CNN英语专访米歇尔.奥巴马：第一夫人眼中的奥巴马

第一夫人眼中的奥巴马

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.

再过不到三个星期，米歇尔·奥巴马就即将成为美国的下一位第一夫人。她在接受CNN的苏珊·马尔弗访问时，谈到自己和巴拉克·奥巴马初识的情景，也谈到他们当初为什么不是一见钟情。

UZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT

CNN 特派员苏珊·马尔弗

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

谈谈你和巴拉克初次认识的情形。你当时对他有什么印象?

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY

美国第一夫人 米歇尔·奥巴马

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.

当时我在西德利与奥斯汀律师非务所还是第一年的新人。我刚从法学院毕业，才当了一个夏天……一年的实习生，那时大家都在热切谈论着一个很厉害的年轻人，是个哈佛法学院一年级生。事务所里从上到下，每个人都在说这个家伙有多厉害。像我们那样的大事务所实在很少会雇用一年级学生，而他却要进来担任暑期助理。

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，他们决定该由我负责指导他，也许是因为我们都上过同一所法学院吧。我们两人都是少数民族裔学生。我记得当时拿到了他的简历。

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.

我大概和一般人听到巴拉克 ·奥巴马这个人的反应一样。我的第一个念头是，这是哪种名字啊?然后我发现他在夏威夷长大，对我这个在芝加哥南部长大的女孩来说这相当不寻常。我从没遇过住在夏威夷的人。夏威夷是大家去度假的地方，从没听过那里是哪个人的故乡。

UZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT

CNN 特派员苏珊·马尔弗

Right. Right.

没错，没错。

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY

美国第一夫人 米歇尔·奥巴马

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.

接着，我发现他是混血儿。所以，我推测这个人一定会有点怪，说不定还有点书呆子气。那时候我就先脑海里把他想象成一个聪明过人的宅男了。我准备好规规矩矩地接待他，然后他来的第一天走进我办公室，模样倒是比我想象的帅多了。

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，第一印象还不错，可是第一天我还得带他去吃午餐，所以我们必须聊天。他又对我说了更多他自己的家庭背景，让我对他更加了解。我得知他的父亲来自肯尼亚，母亲是堪萨斯的白人妇女，而且他还在印度尼西亚住过。

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.

然后我发现他在各方面都很令人好奇……你想知道的各方面。他也很会说笑，会自嘲，不会把自己看得太了不起。他会开自己的玩笑。我是说，我们……一见如故。和我比较起来，他的成长背景虽然充满了异国经历，但是他却很踏实。

UZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT

CNN 特派员苏珊·马尔弗

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处得来吗?他能不能和他们打成一片，还是会比较突出?

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY

美国第一夫人 米歇尔·奥巴马

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

恩，他……他很……

UZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT

CNN 特派员苏珊·马尔弗

What was that like, to meet your friends?

他和你的朋友见面的时候是什么样子?

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY

美国第一夫人 米歇尔·奥巴马

Yeah, he very much fit in.

嗯，他和他们相处融洽。

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，巴拉克是那种对自己不觉得别扭的人。所以，他不论到哪里都很自在。像我家人的意见和观点都很不一样，可是他也与他们都相处自在。

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.

不过他在西德利与奥斯汀事务所这个相当上莹社会的公司里，还是一样很自在，还有他带我去过的教堂地下宅他在那里聊到了世界的现状是怎么形成的，还有如何塑造一个团结和谐的世界。

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.

那就是我喜欢巴拉克的地方——他可以充分展现自我，但又能够和各地的人交流。然后，我认识了他的朋友，发现那种多元性……不只他的家人，还有他的朋友、大学同窗、在夏威夷一起长大的小孩、同伴都是非常不一样的人，但基本上却也都具有相同的特质。

英语单词注释

1. impression n. 印象

2. associate n. 伙伴 ;同事;合伙人

3. intern n. 实习生

4 buzz n. 骚动

5 hotshot n. 要人 ;能人

6. brilliant adj. 杰出的;优秀的

7. rare adj. 稀有的;罕见的

8. minority n. 少数群 ;少数民族

9 bio n. 自传

10. vacation v. 度假

11. biracial adj. 混血的(尤指黑、白人种)

12. assumption n. 假定;设想

13. nerdy

adj. 书呆子的

14. intellectual adj. 聪明的

15. intriguing adj. 引人兴趣的

16. self-deprecating adj. 自我解嘲的

17. click v. 一拍即合;五相欣赏

18. down-to-earth adj. 朴实的;谦虚的

19. exotic adj. 异国情调的;奇特的

20. perspective n. 看法，观点

21. concept n. 概念;观念

22. diversity n. 差异，多样性

23. folk n. 同学，人们 ;各位