魔法妈妈J.K.Rowling名人故事分享
魔法妈妈— J.K.Rowling 英汉对照
Like that of her own character, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling's life has the luster of a fairy tale. Divorced, living on public assistance in a tiny Edinburgh flat with her infant daughter, Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at a table in a cafe during her daughter's naps — and it was Harry Potter that rescued her.
Joanne Kathleen Rowling entered the world in Chipping Sodbury General Hospital in Bristol, England, a fitting beginning for someone who would later enjoy making up strange names for people, places and games played on flying broomsticks. Her younger sister Di was born just under two years later.
Rowling remembers that she always wanted to write and that the first story she actually wrote down, when she was five or six, was a story about a rabbit called Rabbit. Many of her favorite memories center around reading—hearing The Wind in the Willows read aloud by her father when she had the measles, enjoying the fantastic adventure stories of E. Nesbit, reveling in the magical world of C. S. Lewis's Narnia, and her favorite story of all, The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge.
At Exeter University Rowling took her degree in French and spent one year studying in Paris. After college she moved to London to work for Amnesty International as a researcher and bilingual secretary. The best thing about working in an office, she has said, was typing up stories on the computer when no one was watching. During this time, on a particularly long train ride from Manchester to London in the summer of 1990, the idea came to her of a boy who is a wizard and doesn't know it. He attends a school for wizardry--she could see him very plainly in her mind. By the time the train pulled into King's Cross Station four hours later, many of the characters and the early stages of the plot were fully formed in her head. The story took further shape as she continued working on it in pubs and cafes over her lunch hours.
In 1992 Rowling left off working in offices and moved to Portugal to teach English as a Second Language. In spite of her students making jokes about her name (this time they called her "Rolling Stone"), she enjoyed teaching. She worked afternoons and evenings, leaving mornings free for writing. After her marriage to a Portuguese TV journalist ended in divorce, Rowling returned to Britain with her infant daughter and a suitcase full of Harry Potter notes and chapters. She settled in Edinburgh to be near her sister and set out to finish the book before looking for a teaching job. Wheeling her daughter's carriage around the city to escape their tiny, cold apartment, she would duck into coffee shops to write when the baby fell asleep. In this way she finished the book and started sending it to publishers. It was rejected several times before she found an London agent, chosen because she liked his name--Christopher Little, who sold the manuscript to Bloomsbury Children's Books.
Rowling was working as a French teacher when she heard that her book about the boy wizard had been accepted for publication. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in June 1997 and achieved almost instant success. With the publication of the American edition, retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, in 1998, Rowling's books continued to make publishing history. Harry Potter climbed to the top of all the bestseller lists for children's and adult books. Indeed, the story of the boy wizard, his Cinderlad childhood, and his adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry caught the imagination of readers of all ages. In Britain a separate edition of the first book appeared with a more "adult" dust jacket so that grown-ups reading it on trains and subways would not have to hide their copy behind a newspaper.
Jo Rowling lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with her daughter Jessica and continues to work on writing the seven-book saga of Harry Potter.
