【美国人物志】瑟古德·马歇尔 (2/9)

英语自学网

瑟古德·马歇尔（Thurgood Marshall，1908年7月2日－1993年1月24日），美国法律人士，1967年至1991年间担任美国最高法院大法官，他是第一位担任此职的黑人。
在担任大法官前，马歇尔曾在布朗诉托皮卡教育局案中担任原告律师，主张南方各州实施的种族隔离政策违反美国宪法第十四修正案，在最高法院获得胜诉。布朗案因宣告种族隔离政策违宪而成为美国历史上一个里程碑式的判决，美国前总统小布什称其为“一个使美国永远更好的判决”。
Hints:
Thurgood Marshall
story-teller
Baltimore
Mister Marshall

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Over the years, Thurgood Marshall became a very good story-teller. He told stories about himself, or about places he had visited. Often, the stories were funny. But most also had a serious message.
One story was about being in trouble with his teachers when he was a boy in Baltimore.
Mister Marshall said one of his teachers punished him by sending him to the room where the school's heating equipment was kept. There he was told to read and remember the words of the Constitution of the United States.
The Constitution is a long document. Thurgood Marshall said he read all of it, more than once, and learned to remember most of it.
He said this school boy punishment gave him a life-long respect for the Constitution. As he grew older, he began to think about the Constitution's guarantees of freedom. Those guarantees, he believed, should be for people of all races, not just for white people.多年以来，瑟古德马歇尔已成为一名非常优秀的讲述者。他讲的故事有关于自己，也有关于他走过的一些地方。他的故事通常非常有趣，但是大部分表达了某些重要的意义。
其中有个故事发生在巴尔的摩，是关于他小时候与老师之间发生的摩擦。
马歇尔先生说，当时有个老师为了惩罚他，把他关进学校加热设备房中朗读背诵美国宪法。
美国宪法是一部非常冗长的法案，瑟古德马歇尔说他当时不止一遍得通读了全文，还尝试去背诵他们。
他说道，儿时的惩罚使得他一生都尊重着美国宪法。长大后，他开始思索宪法中对自由的保护条例，他认为这些条例应该适用于所有种族而不是仅仅适用于白人。       
——译文来自: 青灯下的小虫