新视野大学英语第四册 unit8A A meaningful life.docVIP

A meaningful life 有意义的人生 The death of an angel of animal rights activism does not rate with that of a drugged-out rock star. So when Henry Spira died of cancer in September 1998, his death passed without notice, apart from a brief obituary in The New York Times. Yet Henry Spiral life tells us something important, not only about the modern animal movement, but about the possibility of an individual making a difference in the modern world. 一位动物权利保护运动的天使的去世还比不上一个沉溺于毒品的摇滚明星的死亡。所以，亨利.斯皮拉在 1998 年 9 月因癌症去世的消息根本没有引起公众的注意，只是《纽约时报》上刊登了一则简短的讣告。但是亨利.斯皮拉的一生让我们懂得了一些重要的东西，不仅关于现代动物权益保护运动，而且还有一个人改变现代社会的可能性。 I first met Henry when he turned up at an adult education seminar I was giving at New York University. I offered a course on Animal Liberation that attracted about 20 students. One student was an unusual specimen, outside the regular aesthetic of an animal person. His clothes were untidy, and his hair uncombed. His language was so blunt and earthy that at times I thought I was listening to an assassin from a violent mob. Yet, I couldnt help feeling intrigued with his direct way of speaking and his solemn, secular oath to help animals in need. 第一次见到亨利，是我在纽约大学教一个成人教育研修班时他前来听课。我开设了一门关于“动物解放”的课程，吸引了大约 20 名学生。其中一名学生很另类，完全和通常意义上“动物权利保护者”的形象背道而驰。他的衣着邋遢，头发也未曾梳理。他说话非常直率并且粗俗，有时我甚至认为，我好像是在听一个暴力团伙的杀手在讲话。但是，我情不自禁地被他那种直截了当的说话方式，还有他那庄重的、不是出于宗教目的要帮助处于困境中的动物的誓言吸引住了。 I left New York soon after that, but one day got a call from Henry. He talked with me about his work. I knew that for over a century, the animal rights movement had been putting out graphic brochures, leaflets, and audio propaganda, alerting people to the dreadful experiments on animals. But in all that time, the number of animals used in experiments had risen from a small batch of a few hundred to more than 30 million. No activist had managed to stop a single experiment or improve the lives of animals living in tiny, constricted enclosures. Henry changed that. One of his earliest campaigns permanently closed down a laboratory conduct