www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

English 中文網 漫畫網 愛新聞iNews 翻譯論壇
中國網站品牌欄目(頻道)
當前位置: Language Tips > Special Speed News VOA慢速

Jesse Owens, 1913- 1980: he was once the fastest runner in the world

[ 2011-08-30 13:51]     字號 [] [] []  
免費訂閱30天China Daily雙語新聞手機報:移動用戶編輯短信CD至106580009009

Jesse Owens, 1913- 1980: he was once the fastest runner in the world

GWEN OUTEN: This is Gwen Outen.

STEVE EMBER: And this is Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English. Every week we tell about a person who was important in the history of the United States. Today we tell the story of athlete Jesse Owens. He once was the fastest runner in the world.

(MUSIC)

GWEN OUTEN: In the summer of 1936, people all over the world heard the name of Jesse Owens. That summer, Owens joined the best athletes from 50 nations to compete in the Olympic games. They met in Berlin, Germany. There was special interest in the Olympic games that year.

Adolf Hitler was the leader of Germany. Hitler and his Nazi party believed that white people -- especially German people – were the best race of people on Earth. They believed that other races of people -- especially those with dark skin -- were almost less than human.

In the summer of 1936, Hitler wanted to prove his beliefs to the world. He wanted to show that German athletes could win every important competition. After all, only a few weeks before the Olympics, German boxer Max Schmeling had defeated the great American heavyweight Joe Louis, a black man.

Jesse Owens, 1913- 1980: he was once the fastest runner in the world

STEVE EMBER: Jesse Owens was black, too. Until 1936, very few black athletes had competed in the Olympics for the United States. Owens was proud to be on the team. He was very sure of his ability.

JESSE OWENS: "I think that this week is very sufficient for the boys on the United States Olympic team for the simple reason because we have been through a series of preliminary events in our country. And the training here that we are getting here is just a little tune-up for the Olympic games. Our hard training is really over. And the rain here is something that is going to help our team quite a bit because some of the boys has a tendency to work a little bit too hard. And I think that the rain is doing a good to slack up the training a bit."

(1936 interview with Jesse Owens for German radio, from archive.org)

STEVE EMBER: Owens spent one week competing in four different Olympic track and field events in Berlin. During that time, he did not think much about the color of his skin, or about Adolf Hitler.

Owens said later: "I was looking only at the finish line. I thought of all the years of practice and competition, and of all who believed in me."

GWEN OUTEN: We do not know what Hitler thought of Jesse Owens. No one recorded what he said about this black man who ran faster and jumped farther than any man of any color at the Olympic games. But we can still see Jesse Owens as Hitler saw him. For at Hitler's request, motion pictures were made of the Berlin Olympic games.

The films show Jesse Owens as a thin, but powerfully-built young man with smooth brown skin and short hair. When he ran, he seemed to move without effort. When he jumped, as one observer said, he seemed to jump clear out of Germany.

Jesse Owens won the highest award -- the Gold Medal -- in all four of the Olympic competitions he entered. In the 100 meter run, he equaled the fastest time ever run in that Olympic event. In the long jump and the 200 meter run, he set new Olympic records. And as part of a four-man team, he helped set a new world record for the 400 meter relay race. He was the first American in the history of Olympic track and field events to win four Gold Medals in a single Olympics.

Jesse Owens, 1913- 1980: he was once the fastest runner in the world

STEVE EMBER: Owens's Olympic victories made him a hero. He returned home to parades in New York City and Columbus, Ohio, where he attended the state university. Businessmen paid him for the right to use his name on their stores. No one, however, offered him a permanent job.

For many years after the 1936 Olympic games, Jesse Owens survived as best he could. He worked at small jobs. He even used his athletic abilities, but in a sad way. He earned money by running races against people, motorcycles and horses. He and his wife and three daughters saw both good times and bad times.

(MUSIC)

GWEN OUTEN: Poverty was not new to James Cleveland Owens. He was born in 1913 on a farm in the southern state of Alabama. He was the youngest of 13 children. His parents did not own the farm, and earned little money. Jesse remembered that there was rarely enough food to eat. And there was not enough fuel to heat the house in winter.

Some of Jesse's brothers and sisters died while still young. Jesse was a sickly child. Partly because of this, and partly because of the racial hatred they saw around them, Jesse's parents decided to leave the South. They moved north, to Cleveland, Ohio, when Jesse was eight years old. The large family lived in a few small rooms in a part of the city that was neither friendly nor pleasant to look at.

Jesse's father was no longer young or strong. He was unable to find a good job. Most of the time, no one would give him any work at all. But Jesse's older brothers were able to get jobs in factories. So life was a little better than it had been in the South.

STEVE EMBER: Jesse, especially, was lucky. He entered a school where one white teacher, Charles Riley, took a special interest in him. Jesse looked thin and unhealthy, and Riley wanted to make him stronger. Through the years that Jesse was in school, Riley brought him food in the morning. Riley often invited the boy to eat with his family in the evening. And every day before school, he taught Owens how to run like an athlete.

