(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Shirley Griffith. And I'm Ray Freeman with the Special English program, People in America. Every week we tell about a person important in the history of the United States. Today, we tell about a reporter of more than one hundred years ago.
The year was eighteen eighty-seven. The place was New York City. A young woman, Elizabeth Cochrane, wanted a job at a large newspaper. The editor agreed, if she would investigate a hospital for people who were mentally sick and then write about it.
Elizabeth Cochrane decided to become a patient in the hospital herself. She used the name Nellie Brown so no one would discover her or her purpose. Newspaper officials said they would get her released after a while.
To prepare, Nellie put on old clothes and stopped washing. She went to a temporary home for women. She acted as if she had severe mental problems. She cried and screamed and stayed awake all night. The police were called. She was examined by doctors. Most said she was insane.
Nellie Brown was taken to the mental hospital. It was dirty. Waste material was left outside the eating room. Bugs ran across the tables. The food was terrible: hard bread and gray-colored meat.
Nurses bathed the patients in cold water and gave them only a thin piece of cloth to wear to bed.
During the day, the patients did nothing but sit quietly. They had to talk in quiet voices. Yet, Nellie got to know some of them. Some were women whose families had put them in the hospital because they had been too sick to work. Some were women who had appeared insane because they were sick with fever. Now they were well, but they could not get out.
Nellie recognized that the doctors and nurses had no interest in the patients' mental health. They were paid to keep the patients in a kind of jail. Nellie stayed in the hospital for ten days. Then a lawyer from the newspaper got her released.
Five days later, the story of Elizabeth Cochrane's experience in the hospital appeared in the New York World newspaper. Readers were shocked. They wrote to officials of the city and the hospital protesting the conditions and patient treatment. An investigation led to changes at the hospital.
Elizabeth Cochrane had made a difference in the lives of the people there. She made a difference in her own life too. She got her job at the New York World. And she wrote a book about her experience at the hospital. She did not write it as Nellie Brown, however, or as Elizabeth Cochrane. She wrote it under the name that always appeared on her newspaper stories: Nellie Bly.
The child who would grow up to become Nellie Bly was born during the Civil War, in eighteen sixty-four, in western Pennsylvania.
Her family called her Pink. Her father was a judge. He died when she was six years old. Her mother married again. But her new husband drank too much alcohol and beat her. She got a divorce in eighteen seventy-nine, when Pink was fifteen years old. Pink decided to learn to support herself so she would never need a man.
Pink, her mother, brothers and sisters moved to a town near the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pink worked at different jobs but could not find a good one.
One day, she read something in the Pittsburgh Dispatch newspaper. The editor of the paper, Erasmus Wilson, wrote that it was wrong for women to get jobs. He said men should have them. Pink wrote the newspaper to disagree. She said she had been looking for a good job for about four years, as she had no father or husband to support her. She signed it "Orphan Girl".
The editors of the dispatch liked her letter. They put a note in the paper asking "Orphan Girl" to visit. Pink did. Mister Wilson offered her a job.
He said she could not sign her stories with her real name, because no woman writer did that. He asked news writers for suggestions. One was Nellie Bly, the name of a girl in a popular song. So Pink became Nellie Bly.
For nine months, she wrote stories of interest to women. Then she left the newspaper because she was not permitted to write what she wanted. She went to Mexico to find excitement. She stayed there six months, sending stories to the Dispatch to be published. Soon after she returned to the Pittsburgh Dispatch, she decided to look for another job. Nellie Bly left for New York City and began her job at the New York World.
As a reporter for the New York World, Nellie Bly investigated and wrote about illegal activities in the city. For one story, she acted as if she was a mother willing to sell her baby. For another, she pretended to be a woman who cleaned houses so she could report about illegal activities in employment agencies.
Today, a newspaper reporter usually does not pretend to be someone else to get information for a story. Most newspapers ban such acts. But in Nellie Bly's day, reporters used any method to get information, especially if they were trying to discover people guilty of doing something wrong.
Nellie Bly's success at this led newspapers to employ more women. But she was the most popular of the women writers. History experts say Nellie Bly was special because she included her own ideas and feelings in everything she wrote. They say her own voice seemed to speak on the page.
Nellie Bly's stories always provided detailed descriptions. And her stories always tried to improve society. Critics said Nellie Bly was an example of what a reporter can do, even today. She saw every situation as a chance to make a real difference in other people's lives as well as her own.
Nellie Bly may be best remembered in history for a trip she took.
In the eighteen seventies, French writer Jules Verne wrote the book "Around the World in Eighty Days." It told of a man's attempt to travel all around the world. He succeeded. In real life, no one had tried. By eighteen eighty-eight, a number of reporters wanted to do it. Nellie Bly told her editors she would go even if they did not help her. But they did.
