2015考研英语阅读上世纪的名流_大学英语阅读

2015考研英语阅读上世纪的名流

　　Looming over both this book and its subject s life are two ghosts: Millie, his formidable,perpetually dissatisfied mother; and Paul Robeson, whose combination of entertainmentand political activism⑾ forged a path that Mr Belafonte would follow. But whereas Robeson sactivism ran headlong into early cold-war paranoia, blacklists and McCarthyism, MrBelafonte was luckier: his career rose more or less in tandem with the American civil-rightsmovement.

　　不论是本书还是贝拉方特的一生中，总有两朵阴霾不肯散去：一个是他的母亲米勒。这女人让人敬畏，而且永不知满足。另一个则是保罗罗贝孙，他将娱乐与政治激进主义糅合，铺下前路，好让贝拉方特遵循。然而，正是他的激进行为，让其猛然栽入早期冷战妄想与麦卡锡主义中，并在各种黑名单上记录在案，与之相比，贝拉方特幸运多了：其职业生涯的崛起，多多少少与美国民权运动相连。

　　Martin Luther King junior sought him out in 1956, just a few months after rising to fameduring the Montgomery bus boycott⒀. King was then 26, and a preacher at the DexterAvenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, while Mr Belafonte was 28 and newly crownedAmerica s Negro matine idol. Mr Belafonte was sceptical of both religion and non-violence, but was won over by King s humility. There is an especiallytouching scene from nine years later in which, following a celebrity-studded civil-rightsfund-raiser in Paris, King, then a Nobel peace-prize winner, serves food to the assembledstars as an exercise in humility, an act of abject gratitude to all these stars for coming outfor him. In a book that is riddled with many of the usual faults of celebrity autobiographyname-dropping, score-settling, preening and a rather ungallant treatment of his first wifeand some of his childrenMr Belafonte s portrayal of King stands out for its unfussy warmthand unhagiographical affection.