The Legacy of John F. Kennedy

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第35任美國(guó)總統(tǒng)約翰·肯尼迪遇刺50年后，人們要對(duì)他蓋棺定論似乎仍是一件不可能的事。重新憶起這個(gè)英俊帥 氣、充滿斗志的人，這位美國(guó)歷史上最年輕的總統(tǒng)，最先浮現(xiàn)于人們腦海的是達(dá)拉斯市那條被陽光照得明晃晃的大街、肯尼迪微笑著揮手以及刺耳的來福槍槍聲。他的遇刺是除了“9·11”恐怖襲擊事件之外美國(guó)人所經(jīng)歷的最具創(chuàng)傷性的公共事件，在其后數(shù)十年中一直影響著美國(guó)政治的發(fā)展方向。在他的任期中，肯尼迪提出了登月計(jì)劃、“新邊疆”口號(hào)和稱霸世界的承諾，雄心勃勃地帶領(lǐng)美國(guó)走向未來。雖然他的生命逝去了，但是他的夢(mèng)想、他的遺產(chǎn)卻永遠(yuǎn)留在美國(guó)人民的心中……

Among the many monuments to John F. Kennedy,perhaps the most striking is the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas.1.monument： 紀(jì)念館，紀(jì)念碑；striking： 引人注目的，突出的；Sixth Floor Museum： 肯尼迪遇刺博物館，亦稱“第六層博物館”。館址就是刺殺肯尼迪的狙擊手射擊之處，現(xiàn)改造為肯尼迪紀(jì)念館，陳列了眾多肯尼迪的遺物，并詳細(xì)介紹了肯尼迪遇刺事件的前前后后。Every year, nearly 350,000 people visit the place where Lee Harvey Oswald waited on November 22, 1963, to shoot at the president’s motorcade.2. Lee Harvey Oswald： 李·哈維·奧斯瓦爾德（1939—1963），美籍古巴人，被認(rèn)為是肯尼迪遇刺案的主兇；motorcade： 汽車隊(duì)列游行，車隊(duì)游行。The museum itself is an oddity because of its physical connection to the event it illuminates; the most memorable—and eeriest—moment of a visit to the sixth floor is when you turn a corner and face the window through which Oswald fired his ri fle as Kennedy’s open car snaked through Dealey Plaza’s broad spaces below.3. 這座博物館本身帶有一種“穿越感”，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)地點(diǎn)與在此所發(fā)生的事件之間的物理聯(lián)系；參觀位于六層的這座博物館時(shí)最令人難忘的時(shí)刻——也是感覺最怪異的時(shí)刻——就是你轉(zhuǎn)個(gè)彎面對(duì)著奧斯瓦爾德扣下來福槍扳機(jī)的那個(gè)窗口之時(shí)，當(dāng)時(shí)肯尼迪乘坐一輛敞蓬汽車在樓下寬闊的迪利廣場(chǎng)上蛇形穿行。oddity： 怪異或奇怪的事物，這里是指重溫事件發(fā)生之地帶給人們的奇怪感覺，似乎回到了過去；eerie： （因陰森或怪誕而）令人害怕的，引起恐懼的；snake： 曲折行進(jìn)，迂回前進(jìn)；Dealey Plaza： 迪利廣場(chǎng)，位于美國(guó)得克薩斯州達(dá)拉斯市中心街區(qū)西區(qū)的一個(gè)小廣場(chǎng)，由于美國(guó)總統(tǒng)約翰·肯尼迪在此遭到槍擊身亡而使得該廣場(chǎng)名聲大振。The windows are cluttered once again with cardboard boxes,4. clutter： 亂堆，塞滿；cardboard box： 紙箱。just as they had been on that sunny afternoon when Oswald hid there.

Visitors from all over the world have signed their names in the memory books, and many have written tributes5. tribute： （尤指對(duì)死者的）致敬之詞。: “Our greatest President.” “Oh how we miss him!” “The greatest man since Jesus Christ.”Many visitors also wrote about the possible conspiracies that led to JFK’s assassination.6. conspiracy： 陰謀，密謀；assassination： 暗殺，行刺。The contradictory realities of Kennedy’s life don’t match his global reputation. But in the eyes of the world, this reticent man became a charismatic leader who,7. reticent： 沉默寡言的，謹(jǐn)慎的；charismatic： （有領(lǐng)袖人物的）超凡魅力的。in his life and in his death, served as a symbol of purpose and hope.

