01
The Word “Black” 我是黑色的

Langston Hughes

蘭斯頓·休斯

導讀

其實，上帝賦予每一個人的一切都是獨一無二的，不論才華還是膚色。作者告訴我們：黑色是一種美麗，它無與倫比，因為那是上帝的禮物。

“I am black. When I look in the mirror, I see myself, but I am not ashamed. God made me. He did not make us no badder than the rest of the folks. The earth is black and all kinds of good things comes out of the earth. Trees and flowers and fruit and sweet potatoes and corn and all that keeps men alive comes right up out of the earth—good old black earth. Coal is black and it warms your house and cooks your food. The night is black, which has a moon, and a million stars, and is beautiful. Sleep is black which gives you rest, so you wake up feeling good. I am black. I feel very good this evening.”

“我是黑色的。當我照鏡子時我看到了自己的樣子，但是我并沒有自卑。上帝創造了我，他并沒有有意把我造得比別人劣質。土壤是黑色的，很多優良的東西都是從土壤中培育出來的。樹木和花草、水果、紅薯、玉米以及所有能維持人類生命的東西都是從土壤——那些美好、古老、黑色的土壤中生長出來的。煤是黑色的，它可以溫暖你的小屋，煮熟你的食物。夜是黑色的，在夜里有月亮和成千上萬的星星，這都會讓你感覺到美麗。睡眠是黑色的，它可以讓你休息，以便在醒來時能感到精力旺盛。我是黑色的，今晚我感覺特別愉快。”

“What is wrong with black? ”

“黑究竟有什么錯呢？”

Cloze 選詞填空

“Next, somebody got up a 1 on which you get if you don't vote right. Then when lodges come into being, the folks they didn't want in them got 2. If you kept a skeleton in your closet, you might get 3 . And everything bad was black. When it came down to the unlucky ball on the pool table, the eight-rock, they made it the blackball. So no wonder there ain't no equal rights for the black man.”

“接下來，有人會列出一個黑名單，如果你沒有按照要求投票就會被拉入到這個黑名單里。然后當地方分會一旦形成，不愿意參與進來的民眾就會被排斥。如果你有不可告人的秘密，你可能會被敲詐勒索。所有的壞事都會與‘黑’這個字相聯系。談到臺球桌上的倒霉球，8撞球，人們也把這個球制作成黑色（注：8球規則：在臺球比賽中，先把8球撞到口袋里就意味著輸掉了比賽）。所以黑人不能享有與白人同樣的權利也不足為奇。”

“All you say is true about the odium attached to the word black, ” I said, “You've even forgotten a few. For example, during the war if you bought something under the table, illegally, they say you were trading on the 4 . In Chicago, if you're a gangster, the 5 may take you for a ride. And certainly if you don't behave yourself, your family will say you're a 6 . Then, if your mama burns a black candle to change family luck, they call it 7.”

我說：“‘黑’這個字被賦予令人憎惡的含義，關于這件事你說得都對，但是你還忘了一些。例如：在戰爭期間，如果你非法秘密購買一些東西，人們會說你是在黑市交易。在芝加哥，如果你是個流氓，黑手黨可能會開車帶你一程。當然，如果你行為不檢點，你的家人會說你是害群之馬。然后，如果你的媽媽點燃一根黑色的蠟燭以期改變家族的命運，人們會把這件事稱為黑魔法。”

Key

1. blacklist 2. blackballed 3. blackmailed 4. black market

5. Black Hand Society 6. black sheep 7. black magic

Emulation 美文自己寫得出——學生仿寫

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仿寫范例

Reading Classics

As we all know, books, especially the classical, present the precious accumulation of wisdom and knowledge beyond the limitation of time or space, from which we can enjoy numerous anecdotes, get to know exotic culture and tradition, experience the legendary and miraculous life of our idols and make ourselves better men day by day.

Nevertheless, people, especially the young, seem to have stored those classical books merely on the shelf for an unbelievably long time, which can be attributed to various factors. On the one hand, modern people have to cope with the quick pace and unavoidable stress of their work or life; therefore, they can hardly devote time to reading books. On the other hand, people tend to be more material-oriented involving their social status, amount of wealth or prospects of getting promotion, which eclipse the important benefits from reading classical books.

To me, it is essential for most undergraduates to read certain classical books, especially the ones filled with life-long motivation and sagacious thoughts, which may not guarantee them short-term returns but will bring them far-reaching reward.