内容正文:
英语专业晨读美文人物篇:美国的缔造者——富兰克林(美音)
[00:03.72]Benjamin Franklin
[00:09.17]Franklin's life is full of charming stories
[00:13.27]which all young men should know—
[00:15.04]how he peddled ballads in Boston, and stood,
[00:18.22]the guest of kings in Europe;
[00:20.15]how he worked his passage as a stowaway to Philadelphia,
[00:23.80]and rode in the queen's own litter in France;
[00:26.92]how he walked the streets of Philadelphia,
[00:30.07]homeless and unknown, with three penny rolls for his breakfast,
[00:34.28]and dined at the tables of princesses,
[00:36.95]and received his friends in a palace;
[00:39.34]how he raised a kite from a cow shed,
[00:42.31]and was showered with all the high degrees
[00:45.66]the colleges of the world could give;
[00:47.50]how he was duped by a false friend as a boy,
[00:50.50]and became the friend of all humanity as a man;
[00:53.60]how he was made Major General Franklin,
[00:56.98]only to resign because, as he said,
[01:00.19]he was no soldier, and yet helped to
[01:03.30]organize the army that stood
[01:05.07]before the trained troops of England.
[01:07.48]This poor Boston boy, with scarcely a day's schooling,
[01:11.37]became master of six languages
[01:13.69]and never stopped studying;
[01:15.41]this neglected apprentice tamed the lightning,
[01:18.62]made his name famous, received degrees and diplomas
[01:22.46]from colleges in both hemispheres,
[01:24.30]and became forever remembered as “Doctor Franklin”,
[01:27.86]Philosopher, patriot, scientist,
[01:31.50]philanthropist and statesman.
[01:33.54]Self-made, self-taught, self-reared,
[01:36.72]the candle maker's son gave light to all the world;
[01:39.60]the street ballad seller set all men singing of liberty;
[01:43.73]the runaway apprentice became the most sought-after
[01:46.56]man of two continents, and brought his native land
[01:49.99]to praise and honour him.
[01:51.59]He built America—for what our Republic is today
[01:54.89]is largely due to the prudence, the forethought,
[01:58