CNN英語專訪米歇爾.奧巴馬：第一夫人眼中的奧巴馬

第一夫人眼中的奧巴馬

CNN ANCHOR

CNN 主播

In less than the three weeks, Michelle Obama becomes the nation's next first lady. In an interview with CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, she talks about how she first met Barack Obama, and why it wasn't love at first sight.

再過不到三個星期，米歇爾·奧巴馬就即將成為美國的下一位第一夫人。她在接受CNN的蘇珊·馬爾弗訪問時，談到自己和巴拉克·奧巴馬初識的情景，也談到他們當初為什么不是一見鐘情。

UZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT

CNN 特派員蘇珊·馬爾弗

Tell me about the first time you met Barack. What was your impression?

談?wù)勀愫桶屠顺醮握J識的情形。你當時對他有什么印象?

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY

美國第一夫人 米歇爾·奧巴馬

I was a first-year associate at Sidley & Austin. I had just graduated from law school, had spent my first summer as an... year as an intern, and there was all this buzz about this hotshot young first-year law student from Harvard. And everyone， I mean from the head of the firm on down, had talked about how brilliant this guy was. And it was rare that a firm as big as ours hired first-year students. So, he was gonna come in as a summer associate.

當時我在西德利與奧斯汀律師非務(wù)所還是第一年的新人。我剛從法學(xué)院畢業(yè)，才當了一個夏天……一年的實習(xí)生，那時大家都在熱切談?wù)撝粋€很厲害的年輕人，是個哈佛法學(xué)院一年級生。事務(wù)所里從上到下，每個人都在說這個家伙有多厲害。像我們那樣的大事務(wù)所實在很少會雇用一年級學(xué)生，而他卻要進來擔任暑期助理。

And they decided that I should be his adviser, probably because we both went to the same law school. We were both minority students. So, I remember getting his bio.

然后，他們決定該由我負責(zé)指導(dǎo)他，也許是因為我們都上過同一所法學(xué)院吧。我們兩人都是少數(shù)民族裔學(xué)生。我記得當時拿到了他的簡歷。

And I probably did what a lot of people do when they hear about Barack Obama. First, I thought, what kind of name is Barack Obama? And I found out that he grew up in Hawaii, and I found that strange as a girl who grew up on the South Side of Chicago. I had never met anybody who lived in Hawaii. That was always where you vacationed and it wasn't where you were from.

我大概和一般人聽到巴拉克 ·奧巴馬這個人的反應(yīng)一樣。我的第一個念頭是，這是哪種名字啊?然后我發(fā)現(xiàn)他在夏威夷長大，對我這個在芝加哥南部長大的女孩來說這相當不尋常。我從沒遇過住在夏威夷的人。夏威夷是大家去度假的地方，從沒聽過那里是哪個人的故鄉(xiāng)。

UZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT

CNN 特派員蘇珊·馬爾弗

Right. Right.

沒錯，沒錯。

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY

美國第一夫人 米歇爾·奧巴馬

And I found out that he was biracial. So, my assumption was, this guy has got to be kind of weird, right, probably a little nerdy. I'd already sort of created an image of this very intellectual nerd. And I was prepared to be polite and all that, and then he walked into my office on that first day, and he was cuter than I thought he would be.

接著，我發(fā)現(xiàn)他是混血兒。所以，我推測這個人一定會有點怪，說不定還有點書呆子氣。那時候我就先腦海里把他想象成一個聰明過人的宅男了。我準備好規(guī)規(guī)矩矩地接待他，然后他來的第一天走進我辦公室，模樣倒是比我想象的帥多了。

So, that was a first positive impression, but I had to take him out to lunch on that first day, and we got to... we had to talk. And he told me more about his background, and he fleshed it out a bit more. I found out that his father was from Kenya, his mother was a white woman from Kansas and that he had spent part of his life in Indonesia.

