【英语语言学习】当陌生人给你一笔巨款后

 SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Imagine there's something you've been trying to do for decades and then a total stranger steps in and makes it possible. That happened recently to a San Francisco nonprofit group. From member station KQED, Amy Standen has the story.

AMY STANDEN, BYLINE¹: About year ago, Bryan Bashin received a strange email from a law firm in Seattle.

BRYAN BASHIN: There was just something about the email that was a little mysterious in its compactness. A businessman has passed away. I think you might want to talk to us.

STANDEN: Bashin is the head of a nonprofit called LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired². He'd never heard of this Seattle businessman, a guy named Donald Sirkin. And yet, with no warning or explanation, Sirkin had left almost his entire estate to the LightHouse, a little more than $125 million.

BASHIN: It's one of those experiences where time kind of stands still, where you know that every little bit of what you're experiencing will be engraved³ in your memory.

STANDEN: Bashin is 60 years old. He's tall, and he's almost always smiling. And the impression he gives is of being just this entirely⁴ functional⁵, confident blind person.

But it turns out that this Bashin is a relatively⁶ recent incarnation. Because for a long time, between when he started losing his sight when he was a teenager until he was almost 40, Bashin didn't identify as blind at all. He told almost no one.

BASHIN: It's like when somebody says - you see the over there? And I would nod and say, yeah, I see that. I didn't see that. I missed stuff in the movies.

STANDEN: He says this is much more common than you might think.

BASHIN: In the blind community, we say we're in the closet about it. And it is just like being in the closet in the gay community. You try to pass, and you try to be somebody that you're not.

STANDEN: Bashin says when he finally went to get help, at the age of 38, to start learning the tools of blindness, like how to use a cane⁷ and read Braille, the agency that received him was shabby. The whole place had an air of defeat.

BASHIN: If I wasn't already depressed⁸ about looking at the rest of my life blind, that would have done it for me (laughter). None of that period made me feel like I could be a cool blind person and do stuff in the future.

STANDEN: What did it make you feel like?

BASHIN: I felt ashamed, and I felt resolved that I would never set foot in that place again.

STANDEN: But he did. Eventually, he got a job there and then another job at a different blindness group. Since then, he's made it his life's mission to demonstrate that, with the right tools and training, blindness can often be reduced to the level of inconvenience.

BASHIN: Don't just hide. This is not a tragedy or a shame. This is not some kind of deep loss. This is just another side of being human. Share it. Play with it. Grow with it.

STANDEN: Bashin says the bequest⁹ from Donald Sirkin will let the LightHouse reach and help many more blind people than ever before. But he says it's also a change to start chipping away at the shame that so many blind people seem to feel. For starters, there will be a new state-of-the-art headquarters with training facilities in downtown San Francisco.

BASHIN: And when you get right down to it, the Sirkin bequest is about feeling like we can dream and have options and be proud of who we are.

STANDEN: Last year, Bryan went to Seattle to try and learn more about this mysterious stranger who had donated $125 million to a group that had never heard of him.

He learned that Don Sirkin had had a secret, too. He had started to go blind. Like Bashin, Sirkin hid it. Unlike Bashin, Sirkin never came out of the closet as a blind man. Bryan Bashin hopes the bequest will make it possible for many more blind people to do what he did. For NPR News, I'm Amy Standen in San Francisco.

SIMON: And that story came to us from KQED's new podcast, "The Leap."

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 engraved   

v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

6 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

7 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

8 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

9 bequest   

n.遗赠；遗产，遗物

参考例句：

• In his will he made a substantial bequest to his wife.在遗嘱里他给妻子留下了一大笔遗产。
• The library has received a generous bequest from a local businessman.图书馆从当地一位商人那里得到了一大笔遗赠。