论文部分内容阅读
True heroes never seek 1)accolades. When they see a need, they simply do what needs to be done, often at a 2)substantial cost to themselves. One such hero is Oral Lee Brown of Oakland, California.
Oral: It was one morning that I was headed to the store and a little girl asked me for a quarter, and I had a five dollar bill, so I asked her to come and go to the store with me, and when I got to the store I just told her to get whatever she wanted, and she ended up getting 3)baloney, cheese, bread. And so, as we left the store I began to talk to her, and asked her did she go to school, she just stated, “sometimes,”and I asked, “Well, where is your mother?” and so she said, “She’s at home.” It shoulda been the end of the story, but it wasn’t because I could not sleep.
The image of this little girl stayed with Oral Lee Brown, and the next day she asked around the neighborhood what school this girl might be attending. Brown went to the school and met with the principal, but was unable to locate the girl. What she did find were classes of inner-city first-graders who were obviously at risk. Without knowing what 4)prompted her, Brown turned to the school’s principal and set into motion a process that would change lives.
Oral: I don’t know, I just looked up at her and said,“May I adopt a class?”, and then she, you know, at that point, you know, she said, “Well, who are you?”
What Brown proposed is that every year she would save $10,000 out of her $45,000 salary as a real estate agent for the students’ college education. The students, in turn, were to stay in school and graduate with good enough grades to qualify for acceptance into a college. And, after a month and a half of background checks and reviews, Oral Lee Brown was given permission to adopt a class. She was given a class of 23 students, all of whom came from poverty, and many of whom lived in broken homes, spent their young lives surrounded by violence and had little chance of ever finishing high school.
People sat back and waited for Brown to fail.
Brown immediately set to work. Not only did she put aside money from her paycheques, she also spent time getting to know the students in her class.
Oral: And so I was a fairy-tale mother. I…I was someone that they truly loved. I can remember going into the classroom periodically and I would…I would go from desk to desk talking to them, helping them with whatever they was [were] working with, and again, I guess I have a fondest memory was probably in the playground, because I would try to be there for play time, and we would go out and we would play and just talk.
Brown also made certain that her students had what they needed to attend class, buying them food, clothing and shoes. Combine these expenses with the $10,000 she was saving, Brown gave up over a quarter of her earnings every year.
Coming from a background of poverty herself, Brown understood some of the challenges her students faced. Brown claims that the values of hard work and sharing instilled in her by her parents gave her not only what she needed to educate herself and change her life, but it gave her lessons that she could pass on to her students to help change their lives. Whenever her kids complained about how hard their lives were, she would share her life’s lessons.
Oral: Don’t ever start pitying yourself, because whatever you got is more than you had yesterday. So you…you learn to deal with it, and it…it doesn’t matter how much money you have. You know, money doesn’t make you. The measure of a man is not the money. So it…it’s only a tool to get what you want, and, normally, there’s other ways to get what you want.
And as they got older, I used to always say to them, “I’m gonna always respect you and you’ve got to respect me.”
The result of this mutual respect was that, out of the 23 original students, 19 graduated from high school and went on to college.
The story could end here with more than a happy ending. However it has not ended for Oral Lee Brown. Oral Lee Brown continues to adopt classes and change lives. Upon hearing Brown’s amazing story, other individuals and businesses have stepped up and contributed. With the donations received by the Oral Lee Brown Foundation, Brown continues her work of changing and saving lives.
