This is Gwen Outen. And this is Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English. Every week we tell about a person who was important in the history of the United States. Today we tell the story of athlete Jesse Owens. He once was the fastest runner in the world.
我是格溫·奧坦恩，我是史蒂夫·恩伯，這裡是VOA慢速英語欄目《美國人物誌》。每周我們會講述一位美國歷史上的重要人物的故事。今天我們講述運動員傑西·歐文斯的故事，他曾是世界上跑得最快的人。
In the summer of nineteen thirty-six, people all over the world heard the name of Jesse Owens. That summer, Owens joined the best athletes from fifty nations to compete in the Olympic games. They met in Berlin, Germany. There was special interest in the Olympic games that year.
1936年夏天，全世界的人們都聽說了傑西·歐文斯的故事。那年夏天歐文斯和來自50個國家的最好的運動員在奧運會上同場競技。那次奧運會在德國柏林舉辦。那年，人們對奧運會有著特別的興趣。
Adolf Hitler was the leader of Germany. Hitler and his Nazi party believed that white people -- especially German people – were the best race of people on Earth. They believed that other races of people -- especially those with dark skin -- were almost less than human.
阿道夫·希特勒是當時德國的領袖，希特勒和他的納粹黨認為白人——尤其是德國人——是地球上最好的種族。他們認為其他種族的人類——尤其是黑皮膚的人類——幾乎算不得人類。
In the summer of nineteen thirty-six, Hitler wanted to prove his beliefs to the world. He wanted to show that German athletes could win every important competition. After all, only a few weeks before the Olympics, German boxer Max Schmeling had defeated the great American heavyweight Joe Louis, a black man.
1936年夏天，希特勒想向全世界證明他的信念。他想展現德國的運動員可以贏得世界上所有重要的比賽。畢竟，那次奧運會前幾周，德國拳擊手馬克斯·施梅林剛剛戰勝了美國重量級選手喬·路易斯，後者為黑種人。
Jesse Owens was black, too. Until nineteen thirty-six, very few black athletes had competed in the Olympics for the United States. Owens was proud to be on the team. He was very sure of his ability.
傑西·歐文斯也是黑人，1936年以前，很少有黑人運動員代表美國參加奧運會。歐文斯很自豪加入這一陣營，他對自己的能力非常自信。
"I think that this week is very sufficient for the boys on the United States Olympic team for the simple reason because we have been through a series of preliminary events in our country. And the training here that we are getting here is just a little tune-up for the Olympic games. Our hard training is really over. And the rain here is something that is going to help our team quite a bit because some of the boys has a tendency to work a little bit too hard. And I think that the rain is doing a good to slack up the training a bit."
「我認為這個星期對於美國奧運代表隊的男人來說已經足夠了，原因很簡單，因為我們已經在我們國家經歷了一系列的預賽。在這裡的訓練只不過是奧運會前一次小小的熱身罷了，艱苦的訓練真的已經結束了。這裡的雨會對我們的球隊有很大的幫助，因為一些隊員傾向於在艱難的條件下競爭。我認為這場雨對放鬆訓練是有些好處的。」
Owens spent one week competing in four different Olympic track and field events in Berlin. During that time, he did not think much about the color of his skin, or about Adolf Hitler. Owens said later: "I was looking only at the finish line.
在柏林，歐文斯在一周的時間裡參加了四項不同的奧運會田徑項目。在那段時間裡，他對自己的膚色和阿道夫·希特勒都不怎麼在意。歐文斯後來說：「我的眼裡只有終點線。
I thought of all the years of practice and competition, and of all who believed in me."
我想的是我多年來的練習和競爭，想的是所有相信我的人。
We do not know what Hitler thought of Jesse Owens. No one recorded what he said about this black man who ran faster and jumped farther than any man of any color at the Olympic games. But we can still see Jesse Owens as Hitler saw him. For at Hitler's request, motion pictures were made of the Berlin Olympic games.
我們不知道希特勒對傑西·歐文斯的看法。沒有人記錄下希特勒對這個在奧運會上比任何膚色的人都跑得更快、跳得更遠的黑人的評價。但是我們仍然可以像希特勒那樣看到傑西·歐文斯。因為希特勒要求拍攝柏林奧運會的電影。
The films show Jesse Owens as a thin, but powerfully-built young man with smooth brown skin and short hair. When he ran, he seemed to move without effort. When he jumped, as one observer said, he seemed to jump clear out of Germany.
