大学英语综合教程 第一册 unit 4b

[00:00.00]surrounding/ threaten/ divorce/ motivate
[00:03.34]环境/威胁/离婚/激励
[00:06.69]assure/  soar/  hardship/ fulfill
[00:10.07]使有信心/猛增/苦难/实现
[00:13.45]obtain/ appoint/   sacrifice/  come up with
[00:17.28]获得/任命/牺牲/提出
[00:21.11]opportunity/ take advantage of/  afterward
[00:27.30]When he grew up the knife was to become one of the tools of his trade.
[00:33.23]But when he was young it almost put an end to all his dreams.
[00:39.16]BEN CARSON:MAN OF MIRACLES
[00:43.31]Ben Carson looked out at Detroit's Southwestern High School class of 1988.
[00:50.76]It was graduationday.
[00:54.20]At 36,Carson was a leading brain surgeon,
[00:59.27]performing delicate and lifesaving operations.But 19years before,
[01:06.04]he had graduated form this same inner-city school.He remembered it all-
[01:13.40]the depressing surroundings of one of Detroit's toulghest,poorest neighborhoods.
[01:20.17]And he knew the sense of hopelessness and despair that many of these260students were feeling about the future
[01:29.23]For weeks he had worried over how to convince the graduates that they,too,
[01:35.16]could succeed against seemingly impossible odds,that they could move mountains
[01:43.11]Now,standing to deliver the mani address,he held up his hands.
[01:48.75]"See these?"he asked the students.
[01:52.51]"I didn't always use them for surgery.
[01:55.96]When I was a little younger than you are,
[01:59.20]I often waved a knife with them to threaten people.
[02:03.92]And I even tried to kill somebody."
[02:08.08]The students stared in disbelief.
[02:11.74]Ben and his older brother,Curtis,
[02:15.37]grew up in a crowded apartment building near the school.Their mother,Sonya
[02:21.43]who had married at age 13and divorced when Ben was eight,worked at two
[02:27.88]and sometimes three low-paying jobs at a time.
[02:32.22]She wanted a better life for her two sons
[02:36.06]and showered them with encouragement.
[02:39.37]However,both boys started badly in school,especially Ben.
[02:45.20]Sonya recognized that Ben was bright.
[02:49.35]He just didn't seem motivated. "From now on,"
[02:54.99]she announced one afternoon, "you can watch only two TV shows a week.
[03:01.03]You have to read at least two books every week and give me reports so I know you really read them
[03:09.28]At first Ben hated reading.
[03:12.65]Then,gradually,he discovered a nie world of possibility.
[03:19.00]Before long he was reading more books than his determined mother required,
[03:25.06]and he couldn't wait to share them with her.
[03:28.43]His mother studied the book reports closely.
[03:32.09]"That's a fine job,Bennie,"she would tell her beaming son.
[03:37.31]What she didn't tell Ben or Curtis was that,
[03:41.86]with only a third-grade education,she couldn't read.
[03:46.30]"Mom,"Ben announced one day, "when I grow up,I want to be a doctor."
[03:52.75]Sonya Carson smiled,knowing Ben must have just read a book on doctors.
[03:59.12]"You can be anything you want to be,"she assured him.
[04:04.14]With a goal now,young Ben soared from the bottom of his class toward the top.
[04:10.57]His teachers were astonished.
[04:13.31]There was one thing,however,that Ben couldn't seem to conquer:
[04:18.56]his violent temper.He boiled with anger-
[04:23.31]anger at his departed father,anger at the hardships his mother faced,
[04:29.04]anger at all the wasted lives he saw around him.
[04:34.00]Then one afternoon,walking home from school,
[04:37.89]14-year-old Ben started arguing with a friend.
[04:42.25]Pulling a camping knife,Ben thrust at the boy.
[04:46.48]The steel blade struck the youngster's metal belt buckle,
[04:52.15]and the blade snapped.Ben's friend fled.
[04:57.48]Ben stood stone-still. "I almost killed someone!"he said quietly.
[05:05.03]There and then he made a decision.
[05:08.19]If he was ever going to fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor and save others
[05:21.85]he was first going to gave to cure himself.
[05:25.93]Never again would he let his anger run away with him.