聚焦美國大選:關於奧巴馬和羅姆尼你不知道的10件事(一)

Four debates and countless campaign stops later, voters have learned much about their candidates' positions, policies, and personalities. Or have they?

四場辯論結束美國總統大選即將收官，選民們對候選人的立場、政策和個性已經足夠了解了。真是這樣嗎？

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Barack Obama

關於奧巴馬你不知道的5件事

1. He learned not to sling mud from mom.

1.他從母親那裏學會了不要誹謗他人

Although he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Barack Obama spent four years of his childhood in Indonesia. His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, instilled in her young son a deep sense of respect, a particularly important value in Indonesian culture. Obama's sister opened up on this period of their lives for a New York Times story, and describes how even as children they adopted this Indonesian custom: "We were not permitted to be rude, we were not permitted to be mean, we were not permitted to be arrogant. We had to have a certain humility and broad-mindedness."

雖然出生在夏威夷的檀香山，奧巴馬童年時期曾經在印度尼西亞生活了四年。他的母親斯坦利·安·鄧納姆逐漸向年輕的兒子灌輸了深深的尊重意識，這在印尼文化裏是一種非常重要的價值觀。奧巴馬的姐姐在接受《紐約時報》的採訪時曾經描述過他們那段時期的生活，提到了他們小時候養成的這種印尼的習慣：“我們不能舉止粗魯，不能心存邪念，不能傲慢自大。我們必須謙遜有禮、心胸開闊。”

2. His parents predicted his presidency.

2.他的父母預料到他會成爲總統

Obama's mother always realized her son's potential, and told a friend from Hawaii she believed he could be president of the United States. One of Obama's teachers in Indonesia recounts a conversation between young Barry and his stepfather, Lolo. When Lolo asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, Obama responded, "Oh, prime minister."

奧巴馬的母親一直看好兒子的潛能，她曾和一位夏威夷的朋友說過，她相信奧巴馬會成爲美國總統。奧巴馬在印尼的一位老師回憶起小奧巴馬和他的繼父羅洛的一段對話。羅洛問奧巴馬長大了想幹什麼，奧巴馬回答說，“噢，想當首相。”

3. He's a poet (and we didn't know it).

3.他是一位詩人（而我們都不知道）

Journalist David Maraniss uncovered several of Obama's romantic correspondences for his book about the life of the President, Barack Obama: The Story. Obama's smooth words reveal the soft side of a young man in love. One such letter from 1983 to a one-time girlfriend, reported by Maraniss, describes New York City: "Moments trip gently along over here. Snow caps the bushes in unexpected ways, birds shoot and spin like balls of sound. My feet hum over the dry walks. A storm smoothes the sky, impounding the city lights, returning to us a dull yellow glow."

記者大衛·馬拉尼斯在他記錄總統生活的傳記《巴拉克·奧巴馬的故事》中披露了奧巴馬的浪漫信件。奧巴馬流暢的文字向我們展示了一個戀愛中的年輕人柔軟的一面。馬拉尼斯披露的一封他在1983年和前女友的信中這樣描述紐約：“片刻時光的旅行在那兒悄悄延續。雪花用出乎意料的方式覆蓋了灌木叢，被擊中的鳥發出陣陣叫聲，在空中旋轉。我的雙腳踏上這乾燥的小路。一場風暴讓天空平靜，把城市的燈火熄滅，還給我們一片昏黃的光芒。”

4. Seinfeld, Suzanne Vega, and ...

4.經典美劇《宋飛正傳》，著名女歌手蘇珊·薇格，還有.......

Like most college students arriving in New York, Obama took up in a less-than-desirable apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side after transferring to Columbia University. To escape his living situation, where heat and hot water were in limited supply, Obama often went for breakfast with his roommate at Tom's Diner (the outside setting of Monk's, the Seinfeld characters' favorite meeting place).

和大多數來到紐約的大學生一樣，奧巴馬轉入哥倫比亞大學後住在曼哈頓上西區的一所條件很差的公寓裏。爲了擺脫這種暖氣和熱水都限量供應的生活，奧巴馬常常和他的室友去湯姆快餐店（就在蒙克快餐廳外面，系列喜劇《宋飛正傳》裏的主角最愛的見面地點）吃早餐。

5. His students got a preview of his presidency.

5.他的學生預先體驗過他的總統魅力

Before he became the junior senator from Illinois, Obama taught for 12 years at the University of Chicago Law School, where he honed in his skills as a future politician. In the classroom he was easy-going, joking with students and interspersing movie references with case law. It wasn't until after Obama entered the political arena that his U. Chicago colleagues and students recognized themes of his campaign that had originated in the classroom.

在成爲伊利諾伊州參議員之前，奧巴馬在芝加哥大學法學院當了12年老師，在這裏他磨練了未來從政的許多技巧。在課堂上奧巴馬親切隨和，和學生開玩笑，穿插電影片段作爲案例法的參考。直到奧巴馬進入政壇，他在芝加哥大學的同事和學生才意識到，奧巴馬競選的主題就起源自當年的教室。