魔法妈妈—J.K.罗琳
J.K.罗琳的生活展现出童话般的光芒，如同她所创造的魔法小巫师—哈利·波特。经历了一次失败的婚姻后，这个靠救济金过日子，独自抚养女儿的单亲妈妈和出生不久的女儿搬到了爱丁堡的一个狭小的公寓里。为了逃离又小又冷的房间，她常待在住家附近的咖啡馆里，待女儿熟睡后开始写作，女儿睡多久，她就写多久。就在这个小咖啡馆里，她写出了《哈利·波特与魔法石》，塑造了那个将她带离窘境的小巫师。
乔安·凯瑟琳·罗琳出生在英格兰的一家综合医院里，这对一个喜欢给别人起奇怪名字，喜欢坐着扫帚满场飞奔的小姑娘来说，是个合适的开始。她的妹妹两年后来到这个世上。
罗琳从小就喜欢写作，五、六岁时就写了一篇跟兔子有关的故事。小时候美好的记忆似乎总是围绕阅读的—得麻疹时听爸爸大声讲故事，读奇异的冒险故事，沉浸在奇妙的故事世界里。
大学里，罗琳主修法语，在巴黎留学一年。毕业后，她搬去伦敦担任调查员和双语秘书。罗琳回忆说，那段时间最有趣的事情就是趁没人的时候在电脑上打小说。1990年，时值24岁的罗琳坐在由曼撤斯特出发前往伦敦的火车上，哈利·波特闯入了她的生命。她可以在脑海里清晰地勾画他的模样，看到他进入魔法学校。四小时后，当火车驶入王十字车站时，大部分人物和故事的前期框架已经在她的脑海里形成了。当她午餐时间坐在咖啡馆里继续构思时，故事的结构变得更加清晰。
1992年，罗琳结束了白领生涯，前往葡萄牙做英语教师。尽管学生们常拿她的名字开玩笑，叫她滚石（英语中Rowling与rolling同音），她仍然非常喜欢教书。她在下午和晚上去学校工作，上午用来写作。不久后，她与一名葡萄牙的电视台记者结婚，但这段婚姻最终以离婚告终。离婚后，罗琳带着女儿和满满一箱子哈利·波特的笔记与手稿回到了英国。为了能住得靠近妹妹，罗琳在爱丁堡定居下来，准备在找新工作前完成这部小说。她常常推着女儿的手推车四处闲逛，只是为了逃离又小又冷的公寓。她会躲到咖啡馆里，趁女儿睡着时写作。就这样，罗琳在咖啡馆里完成了哈利·波特的创作，开始寻找出版商。但她的稿件被多次退回，直到她找到了一个伦敦的经纪人。罗琳之所以会找到他，仅仅是因为喜欢他可爱的名字—克里斯多夫·里特（Christopher Little）。
当罗琳得知这本关于小巫师的小说被出版商接受时，她正在一所学校教法语。《哈利·波特》才一出版，就大获成功。随着哈利·波特1998年在美国的出版，罗琳的书继续创造着出版界的历史。哈利·波特登上了儿童与成人书籍的最佳销售榜的首位。确实，这个小巫师的故事，他灰姑娘一样的童年，和他在霍格华兹魔法学校的历险引发了各个年龄读者的丰富想象力。在英国，出版商出版了一种更成人化封面的版本，使得大人们能在火车或者地铁里阅读而不用把书藏在报纸后面。
现在，J.A.罗琳和她的女儿捷西卡住在苏格兰的爱丁堡，继续完成哈利·波特的冒险故事。
延伸阅读：
英语名人故事-Henry Addington 1801-4 Tory
Born: 30 May 1757 in Bedord Row, Holborn, London
First entered Parliament: 5 April 1784
Age he became PM: 43 years, 291 days
Maiden speech: 24 January 1786. He seconded the Address to the Throne at the opening of Parliament
Total time as PM: Three years, 54 days
Died: 15 February 1844 at Richmond, Surrey
Facts and figures
Nickname: "The Doctor"
Education: Winchester and Brasenose College, Oxford
Family: Addington was the eldest son, and fourth of six children. He was married twice (to Ursula Mary Hammond and then Hon Mary Anne Townsend), and had four sons and four daughters
Interests: A man of few hobbies, although he enjoyed riding and writing poetry
Biography
Middle-class PM
The son of a doctor, Addington was the first middle-class prime minister, holding office from 1801 to 1804.
Having served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1789, Addington became PM when King George III rejected Pitt's Emancipation of Catholics Bill, forcing his resignation.
Addington enjoyed royal favour because he had treated George III as a doctor during one of his bouts of madness.
Addington's ministry was most notable for the negotiation of the Treaty of Amiens of 1802, in which the government agreed to an unfavourable peace with France.
It quickly broke down, and Addington could not persuade Pitt to support him as war loomed on the continent. With Napoleon's forces readying themselves for an invasion of Britain, Addington resigned.
A notably poor orator, Addington continued to serve under Pitt, and was later elevated to the House of Lords as Viscount Sidmouth. He went on to hold office in the governments of Grenville and Lord Liverpool.