President Kennedy spent less than three years in the White House. His first year was a disaster, as he himself acknowledged. The Bay of Pigs Invasion of Communist Cuba was only the first in a series of failed efforts to undo Fidel Castro’s regime.8. 借豬灣事件侵略社會(huì)主義國(guó)家古巴僅僅是一系列試圖廢除菲德爾·卡斯特羅領(lǐng)導(dǎo)政權(quán)的失敗舉措中的第一個(gè)。The Bay of Pigs Invasion： 豬灣事件。1961年4月17日，在美國(guó)中央情報(bào)局的協(xié)助下，逃亡美國(guó)的古巴人在古巴西南海岸豬灣向菲德爾·卡斯特羅領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的古巴革命政府發(fā)動(dòng)的一次失敗的入侵。豬灣事件標(biāo)志著美國(guó)反古巴行動(dòng)的第一個(gè)高峰。His 1961 summit meeting in Vienna with the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was a humiliating experience.9. Nikita Khrushchev： 尼基塔·赫魯曉夫（1894—1971），曾任蘇聯(lián)最高領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人，蘇聯(lián)共產(chǎn)黨中央委員會(huì)第一書記及蘇聯(lián)部長(zhǎng)會(huì)議主席（政府首腦）等重要職務(wù)。這里提到的事件是肯尼迪和赫魯曉夫在維也納的一次高峰會(huì)談；humiliating： 使蒙受恥辱的，丟臉的。Most of his legislative proposals died on Capitol Hill.10. legislative： 立法的；Capitol Hill： 國(guó)會(huì)山，美國(guó)首都華盛頓哥倫比亞特區(qū)的一個(gè)街區(qū)，美國(guó)政府最高的權(quán)力象征——美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)大廈即坐落于此。此處用這個(gè)地名指代美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)。

Yet he was also responsible for some extraordinary accomplishments. The most important, and most famous,was his adept management of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, widely considered the most perilous moment since World War II.11. adept： 有技巧的，熟練的；management of Cuban missile crisis： 此處是指肯尼迪得知蘇聯(lián)在古巴部署的核彈計(jì)劃之后，選擇封鎖蘇聯(lián)船只，并與赫魯曉夫談判，而不是像軍事專家和內(nèi)閣成員所建議的那樣對(duì)古巴的核彈發(fā)射井進(jìn)行空襲，從而阻止了有可能爆發(fā)的核戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)；perilous： 危險(xiǎn)的，瀕臨毀滅的。Most of his military advisers—and they were not alone—believed the United States should bomb the missile pads that the Soviet Union was stationing in Cuba.12. missile pad：（核彈、導(dǎo)彈等的）發(fā)射井，發(fā)射臺(tái)；station：安置，駐扎。Kennedy, aware of the danger of escalating the crisis, instead ordered a blockade of Soviet ships.13. escalate： 使……升級(jí)，使……上升；blockade：（對(duì)某地，尤指對(duì)部分海岸、港口等的）封鎖。In the end, a peaceful agreement was reached. Afterward, both Kennedy and Khrushchev began to soften the relationship between Washington and Moscow.

Kennedy, during his short presidency, proposed many important steps forward. In an address at American University in 1963, he spoke kindly of the Soviet Union,thereby easing the Cold War.14. address： 演說，發(fā)言；thereby： 從而，因此。The following day, after almost two years of mostly avoiding the issue of civil rights, he delivered a speech of exceptional elegance,and launched a drive for a civil-rights bill that he hoped would end racial segregation.15. 次日，在將近兩年盡量避免談及人權(quán)問題之后，他發(fā)表了一場(chǎng)非常精彩的演講，并推進(jìn)民權(quán)運(yùn)動(dòng)，倡導(dǎo)通過一項(xiàng)民權(quán)法案，他希望這能終止種族隔離。exceptional： 優(yōu)越的，杰出的；drive： 運(yùn)動(dòng)，熱潮；racial segregation： 種族隔離。He also proposed a voting-rights bill16. a voting-rights bill： 一項(xiàng)關(guān)于選舉權(quán)的法案。and federal programs to provide health care to the elderly and the poor. Few of these proposals became law in his lifetime—a great disappointment to Kennedy, who was never very successful with Congress.But most of these bills became law after his death—in part because of his successor’s political skill, but also because they seemed like a monument to a martyred17. martyred： 殉難的，被殺害的。president.

Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected to the presidency, succeeding18. succeed： 繼承，繼任。the man who, at the time,was the oldest. He symbolized—as he well realized—a new generation and its coming-of-age.19. symbolize： 成為……的象征，成為……的符號(hào)；coming-of-age： 逐漸成熟，成年。He was the first president born in the 20th century, the first young veteran20. veteran： 老兵，有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的戰(zhàn)士。of World War II to reach the White House. John Hersey’s powerful description of Kennedy’s wartime bravery, published inThe New Yorkerin 1944, helped him launch his political career.

In shaping his legend, Kennedy’s personal charm helped. A witty and articulate speaker, he seemed built for the age of television.21. witty： 詼諧的，幽默的；articulate： 口才好的，善于表達(dá)的；built for： 為……而建，引申為“非常適合某事”之意。To watch him on film today is to be struck by the power of his presence and the wit and elegance of his oratory.22. presence： 風(fēng)采，風(fēng)度；oratory： 慷慨激昂的演說。His celebrated inaugural address was filled with phrases that seemed designed to be carved in stone, as many of them have been.23. celebrated： 著名的，馳名的；inaugural address： 就職演說；carved in stone： 刻在石頭上，引申為“流傳于世，流芳百世”之意。He exhorted24. exhort： 告誡，規(guī)勸。Americans: “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

He was handsome and looked athletic. He was wealthy. He had a captivating wife and children, a photogenic family.25. captivating： 迷人的，有魅力的；photogenic： 上相的，適于被攝影的。The Kennedys lit up the White House with writers, artists, and intellectuals: the famous cellist Pablo Casals, the poet Robert Frost, the French intellectual André Malraux.26. cellist： 大提琴演奏家；Pablo Casals： 帕布羅·卡薩爾斯（1876—1973），西班牙大提琴家、作曲家、指揮家，1958年曾被提名諾貝爾和平獎(jiǎng)；Robert Frost： 羅伯特·弗羅斯特（1874—1963），美國(guó)詩人，曾四度獲得普利策獎(jiǎng)；André Malraux： 安德烈·馬爾羅（1901—1976），法國(guó)著名作家，曾任戴高樂時(shí)代法國(guó)文化部長(zhǎng)，曾被提名諾貝爾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)。Kennedy had graduated from Harvard, and stocked his administration with the school’s professors. He sprinkled27. sprinkle： 點(diǎn)綴，使零星分布。his public remarks with quotations from poets and philosophers.

The Kennedy legacy has a darker side as well. Prior to his presidency, many of JFK’s political colleagues considered him merely a playboy whose wealthy father had bankrolled his campaigns.28. prior to： 在……之前；bankroll： 提供資金，為……支付費(fèi)用。Many critics saw recklessness, impatience,impetuosity.29. recklessness： 魯莽，輕率；impetuosity： 草率行事，沖動(dòng)。Nigel Hamilton, the author ofJFK: Reckless Youth, a generally admiring study of Kennedy’s early years,summed up after nearly 800 pages:

He had the brains, the courage, a shy charisma, good looks, idealism, money … Yet, as always, there was something missing—a certain depth or seriousness of purpose …

I. F. Stone, the distinguished liberal writer, observed in 1973:“By now he is simply an optical illusion.30. optical： 視覺的；illusion： 幻覺，假象。這里是指：肯尼迪徒有英俊的外表，但不干實(shí)事?！?Kennedy’s image of youth and vitality31. vitality： 旺盛的精力，蓬勃的生機(jī)。is, to some degree, a myth.

肯尼迪和杰奎琳

Half a century after his presidency, the endurance of Kennedy’s appeal is not simply the result of a crafted image and personal charm.32. endurance： 持續(xù)，持久；appeal： 感染力，號(hào)召力；crafted： 精心設(shè)計(jì)的，精心編造的。It also re flects the historical moment in which he represented. In the early 1960s, much of the American public was willing, even eager, to believe that he was the man who would “get the country moving again,” at a time when much of the country was ready to move. Action and dynamism33. dynamism： 干勁，活力。were central to Kennedy’s appeal.

