VOA慢速英语2010年-Education Report - Celebrating the 50t

Millions of high school students have read "To Kill a Mockingbird." The novel by Harper Lee offers moral lessons about racial justice and respect. It tells the story of a young girl named Scout¹ and her father, Atticus Finch², a lawyer. He defends a black man wrongfully accused of raping³ a white woman. In the end, an all-white jury sentences Tom Robinson to death.

The book is set in the American South in the nineteen thirties. But it was published fifty years ago, on July eleventh, nineteen sixty. It came out as the civil rights movement in the United States was gaining strength. Laws and customs in the South, however, still kept blacks and whites mostly separated.

A mockingbird is a kind of gray songbird. The book gets its title from something Atticus Finch was told in his childhood when his father gave him a gun. Gregory Peck won an Academy Award for the nineteen sixty-two film version.

A scene from the 1962 film version of Lee's book. Gregory Peck, center, won an Academy Award for his part as Atticus Finch

ATTICUS FINCH: "I remember when my daddy first gave me that gun, he told me that I should never point at anything in the house, and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted, if I could hit them. But remember, it was a sin to kill a mockingbird."

Killing⁴ them is a sin, he explains, because they don't hurt anyone, they just make music. And that is the moral of the story, says Melinda Byrd-Murphy, head of the Alabama Center for Literary Arts.

She has read the book four times.

MELINDA BYRD-MURPHY: "I think if anything, this story talks about humanity and the universality of humans and how there's goodness in people and you just have to get to know one another."

Ms. Byrd-Murphy is a native of Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville. The author, who published only the one novel, is still alive but rarely speaks publicly.

Harper Lee, writer of "To Kill A Mockingbird," at an event in 2007. Her most famous book won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961

Some people say "To Kill a Mockingbird" treats racism⁵ in a way that is simplistic, even offensive to blacks, and out of date in today's America. Still, it has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold over forty million copies. It won a Pulitzer Prize and is often required reading in high school.

The story takes place in a town that Harper Lee called Maycomb. But she based the characters on real people she knew growing up.

Since then, Monroeville has changed a lot. A number of African-Americans serve in the local government. The courthouse, made famous by the book, is now a museum. A small shop and a fast-food restaurant called Mel's Dairy Dream have replaced Harper Lee's childhood home.

But in Monroeville and around the country, fans of "To Kill a Mockingbird" are celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. Events include readings, discussions and movie showings.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, with reporting by Anna Boiko-Weyrauch. I'm Steve Ember
 

1 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

2 finch   

n.雀科鸣禽(如燕雀，金丝雀等)

参考例句：

• This behaviour is commonly observed among several species of finch.这种行为常常可以在几种雀科鸣禽中看到。
• In Australia,it is predominantly called the Gouldian Finch.在澳大利亚，它主要还是被称之为胡锦雀。

3 raping   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的现在分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• In response, Charles VI sent a punitive expedition to Brittany, raping and killing the populace. 作为报复，查理六世派军讨伐布列塔尼，奸淫杀戮平民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The conquerors marched on, burning, killing, raping and plundering as they went. 征服者所到之处烧杀奸掠，无所不做。 来自互联网

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 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。