Nellie Bly left New York for France on November fourteenth, eighteen eighty-nine. She met Jules Verne at his home in France. She told him about her plans to travel alone by train and ship around the world.
From France she went to Italy and Egypt, through South Asia to Singapore and Japan, then to San Francisco and back to New York. Nellie Bly's trip created more interest in Jules Verne's book. Before the trip was over, "Around the World in Eighty Days" was published again. And a theater in Paris had plans to produce a stage play of the book.
Back home in New York, the World was publishing the stories Bly wrote while travelling. On days when the mail brought no story from her, the editors still found something to write about it. They published new songs written about Bly and new games based on her trip. The newspaper announced a competition to guess how long her trip would take. The prize was a free trip to Europe. By December second, about one hundred thousand readers had sent in their estimates.
Nellie Bly arrived back where she started on January twenty-fifth, eighteen ninety. It had taken her seventy-six days, six hours, eleven minutes and fourteen seconds. She was twenty-five years old. And she was famous around the world.
Elizabeth Cochrane died in New York in nineteen twenty-two. She was fifty-eight years old. In the years since her famous trip, she had married, and headed a business. She also had helped poor and homeless children. And she had continued to write all her life for newspapers and magazines as Nellie Bly.
One newspaper official wrote this about her after her death:
"Nellie Bly was the best reporter in America. More important is the work of which the world knew nothing. She died leaving little money. What she had was promised to take care of children without homes, for whom she wished to provide. Her life was useful. She takes with her from this Earth all that she cared about -- an honorable name, the respect and affection of her fellow workers, the memory of good fights well fought and many good deeds never to be forgotten. Happy the man or woman that can leave as good a record."
重点解析
1.lead to导致；通向
A lack of prudence may lead to financial problems.
不够谨慎可能会导致财政上出现问题。
2.make a difference有影响
I believed that I can make a difference in this world.
我也坚信我世界一定会因我而不同。
3.guilty of有罪
We have been guilty of parochialism, of resistance to change.
我们犯了狭隘的错误，抵制变革。
4.as well as也
They visited some factories, hospitals as well as the school.
他们参观了这所学校，还参观了工厂和医院。
5.even if即使
You have to let us struggle for ourselves, even if we must die in the process.
你得让我们为自己拼搏，哪怕我们会在这个过程中死去。
6.sick with患...病
No, and I've seen too many people sick with anorexia and bulimia.
