瘋狂英語口語絕招-語音突破經(jīng)典第21課
Who to Believe?
by More Sower's Seeds
Let me tell you about a little girl who was born into a very poor family in a shack in the backwoods of Tennessee. She was the 20th of 22 children, prematurely born and frail. Her survival was doubtful. When she was four years old, she had double pneumonia and scarlet fever - a deadly combination that left her with a paralyzed and useless left leg. She had to wear an iron leg brace. Yet she was fortunate in having a mother who encouraged her.
Well, this mother told her little girl, who was very bright, that despite the brace and leg, she could do whatever she wanted to do with her life. She told her that all she needed to do was to have faith, persistence, courage and an indomitable spirit.
So at nine years of age, the little girl removed the leg brace and took the step the doctors told her she would never take normally. In four years, she developed a rhythmic stride, which was a medical wonder. Then the girl got the notion, the incredible notion, that she would like to be the world's greatest woman runner. Now, what could she mean - be a runner with a leg like that?
At age 13, she entered a race. She came in last - way, way last. She entered every race in high school, and in every race she came in last. Everyone begged her to quit. However, one day, she came in next to last. And then there came a day when she won a race. From then on, Wilma Rudolph won every race that she entered.
Wilma went to Tennessee State University, where she met a coach named Ed Temple. Coach Temple saw the indomitable spirit of the girl, that she was a believer and that she had great natural talent. He trained her so well that in 1960 she went to the Olympic Games in Rome.
There she was pitted against the greatest woman runner of the day, a German girl named Jutta Heine. Nobody had ever beaten Jutta. But in the 100-meter dash, Wilma Rudolph won. She beat Jutta again in the 200 meters. Wilma had just earned two Olympic gold medals.
Finally came the 400-meter relay. It would be Wilma against Jutta once again. The first two runners on Wilma's team made perfect hand-offs with the baton. But when the third runner handed the baton to Wilma, she was so excited she dropped it, and Wilma saw Jutta taking off down the track. And it was impossible that anyone can catch this fleet and nimble girl. But Wilma did just that! Wilma Rudolph earned her third Olympic gold medal.
And that day she made history as she became the first woman ever to win three gold medals in the same Olympic games. And they'd said she would never walk again...
譯文參考：
該相信誰？
摩爾•索爾
請聽我講一個幸運(yùn)小女孩的故事。她生在田納西州人煙稀少地區(qū)居住在破舊房屋里的一個窮人家里。她是家里二十二個孩子中的第二十個，她出生時未足月，很虛弱，別人不知道她到底能不能活下來。到了她四歲那一年，她同時患了肺炎和猩紅熱，這場病使她的左腿癱瘓了，她不得不用一個鐵制的腿支架。幸運(yùn)的是，她的母親一直在鼓勵她。
這位母親告訴她那聰明的小女孩說，盡管她要用支架和有一條癱瘓的腿，但她想做什么就可以去做什么。母親對女兒說，她需要的是堅(jiān)定的信念、毅力、勇氣和不屈不撓的精神。
小女孩在九歲時拿掉了腿上的支架，邁出了醫(yī)生說她永遠(yuǎn)不可能邁出的一步。四年后，她就能有節(jié)奏地大踏步走，這在醫(yī)學(xué)上是一個奇跡。接著，她有一個念頭，一個不可思議的想法，她想成為世界上最優(yōu)秀的女跑步運(yùn)動員。她究竟是怎么想的，拖著一條病腿，她能成為一個跑步運(yùn)動員嗎？
在十三歲，她參加了一項(xiàng)比賽，她跑在最后——遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地落在后面。上高中時，她參加了每一項(xiàng)比賽，她每次都是最后一名。所有人都懇求她不要再繼續(xù)了?？墒?，有一天，她跑了一個倒數(shù)第二。又有一天，她終于贏得了一項(xiàng)比賽。從那時起，威爾瑪•魯?shù)婪蛟谒齾⒓拥拿恳豁?xiàng)比賽中取勝。
后來，威爾瑪?shù)搅颂锛{西州州立大學(xué)，在那里，她認(rèn)識了一位名叫埃德•坦普爾的教練。坦普爾教練在這個女孩子身上看到了一股不屈不撓的精神，她有堅(jiān)定的信念，又有與生俱來的才華。坦普爾教練把她訓(xùn)練得非常好，在一九六零年，她到羅馬去參加奧運(yùn)會。
在羅馬奧運(yùn)會上，她與當(dāng)時世界上最優(yōu)秀的女跑步運(yùn)動員，德國的尤達(dá)•海因展開較量，尤達(dá)是不可戰(zhàn)勝的?？墒窃谝话倜锥膛鼙荣悤r，威爾瑪贏了。在二百米比賽中，她打敗了尤達(dá)。威爾瑪奪得了兩塊奧運(yùn)會金牌。
最后的四百米接力賽將是威爾瑪與尤達(dá)之間的再一次較量。威爾瑪?shù)年?duì)在開始的兩棒都做得很好，但當(dāng)?shù)谌齻€運(yùn)動員把接力棒交給威爾瑪時，她竟然激動得把接力棒落在地上，這時，威爾瑪正好看到尤達(dá)起跑。任何人都將無法追得上這位飛跑的姑娘。但威爾瑪做到了！威爾瑪•魯?shù)婪颢@得了第三枚奧運(yùn)會金牌。
那天，她作為第一個在同一屆奧運(yùn)會上連獲三枚金牌的創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄者而載入史冊。而人們卻曾經(jīng)說過她永遠(yuǎn)都不會走路了……