真正的英雄从不寻求赞美。当他们看到有人需要帮助时，他们只会简单地给予帮助，而这常常却让他们付出不菲的代价。其中一位这样的英雄就是奥洛尔·李·布朗。
奥洛尔：那是某天早上，我正往商店走去，一个小女孩问我要一个两角五分硬币，我当时只有一张五美元钞票，于是我让她跟我到商店去。到了商店，我让她自己去拿想要的东西，结果她拿了香肠、干酪和面包。之后，我们离开商店，我开始跟她聊天，我问她有没有上学，她只是说有时候会上，我问她：“那你妈妈在哪儿呢？”她说：“她在家里。”这故事本应就这么完了，但事情却不是这样，因为我睡不着。
这个小女孩的样子一直留在奥洛尔·李·布朗的脑海中。第二天，她就向附近的邻居打听这女孩可能上的是哪所学校。布朗去了那所学校，与那里的校长见了面，却找不到小女孩在哪个班级。然而，她却发现了市中心贫民区里一年级学生入学情况岌岌可危的事实。不知哪来的勇气，布朗转向那所小学的校长，从而展开了一场将会改变许多人命运的行动。
奥洛尔：我也不知道，我只是抬头看着她，说道：“我可以认领一个班吗？”而她那时，你知道，说道：“你是谁？”
布朗的计划是每年她将从自己当地产经纪的四万五千美元的年薪中省下一万美元，用于资助这些学生的大学教育。这些学生，反过来，得待在学校里并且以足够被大学录取的成绩毕业。经过一个半月的背景调查和评估，奥洛尔·李·布朗获准认领一个班。她得到了一个有23名学生的班，里面所有的学生都来自贫困家庭，其中许多人生活在破碎家庭之中，年轻的生命处处伴随着暴力，连从高中毕业也毫无把握。
人们都坐等布朗以失败收场。
布朗立刻展开工作。她不光从自己的收入中投入金钱，还花时间去了解自己班里的学生。
奥洛尔：因此，我成为了神仙妈妈，成了他们真正爱戴的人。我记得自己会定期走进教室，我会一张桌子接一张桌子地挨个和他们交谈，帮他们干手头上的活儿，我想我最美妙的记忆很可能就是在操场上，因为在游戏时间我会尽量出现在那里，我们会到外面去，我们会一起玩，或者只是聊天。
布朗还确保她的学生有上学的必需品，她给他们买吃的、衣服和鞋子。这些开支连同她省下的一万美元占了布朗每年收入的四分之一以上。
布朗自己也来自贫穷家庭，所以她明白她的学生所面对的一些挑战。布朗认为她父母灌输给她的关于努力工作和乐于分享的价值观不光足以让她自律并且改变命运，还启发了她，使她明白自己可以将其传递给她的学生，帮助他们改变命运。无论何时，当她的孩子们抱怨自己命运多舛时，她就会和他们分享自己的人生教训。
奥洛尔：千万别自怜自艾，因为你今天承受的总会比昨天多。因此，你得学会处理，你身上有多少钱并不重要。你知道，钱不能塑造你。衡量人的尺度不是钱。那只是获取你所需的一种手段，而通常还有其他方法满足你所需。
当他们大一点，我常常跟他们说：“我会始终尊重你们，而你们也得尊重我。”
这种互尊互重的结果是，原来的23名学生中，19人从高中毕业并且上了大学。
这个故事到此本已不止是结局完满了，然而对奥洛尔·李·布朗来说，却还没有结束。她继续认领班级，改变命运。听说了布朗的感人故事后，其他人和企业也参与其中，出钱出力。布朗用奥洛尔·李·布朗基金会收到的捐助，继续改变命运和拯救生命。栏目翻译：未几
Oral: It was one morning that I was headed to the store and a little girl asked me for a quarter, and I had a five dollar bill, so I asked her to come and go to the store with me, and when I got to the store I just told her to get whatever she wanted, and she ended up getting 3)baloney, cheese, bread. And so, as we left the store I began to talk to her, and asked her did she go to school, she just stated, “sometimes,”and I asked, “Well, where is your mother?” and so she said, “She’s at home.” It shoulda been the end of the story, but it wasn’t because I could not sleep.
The image of this little girl stayed with Oral Lee Brown, and the next day she asked around the neighborhood what school this girl might be attending. Brown went to the school and met with the principal, but was unable to locate the girl. What she did find were classes of inner-city first-graders who were obviously at risk. Without knowing what 4)prompted her, Brown turned to the school’s principal and set into motion a process that would change lives.
Oral: I don’t know, I just looked up at her and said,“May I adopt a class?”, and then she, you know, at that point, you know, she said, “Well, who are you?”
What Brown proposed is that every year she would save $10,000 out of her $45,000 salary as a real estate agent for the students’ college education. The students, in turn, were to stay in school and graduate with good enough grades to qualify for acceptance into a college. And, after a month and a half of background checks and reviews, Oral Lee Brown was given permission to adopt a class. She was given a class of 23 students, all of whom came from poverty, and many of whom lived in broken homes, spent their young lives surrounded by violence and had little chance of ever finishing high school.
People sat back and waited for Brown to fail.
Brown immediately set to work. Not only did she put aside money from her paycheques, she also spent time getting to know the students in her class.
Oral: And so I was a fairy-tale mother. I…I was someone that they truly loved. I can remember going into the classroom periodically and I would…I would go from desk to desk talking to them, helping them with whatever they was [were] working with, and again, I guess I have a fondest memory was probably in the playground, because I would try to be there for play time, and we would go out and we would play and just talk.
Brown also made certain that her students had what they needed to attend class, buying them food, clothing and shoes. Combine these expenses with the $10,000 she was saving, Brown gave up over a quarter of her earnings every year.
Coming from a background of poverty herself, Brown understood some of the challenges her students faced. Brown claims that the values of hard work and sharing instilled in her by her parents gave her not only what she needed to educate herself and change her life, but it gave her lessons that she could pass on to her students to help change their lives. Whenever her kids complained about how hard their lives were, she would share her life’s lessons.