没有，而且我已经看到太多人得了食欲减退和易饿病。
参考译文
我是雪莉·格里菲斯，我是雷·弗里曼。这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。每周我们都会讲述一位美国历史上重要的人物的故事。今天，我们讲述一位一百多年前的记者的故事。
时间是在1887年。地点是在纽约市。一位年轻的女性伊丽莎白·科克兰想在一家大型报业工作。如果她能调查一个住着精神病人的医院，并且将调查写下来的话，编辑就同意她入职。
伊丽莎白·科克兰决定把自己变成医院的病人。她使用了奈莉·布朗这个名字，所以没有人能发现她或者她的目的。报社的官员称，一段时间后，他们会让她出院。
为了做准备，奈莉穿上了旧衣服，不再洗衣服。她去了一个临时的妇女之家。她表现的就像是她有严重的精神问题。她整晚都在哭喊，没有睡觉。人们打电话叫了警察。医生检查了她。多数人都说她疯了。
奈莉·布朗被带到了精神科医院。那里很脏。废物被留在了饭厅外面。桌子上都是臭虫。食物很糟糕：变硬的面包和灰色的肉。
护士们用冷水给病人洗澡，只给他们一块薄布让他们睡觉。
白天，病人们什么也不做，只是静静地坐着。他们不得不低声交谈。然而，奈莉还是认识了他们中的一些人。有些妇女的家人把她们送进医院，因为她们病得太重，不能工作。有些妇女因为发烧而显得精神失常。现在他们没事了，但是他们也不能出院。
奈莉发现医生和护士并不关心病人的精神健康。他们被雇来把病人关在监狱里。奈莉在医院待了10天。然后报社的一个律师让她出了院。
五天后，伊丽莎白·科克伦在医院的经历出现在《纽约世界报》上。读者们都震惊了。他们写信给市里和医院的官员，抗议医疗条件和病人治疗。一项调查导致了医院的变化。
伊丽莎白·科克伦给医院人们的生活带来了改变。她也给自己的生活带来了变化。她得到了《纽约世界报》的工作。她也写了一本关于自己在医院经历的书。但是，她没有以奈莉·布朗或者伊丽莎白·科克伦的名义写作。她写这本书的时候，用了总是出现在报纸上她的名字：奈莉·布莱。
这个后来成长为内莉·布莱的孩子出生于美国内战期间，也就是1864年，宾夕法尼亚州西部。
她的家人叫她粉红。她的父亲是个法官。她六岁时父亲就去世了。她的母亲再嫁了人。但是她的新老公酗酒过多，老是打她。1879年，粉红15岁的时候，母亲离婚。粉红决定学会供养自己，所以她再也不需要男人。
粉红和她的母亲、兄妹搬到了靠近宾夕法尼亚州匹茨堡市的一个镇子。粉红做了很多工作，但是她不能找到一个好工作。
一天，她在《匹兹堡电讯报》上读到了一些东西。该报纸的编辑伊拉斯莫斯威尔逊写道，女性找工作是不对的。她说，找工作的应该是男人。粉红写信给报社表示不同意。她说她已经找工作找了差不多四年，因为她没有父亲或者丈夫养她。她署名为“女孤儿”。
《匹兹堡电讯报》的编辑们喜欢她的信。他们在报纸上写了一张纸条，邀请“女孤儿”来参观。粉红来了。威尔森先生给她提供了一份工作。
他说，粉红不能在她的故事中署上她的真名，因为没有女作家会那样做。他向新闻记者征求意见。其中一个是奈莉·布莱，这是一首流行歌曲中一个女孩的名字。于是粉红变成了奈莉·布莱。
九个月的时间里，她都在写女人感兴趣的故事。然后她离开了这家报社，因为报社不允许她写自己想写的东西。她去了墨西哥去寻找令人兴奋的事物。她在那里待了六个月，给报社发故事发表。不久，她就回到了《匹兹堡电讯报》，她决定找一份别的工作。内莉·布莱离开去了纽约，开始在《纽约世界报》工作。
作为《纽约世界报》的记者，奈莉·布莱调查并报道关于城里非法活动的。为了一个报道，她表现地就像是一个愿意卖自己孩子的母亲。另外一个报道，她假扮成一个清洁工，以便报道职业介绍所的非法活动。
当今，报纸记者通常不用假装成另外一个人来为一篇报道收集信息。多数报社都禁止这种行为。但是在奈莉·布莱生活的时代，记者常常使用各种手段来收集信息，尤其是他们想发现做错事情的人的时候。
奈莉·布莱在这方面的成功使得报社雇佣了更多的女性。但她是最受欢迎的女性作家。历史专家说，奈莉·布莱很特别，因为她在她写的每一篇文章中都包含了她自己的想法和感受。他们说她自己的声音似乎在纸上说话。
奈莉·布莱的故事总是包含细节的描述。她的故事总是试图改善社会。评论家称，即使是今天，奈莉·布莱仍是记者的榜样。她把每个情况都看作一个机会，来给他人的生活和自己的生活带来改变。
奈莉·布莱最能别历史铭记的可能是她的一次旅行。
在19世纪70年代，法国作家儒勒·凡尔纳写了一本书《环游世界80天》。此书讲述了一个尝试环游世界的人的故事。他成功了。在现实生活中，没有人尝试过。1888年，有一些记者想尝试。奈莉·布莱告诉编辑，即使没有他们的帮助，她也要去。但是他们帮助了。
奈莉·布莱于1889年11月14日离开纽约前往法国。在法国，她在儒勒·凡尔纳的家中见了他。奈莉告诉他，她计划乘坐火车和轮船独自环游世界。
从法国出发，她去了意大利和埃及，从南亚去了新加坡和日本，然后去了旧金山，返回纽约。奈莉·布莱的旅行使人们对儒勒·凡尔纳的书产生了更大的兴趣。在旅行结束前，《环游世界80天》再次出版。巴黎的一个剧院计划制作一个关于这本书的舞台剧。
《纽约世界报》也出版了布莱在旅行时写的故事。在没有收到布莱邮寄的故事时，编辑们仍能找到要写作的东西。他们出版了关于布莱的新歌和基于她的旅行的新游戏。报纸宣布了一项竞赛，猜测她的旅行需要多长时间。奖项是免费欧洲游。到12月2日，约有10万个读者已经寄出了他们的猜测。
奈莉·布莱于1890年1月25日回到了她开始的地方。这次旅行花了她76天6小时11分14秒。那时她25岁。她在世界各地都很有名。
伊丽莎白·科克伦于1922年在纽约去世。享年58岁。自从那次著名的旅行后，她结了婚，开了一家公司。她还帮助过贫困和无家可归的儿童。她继续以奈莉·布莱的身份为报刊杂志撰稿。
一位报纸官员在她死后写道：
“奈莉·布莱是美国最好的记者。更重要的是她做的世人一无所知的工作。她去世时留下了很少的钱。她所得到的承诺是照顾没有家的孩子，她希望能供养他们。她的生活是有价值的。她从这个星球上带走的是所有她在意的东西-一个光荣的名字，她的同事们的尊敬和爱戴，很漂亮的战斗的记忆，很多不会被遗忘的善行。快乐的男人或女人，可以留下一样好的记录。”
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