影片中傑西·歐文斯身材瘦削，但體格強壯，他有著光滑的棕色皮膚，留著短髮。當他跑的時候，他似乎毫不費力。正如一位觀眾所說，當他跳起來的時候，他似乎完全跳出了德國。
Jesse Owens won the highest award -- the Gold Medal -- in all four of the Olympic competitions he entered. In the one-hundred meter run, he equaled the fastest time ever run in that Olympic event. In the long jump and the two-hundred meter run, he set new Olympic records. And as part of a four-man team, he helped set a new world record for the four-hundred meter relay race. He was the first American in the history of Olympic track and field events to win four Gold Medals in a single Olympics.
傑西·歐文斯在他參加的所有四項奧運會比賽中都獲得了最高獎項——金牌。在100米賽跑中，他追平了奧運會本項目中最快的賽跑成績。在跳遠和200米賽跑中，他創造了新的奧運紀錄。作為四人團隊的一員，他幫助創造了400米接力賽的新世界紀錄。他是奧運田徑史上首位在一屆奧運會上獲得四枚金牌的美國人。
Owens's Olympic victories made him a hero. He returned home to parades in New York City and Columbus, Ohio, where he attended the state university. Businessmen paid him for the right to use his name on their stores. No one, however, offered him a permanent job.
歐文斯在奧運會上取得的勝利使他成為英雄。回到家鄉後，他參加了在紐約和俄亥俄州哥倫布市舉行的遊行，並在那裡上了州立大學。商人們付錢給歐文斯，想在他們的商店上使用歐文斯的名字。然而，沒有人給他一份永久的工作。
For many years after the nineteen thirty-six Olympic games, Jesse Owens survived as best he could. He worked at small jobs. He even used his athletic abilities, but in a sad way. He earned money by running races against people, motorcycles and horses. He and his wife and three daughters saw both good times and bad times.
在1936年奧運會之後的許多年裡，傑西·歐文斯拼盡全力地活了下來。他做些小工作。他甚至運用了他的運動能力，但是是以一種悲哀的方式。他通過和人、摩託車和馬賽跑來掙錢，他和妻子和三個女兒一塊經歷了好時光和不好的時光。
Poverty was not new to James Cleveland Owens. He was born in nineteen thirteen on a farm in the southern state of Alabama. He was the youngest of thirteen children. His parents did not own the farm, and earned little money. Jesse remembered that there was rarely enough food to eat. And there was not enough fuel to heat the house in winter.
詹姆斯·克利夫蘭·歐文斯對貧窮並不陌生。他於1913年出生在阿拉巴馬州南部的一個農場。他是13個孩子中最小的一個。他的父母沒有自己的農場，掙的錢很少。傑西記得那時候幾乎沒有足夠的食物可以吃。冬天沒有足夠的燃料給房子供暖。
Some of Jesse's brothers and sisters died while still young. Jesse was a sickly child. Partly because of this, and partly because of the racial hatred they saw around them, Jesse's parents decided to leave the South. They moved north, to Cleveland, Ohio, when Jesse was eight years old. The large family lived in a few small rooms in a part of the city that was neither friendly nor pleasant to look at.
傑西的一些兄弟姐妹在還年輕的時候就死了。傑西是個體弱多病的孩子。因為這個，還有他們看到周圍的種族仇恨，所以傑西的父母決定離開南方。傑西八歲時，他們搬到了俄亥俄州的克利夫蘭。這個大家庭住在一個既不友好也不令人愉快的城市裡的一些小房間裡。
Jesse's father was no longer young or strong. He was unable to find a good job. Most of the time, no one would give him any work at all. But Jesse's older brothers were able to get jobs in factories. So life was a little better than it had been in the South.
傑西的父親不再年輕強壯了。他找不到一份好工作。大多數時候，沒有人會給他任何工作。但是傑西的哥哥們能夠在工廠找到工作。所以這裡的生活比南方好一點。
Jesse, especially, was lucky. He entered a school where one white teacher, Charles Riley, took a special interest in him. Jesse looked thin and unhealthy, and Riley wanted to make him stronger. Through the years that Jesse was in school, Riley brought him food in the morning. Riley often invited the boy to eat with his family in the evening. And every day before school, he taught Owens how to run like an athlete.
傑西尤其幸運。他進入了一所學校，學校裡有一位叫查爾斯·萊利的白人教師對他特別感興趣。傑西看起來又瘦又不健康，萊利想讓他更強壯。在傑西上學的那些年裡，萊利每天早上給他帶食物。萊利經常邀請這個男孩晚上和他的家人一起吃飯。每天上學前，他都教歐文斯如何像運動員一樣跑步。
At first, the idea was only to make the boy stronger. But soon Riley saw that Jesse was a champion. By the time Jesse had completed high school, his name was known across the nation. Ohio State University wanted him to attend college there. While at Ohio State, he set new world records in several track and field events. And he was accepted as a member of the United States Olympic team.
