Luckily for me, when I was nearly drowning[6] in our High School swimming pool, a white classmate whom I did not know, jumped into the pool and saved me. During this episode I could clearly see the white gym teacher standing at the edge impassively watching.[7] To this day I never knew the identity of my student rescuer. At this school there were very few cross-cultural contacts visible. Minority group members were simply invisible unless involved in sports. Everyone acted hush-hush[8] about the incident. I was quite embarrassed. So we all acted as if nothing had happened. But I had become so shaken by this event that I withdrew from the swim class, and never went near water until well into my adulthood, some fifteen or twenty years later. However, not only had a white youth saved my life, but also many years later another white student within one of my own speech classes taught me how to swim. I had long ago accepted the fact that not all white people were my enemy.
Another stroke of good fortune to befall[9] me was public speaking competition. Through my participation on college and university debate teams, I learned early a
[1]. 不幸的是,我父亲性格暴躁,还比较苛刻,所以家里也充满了暴力。如果我说话太大声,或是父母觉得我看他们的样子让他们觉得我很叛逆,他们就会用鞭子打我,用拳头捶我,使我伤痕累累。demanding: 苛刻的;whip: 鞭打;punch: 用拳头猛击;rebellious: 反叛的。
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