Kennedy helped give urgency to the idea of pursuing a national purpose—a great American mission.34. 肯尼迪給予了追求國(guó)家統(tǒng)一目標(biāo)—— 一個(gè)偉大的美國(guó)使命—— 一種緊迫感。In the 15 years since World War II,ideological momentum had been slowly building in the United States, fueled by anxieties about the rivalry with the Soviet Union and by optimism about the dynamic performance of the American economy.35. 在二戰(zhàn)之后的15年間，意識(shí)形態(tài)發(fā)展的勢(shì)頭漸漸地在美國(guó)國(guó)內(nèi)高漲了起來，受到對(duì)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手蘇聯(lián)的焦慮感和對(duì)美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)表現(xiàn)良好的樂觀情緒所推動(dòng)。momentum： 力量，勢(shì)頭；fuel： 推動(dòng)，促進(jìn)。When Kennedy won the presidency,the desire for change was still tentative36. tentative： 躊躇的，猶豫不決的。, but it was growing. Kennedy seized the moment to provide a mission—or at least he grasped the need for one—even though it was not entirely clear what the mission was.

This re flected John Kennedy’s worldview, one of commitment, action, movement. Those who knew him realized,however, that he was more cautious than his speeches suggested.

John F. Kennedy was a good president but not a great one,most scholars concur37. concur： （意見）一致，同意。. A poll38. poll： 民意測(cè)驗(yàn)，投票調(diào)查。of historians in 1982 ranked him 13th out of the 36 presidents included in the survey. Thirteen such polls from 1982 to 2011 put him, on average, 12th. Yet in the 1970s, Richard Neustadt, the prominent presidential scholar,remarked: “He will be just a flicker, forever clouded by the record of his successors. I don’t think history will have much space for John Kennedy.”39. prominent： 著名的，重要的； flicker：獲得短暫成功的人，受到短暫關(guān)注的人；cloud： 遮蓋，蒙上陰影。

But 50 years after his death, Kennedy is far from “just a flicker.” He remains a powerful symbol of a lost moment, of a soaring idealism and hopefulness that subsequent generations still try to recover.40. soaring： 高漲的，猛增的；subsequent：隨后的，后來的。His allure—the romantic, almost mystic, associations his name evokes—not only survives but flourishes.41. allure： 吸引力，魅力；evoke： 喚起，使人產(chǎn)生（聯(lián)想、感情等）； flourish： 繁茂，茂盛。

The circumstances of Kennedy’s death turned him into a national obsession42. obsession： 著迷，癡迷。. A vast number of books have been published about his assassination, most of them rejecting the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. After the assassination, even Robert F. Kennedy,the president’s brother, spent hours—perhaps days—phoning people to ask whether there had been a conspiracy, until he realized that his inquiries could damage his own career. To this day, about 60 percent of Americans believe that Kennedy fell victim to a conspiracy.

There are many reasons to question the of ficial version of Kennedy’s murder. But there is little concrete43. concrete： 具體的，實(shí)在的。evidence to prove any of the theories. Some people say his death was a result of Washington’s covert44. covert： 秘密的，隱秘的。efforts to kill Castro. For many Americans, it is hard to accept that an event so epochal can be explained as the act of a still-mysterious loner.45. epochal： 劃時(shí)代的，影響很大的；loner： 孤獨(dú)的人，不合群者。

Like all presidents, Kennedy had successes and failures. His administration was dominated by a remarkable number of problems and crises—in Berlin, Cuba, and Vietnam; and in Georgia, Mississippi,and Alabama. Some of these, he managed adroitly46. adroitly： 巧妙地，機(jī)靈地。and, at times,courageously. Many, he could not resolve.

Yet many people saw him—and still do—as an idealistic and passionate president who would have transformed the nation and the world, had he lived. His legacy has only grown in the 50 years since his death. He reminds many Americans of an age when it was possible to believe that politics could speak to society’s moral yearnings and be harnessed to its highest aspirations.47. 提起他，許多美國(guó)人就想起了他所在的時(shí)代——在那個(gè)時(shí)代，人們相信政治可以為社會(huì)的道德向往代言，政治若是加以利用，可幫助人們到達(dá)最高的理想狀態(tài)。yearning： 渴望，向往；harness： 控制……以產(chǎn)生動(dòng)力，利用；aspiration： 抱負(fù)，理想。More than anything, perhaps, Kennedy reminds us of a time when the nation’s capacities looked limitless, when its future seemed unbounded48. unbounded： 不受束縛的，不受約束的。, when Americans believed that they could solve hard problems and accomplish bold deeds.