The circumstances surrounding the birth of a female infant in Kosciusko, Mississippi, on Jan.29, 1954,were not promising present was the usual mix that had so often accumulated into a burden too heavy for a single-parent household like the one Oprah Winfrey grew up in. The state in which she was born had laws in place waiting to characterize her as unwelcome, to bar her participation in otherwise accebtable social activities, to shackle her to the residue of slavery and other injustices of the past. The simple truth is that her grandmother, her great-grandmother and all the great-great-grandmothers before them never experienced one day of life free from the harsh decrees of state-sponsored racial repression.

In hindsight, it appears that her birth was an uneventful one. But at age three she was reciting speeches from church pulpits. Upon discovering books, the child delved into the written word, turning out weekly book reports for her father. Even during turbulent times, not a moment was wasted. Seeds were being planted, watered, and nurtured. On April 13, 1964, nearly an adolescent and watching television from the linoleum floor of her mother’s walk-up flat in something deep inside of her. She was watching the live broadcast of the Academy Awards ceremony and saw a young African-American actor receiving the film industry’s highest honor. Sharing in that moment and all it implied she later told me, caused her to say softly to herself, "If he can do that, I wonder what I could do?"

The ground had been set. The journey of Oprah Winfrey had begun. The babe, the child, the adolescent, the young woman-all their strengths were harnessed into a force of astonishing power that placed itself in the service of nature and the human family. That the world has changed in meaningful ways since 1954 is beyond question. Oprah and her activities were driving forces in many of those changes. Her enormously influential talk show, her philanthropic work with children in africa and elsewhere, her popular book club and magazine, her empowering spiritual message, her contribution (by action and example) to improving race relations-all speak to the human family, touching hearts and leaving each one uplifted.

Mississippi too seems to be mellowing out into a more congenial place than it was in 1954. That may also be partly due to the very sbecial enerav that is Oprah Winfrey-a courageous, funny, compassionate, well-informed, dazzlingly curious person, as down-to-earth and loving as any human being I’ve ever known.

參考譯文:

故事的詳情圍繞在1954年六月29日出生于密西西比，科修斯科山的一個女嬰。那時，對于像Oprah Winfrey (奧普來.溫弗里)這樣日常開銷負擔特別繁重的單親家庭來說，她的出身并不是那么讓人期待。她所在的國家，已經有適當的法律等候著將她列為不受歡迎的對象，阻擊她參加其它合理的社交活動，讓她背負上了奴隸制度剩余產物的枷鎖，還有以往其它一些不公平的待遇。簡單的事實就是她的祖母、曾祖母以及更早的一代之前，在政府縱恿的種族鎮壓法令下，從未經歷過一天生命的自由。

之后的跡象表明，她的出生似乎平淡無奇。但是，在她三年的時候，便開始在教堂的講道壇背誦演說，在發現了書籍的之后，她便鉆研上面寫過的句子，每周向她的父親作一次書籍匯報。即使在那個動蕩不安的年代，也從不浪費一刻功夫。種子正在播種灌溉。在1964年4月13日，她已成長為一個青少年，在她母親那間無電梯的公寓的油布地毯上，電視里的一些東西深深地觸動了她。那時她正在看奧斯卡獎項的現場直播，一位年青的美國黑人演員被授予了電影行業中的最高榮譽。在分享那個神圣的時刻之后，她告訴了我所有這一切都在暗暗地促使她輕聲地告訴自己"他能做到，難道我就做不到嗎?"

路已經被鋪平了，Oprah Winfrey 開始了她的旅程。從嬰兒到小孩、到青少年、再到年輕女士——萬事俱備，使得她在服務于自然界與人類家庭上迸發出一種驚人的能力。從1954年起，毫無疑問，世界已經以一種積極的方式發生著改變。Oprah和她的脫口秀是其中的很多改變動力。她影響深遠的脫口秀、對非洲乃至其它地方的小孩博愛舉動、廣受歡迎的書籍雜志俱樂部、激動人心的演說辭、以身作則為改善種族關系所作的貢獻。這一切都講給人類家庭，觸動了他們的內心，每個人都深受鼓舞。

密西西比也受到了潮流的影響，比1954年看起來適意得多。其中的部分也許同樣歸功于Oprah Winfrey的非常獨特的精神力量——一個勇敢、有趣、富有同情心、見識廣博、閃耀著知識光芒的人，是我所知的人中最腳踏實地、讓人鐘愛的一個。

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