起初，這個想法只是為了讓男孩更強壯。但是萊利很快發現傑西是當冠軍的料。傑西高中畢業時，他的名字已經傳遍全國。俄亥俄州立大學希望他在那裡上大學。在俄亥俄州，他在幾項田徑項目上創造了新的世界紀錄。而且他成為了美國奧運代表隊的一員。
Owens always remembered the white man who helped change his life. Charles Riley did not seem to care what color a person's skin was. Owens learned to think the same way.
歐文斯一直記得那個幫助他改變生活的白人。查爾斯·萊利似乎並不關心一個人的皮膚是什麼顏色。歐文斯也學會了用同樣的方式思考。
Later in life, Owens put all his energy into working with young people. He wanted to tell them some of the things he had learned about life, work and success: That it is important to choose a goal and always work toward it. That there are good people in the world who will help you to reach your goal. That if you try again and again, you will succeed.
後來，歐文斯把他所有的精力都投入到與年輕人的工作中。他想告訴他們一些他從生活、工作和成功中學到的東西：選擇一個目標並一直朝著這個目標努力是很重要的。世界上有很多好人會幫助你達到你的目標。如果你一再嘗試，你就會成功。
People who heard Owens's speeches said he spoke almost as well as he ran. Owens received awards for his work with boys and girls. The United States government sent him around the world as a kind of sports ambassador. The International Olympic Committee asked for his advice.
聽歐文斯演講的人說，他的演講幾乎和他跑得一樣好。歐文斯因為幫助年輕人而獲獎。美國政府派他到世界各地擔任體育大使。國際奧委會也曾徵求他的意見。
In about nineteen seventy, Jesse Owens wrote a book in which he told about his life. It was called "Blackthink." In the book, Owens denounced young black militants who blamed society for their troubles. He said young black people had the same chance to succeed in the United States as white people. Many black civil rights activists reacted angrily to these statements. They said what Owens had written was not true for everyone.
大概在1970年，傑西·歐文斯寫了一本講述他自己生活的書，名字叫《Blackthink》。在書中，歐文斯譴責了年輕的黑人激進分子，這些黑人把自己的問題歸咎於社會。他說，年輕的黑人在美國獲得成功的機會與白人相同。許多黑人民權活動家對這些表述作出了憤怒的反應。他們說歐文斯寫的東西並不適用於所有人。
Owens later admitted that he had been wrong. He saw that not all blacks were given the same chances and help that he had been given. In a second book, Owens tried to explain what he had meant in his first book. He called it "I Have Changed." Owens said that, in his earlier book, he did not write about life as it was for everyone, but about life as it was for him.
歐文斯後來承認他錯了。他認識的到並不是所有的黑人都得到了和他一樣的機會和幫助。在第二本書中，歐文斯試圖解釋他在第一本書中想表達的意思。歐文斯說自己已經變了，他說道，在自己前一本書中，他寫的不是大家的生活，他寫的是自己的生活。
He said he truly wanted to believe that if you think you can succeed--- and you really try -- then you have a chance. If you do not think you have a chance, then you probably will fail. He said these beliefs had worked for him. And he wanted all young people to believe them, too.
他說他真的想相信，如果你認為你能成功——而且你真的嘗試過——那麼你就有機會。如果你認為你沒有機會，那麼你可能會失敗。他說這些信念對他起了作用。他希望所有的年輕人也相信自己。
These were the same beliefs he tried to express when he spoke around the world about being an Olympic athlete. "The road to the Olympics," he said, "leads to no city, no country. It goes far beyond New York or Moscow, ancient Greece or Nazi Germany. The road to the Olympics leads -- in the end -- to the best within us."
這些都是他在世界各地談論成為一名奧林匹克運動員時試圖表達的信念。歐文斯說「通向奧運會的路，是沒有城市之分的，是沒有國家之分的」。它遠不止於紐約或莫斯科、古希臘或納粹德國。通往奧運會的道路最終會引導我們走向內心的最佳境界。
In nineteen seventy-six, President Gerald Ford awarded Jesse Owens the Medal of Freedom. This is the highest honor an American civilian can receive. Jesse Owens died of cancer in nineteen eighty. His family members operate the Jesse Owens Foundation. It provides financial aid and support for young people to help them reach their goals in life.
1976年，時任美國總統的傑拉爾德·福特授予傑西·歐文斯自由勳章。這是美國公民能獲得的最高的榮譽。1980年，傑西·歐文斯死於癌症。傑西的家人成立了傑西基金會，旨在給年輕人提供經濟上的資助，以幫助他們實現自己的人生目標。