【雅思课外精读】米歇尔·奥巴马：为什么我会爱上奥巴马？

　　【雅思课外精读】米歇尔·奥巴马：为什么我会爱上奥巴马？*注：本文摘自7月29日《独立报》

　　Michelle Obama revealed the personally trait that made her fall in love with Barack

　　米歇尔·奥巴马透露，巴拉克·奥巴马的某些个人特质让她爱上了他

　　“you are cute, you know,” former first lady tells her husband in first publicized one-to-one conversation

　　第一次在公开谈话中，前第一夫人表白丈夫：“你知道吗？你很可爱。”

　　1. Michelle Obama has spoken about how she knew she had fallen in love with Barack Obama on the first episode of her new podcast.

　　在播客第一期中，米歇尔·奥巴马谈到了她和奥巴马是如何相识和相爱的。

　　2. Earlier this month, it was announced that the former US first lady was going to be launching a new podcast on Spotify, named The Michelle Obama Podcast.

　　本月早些时候，有消息称，这位美国前第一夫人将和Spotify合作推出“米歇尔•奥巴马播客”。

　　3. Soon afterwards, it emerged that Michelle’s first guest would be none other than her husband, former US president Barack.

　　不久之后，我们就知道，米歇尔的第一位嘉宾不是别人，正是她的丈夫、美国前总统巴拉克·奥巴马。

　　4. For the debut episode of the podcast, the globally recognisable couple sat down for their first ever publicised one-to-one conversation.

　　在播客第一期中，这对闻名全球的夫妇一起第一次进行一对一公开谈话。

　　5. They covered several topics during their 48-minute chat, including how young people approach politics; raising their daughters Malia and Sasha; and what it has been like toquarantine together amid the coronavirus pandemic.

　　在48分钟的谈话中，他们讨论了很多话题，包括年轻人如何接触政治，抚养他们的女儿玛丽亚和萨沙以及在疫情期间一起隔离在家的感受。

　　6. The Obamas also took a fond look back at the beginning of their relationship, having first met in 1989 while both working at a law firm in Chicago.

　　奥马巴夫妇还深情回忆了他们的恋爱。两人第一次见面是在1989年，那时候他们都在芝加哥一家律师事务所工作。

　　7. Michelle explained that the reason she fell in love with Barack was due to the way in which heperceived other people.

　　米歇尔说，她是因为奥巴马看待别人的方式而爱上他的。

　　8. She began by saying: “You know at the core of everything you have done politically, what I know about you as a person and one of the reasons why I fell in love with you is...” At this point, her husband interjected to quip: “It wasn’t just my looks, but that’s okay,” to which Michelle replied: “You’re cute you know.”

　　她说，“你知道，基于你在政治上所做的事情以及我对你个人的了解，我爱上你的原因就是…”这是，奥巴马打趣说：“不仅仅是因为我长得帅，这没啥。”米歇尔答道：“你知道吗？你很可爱。”

　　9. The Becoming author then continued, stating: “But no, one of the reasons I fell in love with you is because you are guided by the principle that we are each other’s brother’s and sister’s keepers. And that’s how I was raised.”

　　米歇尔接着说，“不是的，我爱上你是因为你遵循的原则是，我们都是彼此的守护者。我就是在这样的教养下长大的。”

　　10. Speaking of the values that she holds dear in her life, Michelle said that she believes “it is not enough that I succeed on my own”, highlighting the importance of wishing success and happiness for others as well.

　　谈到自己珍视的人生价值观时，米歇尔表示，她认为“靠我自己一个人还不够”，强调祝愿别人成功幸福的重要性。

　　11. “I can say that my family, my neighbourhood, my notions of community growing up shaped that view, and shaped the choices that I made in life as I felt your experiences shaped yours,” she said to Barack.

　　她对巴拉克说:“可以说，我的家庭、我的林区、我成长的社区观念塑造了这种观点，也影响了我的生活选择，就像你的经历也塑造了你一样。”

　　12. During their sit-down conversation, the former residents of the White House touched upon how they would like to leave the world for their daughters, 22-year-old Malia and 19-year-old Sasha.

　　在他们的谈话中，前总统夫妇还谈到他们想要为自己的两个女儿——22岁的玛利亚和19岁的萨莎——留下些什么。

　　13. They expressed their hope that their daughters live “in a country that respects everybody and looks after everybody. Celebrates and sees everybody”. “They’ll be fine. Right?” Barack said, to which Michelle replied: “Yeah. That’s absolutely right.”

　　他们希望自己的女儿生活在一个“尊重每个人，爱护每一个人的国家。尊重并重视每一个人。”奥巴马说：“她们会没事的，对吧？”米歇尔答：“是的，肯定会好的。”

　　精读解析

　　篇章结构

　　P1—P4：米歇尔新开播客，第一期嘉宾是奥巴马。

　　P5—P11：第一期播客谈话的内容：政治，家庭，爱情。

　　P12—P13：他们的愿景。

　　重点单词

　　episode /'epɪsəʊd/ n. 插曲；插话；一段情节；有趣的事件

　　【例句】

　　This episode may serve as a paradigm.

　　这一插曲可以充作典型例子。

　　This episode remains sharply engraved on my mind.

　　这段经历至今仍深深地铭刻在我的心中。

　　debut /'deɪbjuː/ n. 演员首次演出

　　【例句】

　　She made her debut album in 1973.

　　她在1973年推出她的第一套唱片集。

　　quarantine /'kwɒrəntiːn/ n. (人或动物生病之后被隔离的)检疫期vt. 对…进行检疫隔离

　　【例句】

　　The ship is still in rigorous quarantine.

　　该船仍在接受严格的隔离检疫。

　　perceive/pə'siːv/vt. 察觉，感觉；理解；认知

　　【短语】

　　perceive as 视为；当作

　　【例句】

　　We perceive him wish to make progress.

　　我们看得出他是要求进步的。

　　interject /ˌɪntə'dʒekt/ vt. (突然)插入,插话；打断

　　【例句】

　　Christina felt bound to interject before there was open warfare.

　　克里斯蒂娜觉得有必要在矛盾冲突激化之前及时介入将其化解。

　　quip /kwɪp/ n. 妙语；嘲弄；讽刺语v. 嘲弄；讥讽

　　【例句】

　　The remark was doubtless intended as a quip, but it came across as an icy challenge.

　　威尔伯福斯本来想说一句俏皮话，可是却被曲解为咄咄逼人的挑衅。

　　hold dear 看重; 珍视;

　　【例句】

　　That runs against the values we hold dear as Americans.

　　这与我们作为美国人所信奉的理想是背道而驰的。

　　resident /'rezɪd(ə)nt/ adj. 定居的; 常驻的n. 居民；(旅馆的)住宿者

　　【例句】

　　Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.

　　大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

　　touch upon涉及；触及；谈及

　　【例句】

　　But I do not propose to deal with Charles Strickland's work except in so far as it touches upon his character.

　　但是我在这里并不想对查理斯·思特里克兰德的艺术作品有所评论，除非在这些作品涉及到画家性格的时候。