Quote unquote
"In youth, the absence of pleasure is pain, in old age the absence of pain is pleasure."
Did you know?
He donated to the town of Reading the four acres of land that is today the Royal Berkshire Hospital, and his name is commemorated in the town's Addington Road.
First wife - Ursula Mary Hammond
Described by her son-in-law as being 'shy and retiring', Ursula was co-heiress to her father and brought an income of ￡1000 a year to her marriage.
Second wife - Hon Mary Anne Townsend
Gentle, kind and intelligent, Townsend was more sophisticated than Addington's first wife. A sculptor said 'her face was more full of lively sweetness than any he ever saw'. She was not very healthy, however, and in the last years of her life was paralysed and in constant pain. She died two years before her husband.
阿姆斯特朗：他的脚印不仅留在了月球 双语名人故事
Neil Armstrong shot to world-wide fame as the first person to step on the surface of the moon, a feat that marked a new era of human exploration. For the rest of his life he largely shunned the limelight.
阿姆斯特朗(Neil Armstrong)曾凭借人类历史上第一个踏上月球表面的人这一荣誉一夜之间名扬四海，不过他的后半生则基本上退出了公众视野。登月的壮举标志着人类探索活动进入了一个新时代。
Mr. Armstrong's family released a statement Saturday confirming that he died from complications 'resulting from cardiovascular procedures' performed Aug. 8, three days after his 82nd birthday.
阿姆斯特朗的.家人上周六发表声明，证实他因8月8日进行的心血管手术出现并发症去世。手术的三天前他刚刚度过了82岁生日。
As commander of Apollo 11 in 1969, Mr. Armstrong punctuated his exploit with the memorable phrase, 'That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.' The mission transfixed people around the globe, including nearly one million spectators who flocked to the Florida launch site.
作为1969年“阿波罗11号”(Apollo 11)飞船的指挥官，阿姆斯特朗以令人难忘的一句话精辟地概括了自己的登月之举：这是我个人迈出的一小步，却是人类迈出的一大步。美国的登月计划震撼了全球，也震撼了涌入佛罗里达发射场地的近100万围观者。
He resisted getting caught up in the hoopla, years later calling himself a 'nerdy engineer.' Bucking intense pressure to use his celebrity status for political purposes or personal gain, the self-effacing Midwesterner left it to others to ponder the significance and broader meaning of his accomplishment.
他拒绝投入到火爆的宣传旋涡中，多年后他自称是一个“书生工程师”。这个不喜欢出风头的中西部人顶住了将自己的名人身份用于政治目的或获取个人利益的巨大压力，而是把自己所取得成就的重要性和更广泛的意义留给他人去思考。
The statement from Mr. Armstrong's family referred to him as 'a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job.'
阿姆斯特朗的家人发表的声明称他是一个不情不愿的美国英雄，他一直认为自己只是做了分内之事。
Mr. Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on Aug. 5, 1930, and spent part of his teenage years on a farm about 60 miles from where Orville and Wilbur Wright more than 25 years earlier experimented. He took his first airplane ride at 6 years old.
1930年8月5日，阿姆斯特朗出生在俄亥俄州沃帕科内塔(Wapakoneta)，他的童年有一部分时间是在一个农场上度过的。在距离农场约60英里的地方，逾25年前怀特兄弟曾经进行过飞机试验。阿姆斯特朗六岁时第一次坐上了飞机。
Mr. Armstrong flew 78 missions as a Navy combat pilot in the Korean War and later gained prominence as a civilian government test pilot.
朝鲜战争期间，阿姆斯特朗作为海军战斗机飞行员执行过78次飞行任务。后来，他在担任政府民航试飞员时脱颍而出。
During his historic moon exploration on July 20, 1969, some of Mr. Armstrong's other transmissions reflected his unflappable demeanor. Before returning to a ticker-tape parade and a 28-city world tour, the aviator was understated in describing his situation and surroundings some 240,000 miles above Earth. In one of his first transmissions to controllers on the ground, he calmly told them: 'I tell you, we're going to be busy for a minute.'
