My Life

My Life

On Wednesday, July 24, we went to the White House to meet the President in the Rose Garden. President Kennedy walked out of the Oval Office into the bright sunshine and made some brief remarks, 1)complimenting our work, especially our support for civil rights, and giving us higher marks than the governors, who have not been so forward-leaning in their annual summer meeting. After accepting a 2)Boys Nation T-shirt, Kennedy walked down the steps and began shaking hands. I was in the front, and being a bigger and bigger supporter of the President's than most of the others, I make sure I'd get to shake his hand even if he shook only two or three. It was an amazing moment for me, meeting the President whom I had supported in my ninth-grade class debates, and about whom I felt even more strongly after his two and a half years in office. A friend took a photo for me, and later we found film 3)footage of the handshake in the Kennedy Library.

Much has been made of that brief 4)encounter and its impact on my life. My mother said she knew when I came home that I was determined 2 to go into politics, and after I became the Democratic nominee 3 in 1992, the film was widely pointed 4 to as the beginning of my presidential aspirations 5. I'm not sure about that. I have a copy of the speech I gave to the 5)American Legion in Hot Spring after I came to home, and in it I didn't make too much of the handshake. I thought at the time I wanted to become a senator, but deep down I probably felt as Abraham Lincoln did when he wrote as a young man, “I will study and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come.”

One other memorable 6 event happened to me in the summer of 1963. On August 28, nine days after I turned seventeen, I sat alone in a big white 6)reclining chair in our den 1 and watched the greatest speech of my lifetime, as Martin Luther King Jr. stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke 7 of his dream for America. In 7)rhythmic 8 8)cadences 9)reminiscent of old Negro 10)spirituals, his voice at once 11)booming and shaking, he told a vast 12)throng 10 before him, and millions like me 13)transfixed before television sets, of his dream that “one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood,” and that “my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

I started crying during the speech and wept for a good while after Dr. King finished. He had said everything I believed, far better than I ever could. More than anything I ever experienced, except perhaps the power of my grandfather's example, that speech steeled my determination to do whatever I could for the rest of my life to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream come true.

注释：
1) compliment [5kCmplimEnt] v. 称赞，褒扬
2) Boys Nation 少年国家，美国军团（American Legion）设立的一个年度公民培训计划，成员由高中男生组成，计划为期一星期，组织成员会与国会成员、政府官员和总统会面。
3) footage [5futidV] n. 电影胶片
4) encounter [in5kauntE] n. 相遇，见面
5) American Legion 美国军团，又称美国退伍军人协会，是美国最大的退伍军人组织
6) reclining chair n. 活动靠背扶手椅，躺椅
7) rhythmic [5riTmik] a. 节奏的，合拍的
8) cadence 9 [5keidEns] n. （声音的）抑扬顿挫，节奏
9) reminiscent of 发人回想的，发人联想的
10) spiritual [5spiritjuEl] n. （美国南部黑人的）圣歌
11) booming [5bu:miN] a. （声音等）低沉有回响的，隆隆作响的
12) throng [WrCN] n. 群集
13) transfix [trAns5fiks] v. 使固定，使呆住

我的生活

    7月24日，星期三，我们前往白宫，到玫瑰园拜见总统。肯尼迪总统步出椭圆形办公室，来到灿烂的阳光下，作了简短的讲话。他称赞了我们的工作，特别是我们对民权的支持，他给我们打的分比他给州长们的还高——在每年夏季的会议中，州长从来没有表现出具有远见。在接受了“少年国家”的一件T恤衫后，肯尼迪走下台阶与大家握手。我站在前排。而且比多数人都更坚定地支持肯尼迪总统。我要确保自己和总统握上手，哪怕他只给两三个人机会。早在九年级课堂辩论赛中，我就支持肯尼迪，而在他担任总统两年半后更是如此。此刻真的见到了他，对我来说，这是个毕业生难忘的时刻。一位朋友为我拍了照片，后来我们在肯尼迪图书馆发现了那次握手的录像带。
    对于那次简短的会见及其对我人生道路的影响外界有过很多评论。母亲说，我回到家后，她便知道，我已经决定进入政坛，1992年我被提名为民主党总统候选人后，那段录像带被广泛地认为是我渴望得到总统宝座的开始。对于这一点，我当时并不很清楚。我还保存着自己回家后在温泉城对美国军团所做的演讲稿。演讲中我并没有对那次握手进行渲染。那是我认为自己想当个参议员，但可能在心灵深处，我的感受正像阿伯拉罕·林肯年轻时写下：“我会学习并做好准备，我的机会也许就会降临。”这话时的那样。
    1963年夏天还发生了一件对我来说具有纪念意义的事。8月28日，我17岁生日的9天后，我独自坐在家中书房里的一把白色大躺椅上，观看了我这辈子听过的最伟大的演讲。小马丁·路徳·金站在林肯纪念堂前面，发表他的美国梦演说。演讲抑扬顿挫，富含韵律，让人想起黑人古老的圣歌。他的声音又雄浑又激动。面对着面前黑压压的人群和数百万如我一样紧守在电视机前的人，他讲述着自己的梦想：“有一天，在佐治亚的红山上，昔日奴隶的儿子和昔日奴隶主的儿子，将能一起围坐在充满兄弟情谊的桌子旁”，以及“我的四个孩子将生活在一个不是以他们的肤色，而是以他们品格的优劣来评价他们的国度里”。
    在金博士演讲的过程中，我止不住热泪盈眶，在他演讲完好一会儿我仍哭个不停。他说出了我所信仰的一切，我永远也说不了他那么好。或许除了我外祖父的榜样力量外，那场演讲比我的任何经历对我的影响都要深刻，它坚定我的决心：我要在自己的这一生中竭尽全力，让小马丁·路德·金的梦想成真。