我们为什么需要米歇尔•奥巴马

英语学习杂志 2013-02-07 10:32

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歌手、演员,奥运冠军,大众文化人物似乎更容易受到青少年的青睐,成为他们的崇拜的偶像。然而,目睹了政党集会上第一夫人的超凡魅力和风采,女孩子们的价值观在潜移默化的影响下有了改变。

我们为什么需要米歇尔•奥巴马

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By Omnia Saed

采苏 选译

She took the stage with the utmost confidence, even with the hundreds of eyes glued to her every movement and the pressure looming behind her. I couldn’t help but gape in awe as Michelle Obama took to the podium in the recent Democratic National Convention. No matter your political affiliation, there’s no doubt First Lady Michelle Obama is the epitome of class and feminism.

I’m a 16-year-old high school junior, who can get easily distracted by entertainment and immersed in pop culture gossip. And yes, I’m a Justin Bieber fan. Call me the stereotypical teenager. Like most, although we won’t ever admit it, I secretly dream to become a celebrity, because in all honesty, what can be better? A generation in which Rihanna and Nicki Minaj are the faces I’m surrounded by, I can’t help but find myself compelled to look up to them.

But looking at Michelle Obama at the convention, things begged to differ. As my eyes glued to her enthusiasm and her emotion in her speech, I found myself in an odd spot. A little voice in my head was jealous. Jealous because she was so powerful to the extent that she was able to compel a room of hundreds of people to attentively listen to her every word. Jealous because she is the true embodiment of female independence. Her husband is the President of the United States, and yet she reigns in popularity, fighting for issues on her own, finding ways to solve them on her own. Whether it’s her Let’s Move! campaign, that inspires kids to become active and maintain healthy lifestyles in order to suppress growing obesity rates or her veterans initiatives such as the creation of the Joining Forces Project which helps veterans find employment after returning from deployment, she’s created a sense of change, created entirely on her own.

I was jealous because Michelle Obama is an intelligent and ingenious Ivy League graduate who did it on her own. Her story so much like that of my own. And she wasn’t one of the few lucky performers or actors or singers who found her big break before high school. No, she’s the product of what everyone tries to instill in us but fails to; the outcome of a hard working kid who studied and went to college determined to succeed.

And at that moment I realized, I wanted to be her or anything that came close to it. With the screams and chants of her name interrupting her speech every few words you could feel, see and hear the power she illuminated, and most importantly the respect the crowd had for her. Her words were eloquently spoken without hesitation. Yes, Rihanna’s music is great, and Nicki Minaj’s raps can easily get stuck in you’re head, but, they aren’t the world’s greatest role models . It’s sad that the only ones who play a factor in our society today, especially for teenagers, are the faces in People magazine and TMZ—half of which dropped out after high school giving millions of teenagers the false hope that they can become like them too- because after all they have the money and the fame.

But, I’m proud, ecstatic, really that there are also people who get recognized because they succeeded educationally, because they help out for the common good and you know what, fashion icons too. After her speech at the DNC, I couldn’t help but smile seeing all of the girls tweeting about her. Sure a few were about her outfit (which was gorgeous!) but a few handful I think realized the importance of her iconic status.

She was a different kind of role model, a different kind of dream, that slowly made a place in their minds. A woman that will one day hopefully inspire us to do the exact same thing.

她满怀自信地走上台去,成百上千双眼睛紧紧追随着她的一举一动,身后有一种无形的压力在逼近。在最近的一场美国民主党全国代表大会上,当米歇尔•奥巴马走上讲台的那一刻,我忍不住聚精会神地盯着她,心中充满敬畏之情。无论你属于哪个政党,第一夫人米歇尔•奥巴马无疑是阶级和女性主义的象征人物。

我是一名16岁的初中生,这个年纪的孩子很容易被娱乐吸引,沉迷在流行文化的八卦消息中。是的,我是贾斯汀•比伯的粉丝。你可以把我称作一个典型的青少年。像大多数同龄人一样,尽管我们从不承认,但是我们心中都怀揣着成为明星的梦,因为老实说,还有什么比这更棒呢?我们这一代人被蕾哈娜和尼基•米纳什的脸孔包围着,我也不可避免地崇拜他们。