在1969年7月20日历史性的月球探索之旅期间，阿姆斯特朗与地面之间的其他一些通讯反映出了他的镇定自若。他在描述自己在地球上空约24万英里（约合38万公里）的太空中的情况和周围环境时很有节制。在传送给地面控制中心的首批信息中，他冷静地对中心说，我告诉你们，我们要忙上一会了。他返回地面后，参加了一场盛和全球28个城市的巡回宣传活动。
Later in the mission, Mr. Armstrong, who earned his pilot's license as a teenager and idolized Charles Lindbergh, epitomized the calm, assured tone astronauts prized. 'It's different, but it's very pretty out here,' he matter-of-factly told controllers. 'I suppose they are going to make a big deal of all this.'
登月行动期间，阿姆斯特朗展现了宇航员冷静、自信的可贵品质。他不带丝毫感情色彩地对地面控制中心说，这里与地球不同，但非常漂亮，我认为他们会把这一切搞得惊天动地。阿姆斯特朗十多岁时就取得了飞行执照，他的偶像是美国飞行英雄林白(Charles Lindbergh)。
After the voyage, Mr. Armstrong worked for a year as a high-level official at National Aeronautics and Space Administration headquarters. In his authorized biography, published in 2005, Mr. Armstrong fumed at the bureaucracy and the burden of frequent 'appearances on demand' by lawmakers on Capitol Hill. He resigned and went on to teach at the University of Cincinnati.
在登月之后，阿姆斯特朗在美国国家航空航天局(NASA)总部做了一年的高层官员。在2005年出版的授权传记中，阿姆斯特朗对NASA以及常常要在国会议员的要求下露面的负担表示不满。他随后辞职，去辛辛那提大学(University of Cincinnati)任教。
Starting about 1980, he largely retreated from public view to enjoy the tranquillity of a restored 19th-century farmhouse. He raised cattle and corn, served on corporate boards and enjoyed his grandchildren. Always reluctant to talk to reporters, Mr. Armstrong sometimes seemed uncomfortable even when he gave speeches or attended events commemorating advances in aviation and space.
从大约1980年开始，他基本上退出了公众的视野，在一座翻修后的19世纪农舍中享受平静的生活。他养牛、种玉米，在公司董事会任职，享受着孙辈绕膝的生活。他一直不愿接受记者的采访，有时甚至在发表演讲或参加纪念航空航天进步的活动中也显得不自在。
基德?卡森（1809-1868）名人故事
【英文原文】
摘要：基德?卡森（1809-1868）是美国著名的边疆英雄。他不但是个好向导、好猎手，出色的军人，而且是印第安人的好朋友。
Kit Carson (1809-1868) was one of the great heroes of American frontier — a good guide, hunter, soldier, and friend of the Indians. There are many stories about him, and his fight with the bears is one of them.
One day, when Kit was hunting a moose, his shot woke up two grizzly bears who had been napping near by. The bears jumped to their feet and ran out of the woods. Kit didn’t have time to aim again. All he could do was to turn on his heels and run for his life. But he was unlucky, for as he ran he slipped and his gun went flying out of his hands. Kit climbed up a tree immediately, and the bears followed him. Kit broke a dead branch of the tree, and when the bears camp up close enough, he gave them sharp strokes on the nose. Soon the bears could stand it no longer. Their noses burning with pain, they lowered themselves to the ground. But they didn’t leave. Poor Kit had to spend the whole night up in the tree. When dawn came, Kit could see the bears still sleeping below. Then he had an idea. He broke the dead branch into pieces. Taking careful aim, he threw down one of the pieces. It hit one of the bears right on the nose. The bear opened his eyes and roared. Then he closed his eyes again. Kit threw down a bigger piece of wood. This time the bear jumped up and, howling with pain, turned and attacked the other bear. In no time, the two bears were fighting madly. They had forgotten all about Kit. Kit hurried down from the tree, and ran away to a safe place.
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“美女”总理现身时尚杂志封面 名人故事
Ukraine PM makes Elle front cover Tymoshenko once said she would prefer to appear in Playboy Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has appeared on the front cover of Elle magazine in Ukraine posing in a designer dress.