At first, the idea was only to make the boy stronger. But soon Riley saw that Jesse was a champion. By the time Jesse had completed high school, his name was known across the nation. Ohio State University wanted him to attend college there. While at Ohio State, he set new world records in several track and field events. And he was accepted as a member of the United States Olympic team.

(MUSIC)

Jesse Owens, 1913- 1980: he was once the fastest runner in the world

GWEN OUTEN: Owens always remembered the white man who helped change his life. Charles Riley did not seem to care what color a person's skin was. Owens learned to think the same way.

Later in life, Owens put all his energy into working with young people. He wanted to tell them some of the things he had learned about life, work and success: That it is important to choose a goal and always work toward it. That there are good people in the world who will help you to reach your goal. That if you try again and again, you will succeed.

People who heard Owens's speeches said he spoke almost as well as he ran. Owens received awards for his work with boys and girls. The United States government sent him around the world as a kind of sports ambassador. The International Olympic Committee asked for his advice.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: In about 1970, Jesse Owens wrote a book in which he told about his life. It was called "Blackthink." In the book, Owens denounced young black militants who blamed society for their troubles. He said young black people had the same chance to succeed in the United States as white people. Many black civil rights activists reacted angrily to these statements. They said what Owens had written was not true for everyone.

Owens later admitted that he had been wrong. He saw that not all blacks were given the same chances and help that he had been given. In a second book, Owens tried to explain what he had meant in his first book. He called it "I Have Changed." Owens said that, in his earlier book, he did not write about life as it was for everyone, but about life as it was for him.

He said he truly wanted to believe that if you think you can succeed--- and you really try -- then you have a chance. If you do not think you have a chance, then you probably will fail. He said these beliefs had worked for him. And he wanted all young people to believe them, too.

GWEN OUTEN: These were the same beliefs he tried to express when he spoke around the world about being an Olympic athlete. "The road to the Olympics," he said, "leads to no city, no country. It goes far beyond New York or Moscow, ancient Greece or Nazi Germany. The road to the Olympics leads -- in the end -- to the best within us."

In 1976, President Gerald Ford awarded Jesse Owens the Medal of Freedom. This is the highest honor an American civilian can receive. Jesse Owens died of cancer in 1980. His family members operate the Jesse Owens Foundation. It provides financial aid and support for young people to help them reach their goals in life.

(THEME)

STEVE EMBER: This program was written by Barbara Dash. It was produced by Lawan Davis. This is Steve Ember.

GWEN OUTEN: And this is Gwen Outen. Listen again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.

Related stories:

Faster, Higher, Stronger

American Jesse Owens' legacy lives on in Berlin

The man with the golden shoes

The first black player in modern major league baseball

(來源:VOA 編輯:崔旭燕)

 
中國日報網英語點津版權說明:凡注明來源為“中國日報網英語點津:XXX(署名)”的原創作品,除與中國日報網簽署英語點津內容授權協議的網站外,其他任何網站或單位未經允許不得非法盜鏈、轉載和使用,違者必究。如需使用,請與010-84883631聯系;凡本網注明“來源:XXX(非英語點津)”的作品,均轉載自其它媒體,目的在于傳播更多信息,其他媒體如需轉載,請與稿件來源方聯系,如產生任何問題與本網無關;本網所發布的歌曲、電影片段,版權歸原作者所有,僅供學習與研究,如果侵權,請提供版權證明,以便盡快刪除。
 

關注和訂閱

人氣排行

翻譯服務

中國日報網翻譯工作室

我們提供:媒體、文化、財經法律等專業領域的中英互譯服務
電話:010-84883468
郵件:translate@chinadaily.com.cn
 
 
主站蜘蛛池模板: a毛片在线看片免费 | 国产一区二区在线看 | 手机国产日韩高清免费看片 | 国产伦精品一区二区三区免费 | 国产热久久精 | 亚洲第一网站免费视频 | 亚洲九九视频 | 能直接看的一级欧美毛片 | 日韩特级毛片免费观看视频 | 日韩特级黄色片 | 久久在线播放 | 精品国产午夜久久久久九九 | 日韩免费高清 | 国内自拍视频一区二区三区 | 久久精品国产大片免费观看 | 成人午夜视频在线观 | 久久久久毛片成人精品 | 久久精品国产精品亚洲 | 九九国产精品视频 | 中文字幕一级毛片 | 欧美色视频日本片免费高清 | 欧美在线视频免费观看 | 免费色网址 | 国产精品成人在线 | 亚洲一一在线 | 欧美精品久久久久久久久大尺度 | 中日韩欧美一级毛片 | 999久久久 | 性做爰片免费视频毛片中文i | 久爱www免费人成福利播放 | 足恋玩丝袜脚视频免费网站 | 国产成人啪精品 | 久爱免费观看在线网站 | 久久国产免费一区 | 亚洲欧美精品一中文字幕 | 免费成人高清视频 | 日韩一中文字幕 | 亚洲欧洲日韩在线 | 亚洲欧美日韩精品永久在线 | 久草在线视频看看 | 在线视频精品一区 |