但是当我在大会上看到米歇尔•奥巴马,这一切都改变了。我被她演讲中所表现出的热情和情绪深深吸引,心情很复杂。当时我脑子中的一个声音是羡慕。羡慕,因为她拥有如此高的权利,可以让房间中成百上千的人专心致志地听取她说的每一个字。羡慕,是因为她是真正的女性独立的化身。她的丈夫是美国总统,然而,她却能主宰人气,独立为各种问题摇旗呐喊,寻求解决之道。不论是她发起的“我们来运动”活动,激励孩子们活动起来,保持健康的生活方式,阻止肥胖率的持续上升;或是她发起的老兵事业,倡导加入就业计划,帮助退伍军人就业;她带来了改变的气息,并且完全依靠她自己的力量。

我感到羡慕是因为米歇尔•奥巴马智慧聪颖、独创力强,是常春藤名校的毕业生,她获得这一切全凭自己的努力。米歇尔的故事和我自己的很像。她不在那种少数幸运儿之列,不像那些表演者、演员或是歌手,读中学之前就已在事业上取得重大突破。不,她的经历正是每个人试图灌输给我们的,然而我们并没有领会成功需要学习,考入大学,并且需要取得成功的决心。

就在这时,我明白了,我想成为她那样的人,至少是相近的人。演讲过程中,她每说几句话,就会被台下的尖叫声和呼喊声打断,你能感受到,看到并听到她所释放的能量,最重要的是众人对她的尊敬。她的表达流畅有力,斩钉截铁。没错,蕾哈娜的音乐很棒,基尼•米纳什的饶舌音乐能够给人留下深刻的印象,然而,他们并不是世界上最伟大的榜样人物。令人感到悲哀的是,那些在现今社会发挥作用的人,都是《时人》杂志和TMZ网站上的人物,对于青少年更是如此。这些人中有一半在中学后辍学,使得千百万青少年错误地希望自己能够像他们一样,毕竟他们是名利双收的人。

但是,我骄傲,我欣喜,有人凭借自己在学业上的成功,因为他们为了大众的福祉奔走奋斗而受到认可,要知道时尚偶像也不例外。在民主党全国大会上发表演讲后,我看到所有的女孩子都在推特网站上转发她的消息,感到十分欣慰。当然,其中一些人关注的是她的衣服(那衣服太漂亮了!),而我相信也有少数人已经意识到她的偶像地位的重要性。

她是别具风采的榜样,是与众不同的梦想,她慢慢地占据了她们的心。有一天,她很可能激励我们追随他,去做同样的事。

(来源:英语学习杂志 编辑:丹妮)

Vocabulary:

1. take the stage: 登上舞台;glued to: 聚精会神地盯着某物;loom: 降临,逼近。

2. podium: 讲台;Democratic National Convention: 民主党全国代表大会。

3. affiliation: 从属关系,联系;epitome: 缩影,象征;feminism: 女性主义。

4. distract: 转移注意力,分心;immersed in: 专心于,沉浸于。

5. stereotypical: 典型的。

6. Rihanna: 蕾哈娜,欧美当红女歌手;Nicki Minaj: 尼基•米纳什,欧美说唱歌手;compel: 强迫。

7. embodiment: 体现,化身。

8. reign: 支配,占优势。

9. suppress: 一直,veteran: 老兵;initiative: 措施,主动行为;deployment: 部署。

10. ingenious: 有创造性的,别处心裁的;Ivy League: 常春藤联盟,美国东北部八所院校组成的赛事联盟。

11. instill: 灌输,培养(某种宗教或情感)。

12. chant: 反复地喊,反复地唱;Illuminate: 照明,照亮。

13. eloquently: 雄辩地,口才流利地:without hesitation: 毫不犹豫地。

14. role model: 榜样,典型。

15. People: 《时人》杂志,美国时尚杂志;TMZ: 美国在线旗下的一个在线娱乐网站;drop out: 辍学,退学。

 

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