所以，第一印象還不錯，可是第一天我還得帶他去吃午餐，所以我們必須聊天。他又對我說了更多他自己的家庭背景，讓我對他更加了解。我得知他的父親來自肯尼亞，母親是堪薩斯的白人婦女，而且他還在印度尼西亞住過。

And I just found him intriguing in every... in every way that you can imagine. He was funny. He was self-deprecating. He didn't take himself too seriously. He could laugh at himself. I mean, we were... we clicked right away. He was very down-to-earth, despite having come from this very exotic background, compared to mine.

然后我發(fā)現(xiàn)他在各方面都很令人好奇……你想知道的各方面。他也很會說笑，會自嘲，不會把自己看得太了不起。他會開自己的玩笑。我是說，我們……一見如故。和我比較起來，他的成長背景雖然充滿了異國經(jīng)歷，但是他卻很踏實。

UZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT

CNN 特派員蘇珊·馬爾弗

Did he fit in into the... with your friends on the South Side? Did he fit in, or did he stand out in some way?

他和你在芝加哥南部的朋友處得來嗎?他能不能和他們打成一片，還是會比較突出?

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY

美國第一夫人 米歇爾·奧巴馬

Yeah, no, he... he very much...

恩，他……他很……

UZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT

CNN 特派員蘇珊·馬爾弗

What was that like, to meet your friends?

他和你的朋友見面的時候是什么樣子?

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY

美國第一夫人 米歇爾·奧巴馬

Yeah, he very much fit in.

嗯，他和他們相處融洽。

You know, Barack is one of those people who is comfortable in his own skin. So, he's comfortable in every space that he's in. So, he was comfortable with my family that is very diverse in, you know, in opinions and perspectives.

你知道，巴拉克是那種對自己不覺得別扭的人。所以，他不論到哪里都很自在。像我家人的意見和觀點都很不一樣，可是他也與他們都相處自在。

But he was also very comfortable at Sidley & Austin, in a very upper-crust firm, but he was also comfortable in that church basement that he took me to, where he talked about the concept of how you make the world as it is and the world as it should be one and the same.

不過他在西德利與奧斯汀事務(wù)所這個相當上瑩社會的公司里，還是一樣很自在，還有他帶我去過的教堂地下宅他在那里聊到了世界的現(xiàn)狀是怎么形成的，還有如何塑造一個團結(jié)和諧的世界。

And that's what I liked about Barack-that he could very much be himself, but connect with people all over the place. And, then, as I got to meet his friends, and saw the diversity of his... not just his family, but his friendships, the folks in college and the kids, the folks that he grew up with in Hawaii, all very different people, but all basically the same.

那就是我喜歡巴拉克的地方——他可以充分展現(xiàn)自我，但又能夠和各地的人交流。然后，我認識了他的朋友，發(fā)現(xiàn)那種多元性……不只他的家人，還有他的朋友、大學(xué)同窗、在夏威夷一起長大的小孩、同伴都是非常不一樣的人，但基本上卻也都具有相同的特質(zhì)。

英語單詞注釋

1. impression n. 印象

2. associate n. 伙伴 ;同事;合伙人

3. intern n. 實習(xí)生

4 buzz n. 騷動

5 hotshot n. 要人 ;能人

6. brilliant adj. 杰出的;優(yōu)秀的

7. rare adj. 稀有的;罕見的

8. minority n. 少數(shù)群 ;少數(shù)民族

9 bio n. 自傳

10. vacation v. 度假

11. biracial adj. 混血的(尤指黑、白人種)

12. assumption n. 假定;設(shè)想

13. nerdy

adj. 書呆子的

14. intellectual adj. 聰明的

15. intriguing adj. 引人興趣的

16. self-deprecating adj. 自我解嘲的

17. click v. 一拍即合;五相欣賞

18. down-to-earth adj. 樸實的;謙虛的

19. exotic adj. 異國情調(diào)的;奇特的

20. perspective n. 看法，觀點

21. concept n. 概念;觀念

22. diversity n. 差異，多樣性

23. folk n. 同學(xué)，人們 ;各位