第146期：最伟大的拳击手

想成为我们的主播，欢迎加微信 xdfbook 投稿。 一段美文，一首英文歌，或是一点生活感想，全由你做主。 《穆罕默德·阿里：最伟大的拳击手》 Muhammad Ali, Boxing Icon and Global Goodwill Ambassador Muhammad Ali, the charismatic three-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world, who declared himself “the greatest” and proved it with his fists, the force of his personality and his magnetic charisma, and who transcended the world of sports to become a symbol of the antiwar movement of the 1960s and a global ambassador for cross-cultural understanding, died June 3 at a hospital in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he was living. He was 74. Mr. Ali dominated boxing in the 1960s and 1970s and held the heavyweight title three times. His fights were among the most memorable and spectacular in history, but he quickly became as well known for his colorful personality and his showy antics1) in the ring. He claimed the heavyweight championship in 1964, with a surprising upset2) of the formidable3) Sonny Liston4). Mr. Ali came to represent a new kind of athlete, someone who created his own style in defiance of the traditions of the past. Glib5), handsome and unpredictable, he was perfectly suited to television, and he became a fixture6) on talk shows as well as sports programs. One of his assistants, Drew “Bundini” Brown, captured7) his lithe8), graceful presence in the ring, saying Mr. Ali would “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” The description entered the vernacular9). Mr. Ali appealed to people of every race, religion and background, but during the turbulent, divisive 1960s, he was particularly seen as a champion of African Americans and young people. In 1967, after Mr. Ali had been heavyweight champion for three years, he refused to be inducted10) into the military during the Vietnam War. Despite the seeming contradiction of a boxer advocating nonviolence, he gave up his title in deference to11) the principle of pacifism. “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam,” Mr. Ali said in 1967, “while so-called Negro people in Louisville12) are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?” The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. supported his decision to become a conscientious objector13) as “a very great act of courage.” Mr. Ali’s heavyweight title was immediately removed, and he was banned from boxing for more than three years. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but his conviction was unanimously overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971. Mr. Ali’s decision outraged the old guard14), including many sportswriters and middle Americans, who considered the boxer arrogant and unpatriotic. But as the cultures of youth and black America were surging to the fore15) in the late 1960s, Mr. Ali was gradually transformed, through his sheer magnetism and sense of moral purpose, into one of the most revered figures of his time. A casual statement he made in 1966—“I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong16)”—distilled the antiwar views of a generation. “Ali, along with Robert Kennedy17) and the Beatles in the persona of John Lennon, captured the ’60s to perfection,” writer Jack Newfield told Thomas Hauser, the author of a 1991 oral biography, Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times. “In a rapidly changing world,” Newfield added, “he underwent profound personal change and influenced rather than simply reflected his times.” ………… 极富魅力的三次世界重量级拳击冠军得主穆罕默德·阿里于6月3日在其居住的亚利桑那州斯科茨代尔市的一家医院去世，享年74岁。他曾自称是“最伟大的拳击手”，并用拳头、人格力量和迷人的魅力证明了这一点。他超越了体育界，成为20世纪60年代反战运动的象征，成为跨文化理解的全球大使。 20世纪六七十年代，阿里称霸拳坛，并三次获得重量级拳击冠军。他的比赛是史上最让人印象深刻、最令人叹为观止的比赛。不过，他很快也因为多彩的人格和拳击场上吸引眼球的搞怪动作而为人们所熟知。 1964年，他出人意料地击败了令人闻风丧胆的索尼·利斯顿，成为重量级拳击冠军。阿里开始成为新一类运动员的代表，他敢于挑战过去的传统，创立了自己的风格。他善于言辞、仪表堂堂、不按常理出牌，完美契合上电视节目的需要，因此他既是体育节目的常客，也经常亮相于脱口秀节目。 阿里的助理之一、外号“邦迪尼”的德鲁·布朗捕捉到了阿里在场上轻盈、优雅的姿态，说他“轻盈如蝶舞，出拳如蜂蜇”。这句话已进入了日常用语。 无论对于哪个种族、哪个宗教、哪个背景的人来说，阿里都有着强烈的吸引力。不过在动荡分裂的20世纪60年代，他尤其被视为非裔美国人以及年轻人的英雄。 1967年，阿里拒绝在越南战争期间应召入伍，那时他成为重量级拳击冠军已有三年。尽管拳击手提倡非暴力看起来有些矛盾，但为了遵从反战主义的原则，他放弃了冠军称号。 “他们凭什么要我穿上军装，到离家一万英里的地方，向越南棕色皮肤的人们投掷炸弹、射出子弹？”阿里在那年说道，“而与此同时，路易斯维尔那些所谓的黑人还被当做狗一样对待，连基本的人权都没有。” 对于阿里拒服兵役的决定，马丁·路德·金牧师表示支持，并称之为“有勇气的壮举”。 阿里立即被取消了重量级冠军的称号，并在三年多的时间内被禁止参加拳击比赛。他还被判了五年监禁，但1971年，美国最高法院一致表决推翻了对阿里的定罪。 阿里的决定激怒了保守派，其中包括许多体育新闻记者和美国的中产阶级，他们认为这位拳击手骄傲自大、缺乏爱国心。但20世纪60年代末期，随着青年文化和美国黑人文化的蓬勃兴起，阿里凭借自己纯粹的魅力和道德目的感，逐渐转变为他那个时代最受人敬重的人物之一。 ………… 文章摘自：《新东方英语》杂志2016年9月号