europe, in the world, and people will know us,” Susteric said.

That pride is shared by Stane Jerko, the photographer, now 79, who discovered Melania as a quiet teenager at a fashion show in 1987. She was 17.

“She was tall and slim, long hair and long legs, and that’s why I found her suitable to be a photo model,” Jerko said, saying he was not especially surprised to learn Melania had gone far. “I noticed not just her good looks but also - even though it may sound strange - her inner energy.”

That energy took Melania Trump, then Melanija Knavs, to the top.

“It is my small contribution to America and its history,” Jerko told VOA. “She got going with the photos I took.”

Reacting with poise³

As first lady, Melania, 46, has said she wants to work on combating cyber bullying⁴.

Interviews with friends and others who knew Melania in high school suggest she showed an ability to deal with the catty behavior that can prevail among teenage girls and, as one friend remembers, she did it with strength and poise.

“Because she was beautiful. She was a model, a lot of girls talked about this and they were also jealous,” said Petra Sedej, a friend and classmate at the Secondary School for Design and Photography in Ljubljana. “But she didn’t react to this, and I think this is something strong inside of her, because she knew that she was good. And if you know that you are good, you don’t need to prove this with words,” Sedej said.

Communism - and Yugoslavia - were starting to collapse⁵ and the two girls dreamed of the wide world that was opening up for the first time.

“We talked about studying, about how to see the world, and she (as) a model, she knew that Slovenia was too small for her,” Sedej said as she showed a reporter around the school on a recent winter morning.

As a young teenager, Melania left her hometown, Sevnica, and went to live with her sister in Ljubljana, Slovenia’s picturesque⁶ capital of 272,000 people.

Donald and Viktor

After Ljubljana, came Milan, then Paris, and finally New York where Melania Trump met the future U.S. President.

Back in Sevnica, family friends said there is definitely something about her father, car salesman Viktor Knavs, that she would have seen in Donald Trump: a nose for business and a drive to succeed.

In Knavs’ case, that meant having extraordinary initiative to gain a better life beyond the one his salary as a car salesman at a communist state owned enterprise could give.

“Viktor always liked to do it whether with old cars or with some things in which he could earn an additional buck⁷. He always had this and was also hanging out with this sort of people. So this additional business besides his regular job made it possible for him to have a bit more and a bit better,” said Zdravko Mastnak, a friend of the Knavs family.

“Melania definitely noticed his good nose for business. It was impossible not to notice that, a child has to see it,” he said. “This is an evident parallel to Donald just that it is on a scale of one to a thousand. Viktor sniffs⁸ out a small thing that he can repair today and sell tomorrow for a bit more money, while Donald trades two or three skyscrapers⁹ in Florida for two new ones in San Francisco.”

For many Slovenians, having one of their own in the White House means the image of America shines brighter than ever.

On a cold evening before Christmas, Jakob Susteric and his co-workers gather to toast under bright Christmas light decorations in Ljubiljana’s medieval city center.

“It expresses the message that America is sending from past years which is that America is a land of opportunities, so anybody that lives (in) and comes to America can achieve great things,” he said as he and his friends hold up their cups and offer a hearty¹⁰ toast in the name of Melania.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 pristine   

adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的

参考例句：

• He wiped his fingers on his pristine handkerchief.他用他那块洁净的手帕擦手指。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。

3 poise   

vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信

参考例句：

• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise.她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。
• Ballet classes are important for poise and grace.芭蕾课对培养优雅的姿仪非常重要。

4 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

6 picturesque   

adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的

参考例句：

• You can see the picturesque shores beside the river.在河边你可以看到景色如画的两岸。
• That was a picturesque phrase.那是一个形象化的说法。

7 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

8 sniffs   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的第三人称单数 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When a dog smells food, he usually sniffs. 狗闻到食物时常吸鼻子。 来自辞典例句
• I-It's a difficult time [ Sniffs ] with my husband. 最近[哭泣]和我丈夫出了点问题。 来自电影对白

9 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。

10 hearty   

adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的

参考例句：

• After work they made a hearty meal in the worker's canteen.工作完了，他们在工人食堂饱餐了一顿。
• We accorded him a hearty welcome.我们给他热忱的欢迎。