Mrs Tymoshenko played a key role in the "Orange Revolution", her plait hairdo making her a distinctive figure.
Interviewed by Elle Ukraine, she said she was making full use of her looks in the male-dominated world of politics.
She is said by local media to have even charmed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who visited Kiev in March.
"Do you really think I can charm people? That's interesting, I never would have thought," Mrs Tymoshenko told Elle.
In an earlier interview, given in 2001, she was asked whether she would prefer to make the front cover of Playboy, Time or the Ukrainian women's magazine Natalie.
Mrs Tymoshenko said Playboy would be "the best choice for any real woman".
She added, however, that she might plump for Time instead.
Mrs Tymoshenko told Elle that her looks were all natural as she had no time for beauty treatments.
"I am going to disappoint your readers but I am not doing anything special for my appearance. After working 16 hours a day, all I have time for is sleep," the Ukrainian politician said.
乌克兰总理尤利娅·季莫申科身着时装的造型出现在了女性时尚杂志《Elle》的封面上。
季莫申科在“橙色革命”中发挥了关键性作用，而她盘着辫子的迷人发型使她显得与众不同。
在接受《Elle》乌克兰版的采访时，季莫申科坦言她充分利用了自己姣好的容貌在在男性主导的政坛上立足。
当地媒体称季莫申科甚至迷倒了今年三月造访基辅的俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京。
“你真的认为我有那么大的魅力吗？这真有趣，之前我根本没有想过。”季莫申科告诉《Elle》的记者。
在2001年的一次采访中，季莫申科曾被问到是否愿意上《花花公子》、《时代》周刊或乌克兰女性杂志《Natalie》的封面。
她回答说：“《花花公子》是每一个纯粹女人的最佳选择。”
但是季莫申科又补充说，她可能会选择《时代》周刊。
季莫申科告诉《Elle》的记者她完全素面朝天，因为她根本没有时间去做什么美容护理。
这位乌克兰总理说：“我可能会使你们的读者失望了，但是我真的没在外表上花什么心思。每天工作16小时后，我惟一想做的就是睡觉。”
Vocabulary: front cover : 封面
hairdo: a style in which hair is arranged（发式）
To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway:
致伯克希尔-哈撒韦股东：
This is to let you know that I have been diagnosed with stage I prostate cancer. The good news is that I’ve been told by my doctors that my condition is not remotely life-threatening or even debilitating in any meaningful way. I received my diagnosis last Wednesday. I then had a CAT scan and a bone scan on Thursday, followed by an MRI today. These tests showed no incidence of cancer elsewhere in my body.
在此告知各位我已被诊断患一期前列腺癌症。好消息是医生告知我的病情远不危及生命，甚至不会显著影响身体机能。上周三我接受了诊断，周四做了CAT扫描和骨扫描，今天（周三）做了核磁共振。这些检查均未显示身体其余部分患癌。
My doctors and I have decided on a two-month treatment of daily radiation to begin in mid-July. This regimen will restrict my travel during that period, but will not otherwise change my daily routine.
医生和我本人决定，从7月中旬开始进行为期两个月的每日放疗。在此期间我的出行将受到限制，但日常工作不会发生变化。
I feel great — as if I were in my normal excellent health — and my energy level is 100 percent. I discovered the cancer because my PSA level (an indicator my doctors had regularly checked for many years) recently jumped beyond its normal elevation and a biopsy seemed warranted.
我感觉良好——仿佛处于正常的良好健康状态中——我的精力十分充沛。我发现自己患癌，是因为前列腺特异性抗原(PSA，多年来我的大夫做例行检查的一项指标)水平近来远超正常水平，活检似乎得到确认。
I will let shareholders know immediately should my health situation change. Eventually, of course, it will; but I believe that day is a long way off.
如果病情发生变化，我将立刻通知各位股东。当然，那一天终将到来，但我相信离那一天还挺远。
Warren E. Buffett
巴菲特
【魔法妈妈J.K.Rowling名人故事分享】