Oral: Don’t ever start pitying yourself, because whatever you got is more than you had yesterday. So you…you learn to deal with it, and it…it doesn’t matter how much money you have. You know, money doesn’t make you. The measure of a man is not the money. So it…it’s only a tool to get what you want, and, normally, there’s other ways to get what you want.
And as they got older, I used to always say to them, “I’m gonna always respect you and you’ve got to respect me.”
The result of this mutual respect was that, out of the 23 original students, 19 graduated from high school and went on to college.
The story could end here with more than a happy ending. However it has not ended for Oral Lee Brown. Oral Lee Brown continues to adopt classes and change lives. Upon hearing Brown’s amazing story, other individuals and businesses have stepped up and contributed. With the donations received by the Oral Lee Brown Foundation, Brown continues her work of changing and saving lives.
真正的英雄从不寻求赞美。当他们看到有人需要帮助时，他们只会简单地给予帮助，而这常常却让他们付出不菲的代价。其中一位这样的英雄就是奥洛尔·李·布朗。
奥洛尔：那是某天早上，我正往商店走去，一个小女孩问我要一个两角五分硬币，我当时只有一张五美元钞票，于是我让她跟我到商店去。到了商店，我让她自己去拿想要的东西，结果她拿了香肠、干酪和面包。之后，我们离开商店，我开始跟她聊天，我问她有没有上学，她只是说有时候会上，我问她：“那你妈妈在哪儿呢？”她说：“她在家里。”这故事本应就这么完了，但事情却不是这样，因为我睡不着。
这个小女孩的样子一直留在奥洛尔·李·布朗的脑海中。第二天，她就向附近的邻居打听这女孩可能上的是哪所学校。布朗去了那所学校，与那里的校长见了面，却找不到小女孩在哪个班级。然而，她却发现了市中心贫民区里一年级学生入学情况岌岌可危的事实。不知哪来的勇气，布朗转向那所小学的校长，从而展开了一场将会改变许多人命运的行动。
奥洛尔：我也不知道，我只是抬头看着她，说道：“我可以认领一个班吗？”而她那时，你知道，说道：“你是谁？”
布朗的计划是每年她将从自己当地产经纪的四万五千美元的年薪中省下一万美元，用于资助这些学生的大学教育。这些学生，反过来，得待在学校里并且以足够被大学录取的成绩毕业。经过一个半月的背景调查和评估，奥洛尔·李·布朗获准认领一个班。她得到了一个有23名学生的班，里面所有的学生都来自贫困家庭，其中许多人生活在破碎家庭之中，年轻的生命处处伴随着暴力，连从高中毕业也毫无把握。
人们都坐等布朗以失败收场。
布朗立刻展开工作。她不光从自己的收入中投入金钱，还花时间去了解自己班里的学生。
奥洛尔：因此，我成为了神仙妈妈，成了他们真正爱戴的人。我记得自己会定期走进教室，我会一张桌子接一张桌子地挨个和他们交谈，帮他们干手头上的活儿，我想我最美妙的记忆很可能就是在操场上，因为在游戏时间我会尽量出现在那里，我们会到外面去，我们会一起玩，或者只是聊天。
布朗还确保她的学生有上学的必需品，她给他们买吃的、衣服和鞋子。这些开支连同她省下的一万美元占了布朗每年收入的四分之一以上。
布朗自己也来自贫穷家庭，所以她明白她的学生所面对的一些挑战。布朗认为她父母灌输给她的关于努力工作和乐于分享的价值观不光足以让她自律并且改变命运，还启发了她，使她明白自己可以将其传递给她的学生，帮助他们改变命运。无论何时，当她的孩子们抱怨自己命运多舛时，她就会和他们分享自己的人生教训。
奥洛尔：千万别自怜自艾，因为你今天承受的总会比昨天多。因此，你得学会处理，你身上有多少钱并不重要。你知道，钱不能塑造你。衡量人的尺度不是钱。那只是获取你所需的一种手段，而通常还有其他方法满足你所需。
当他们大一点，我常常跟他们说：“我会始终尊重你们，而你们也得尊重我。”
这种互尊互重的结果是，原来的23名学生中，19人从高中毕业并且上了大学。
这个故事到此本已不止是结局完满了，然而对奥洛尔·李·布朗来说，却还没有结束。她继续认领班级，改变命运。听说了布朗的感人故事后，其他人和企业也参与其中，出钱出力。布朗用奥洛尔·李·布朗基金会收到的捐助，继续改变命运和拯救生命。栏目翻译：未几