英-高级英语1 何兆熊 Unit 10 The Artist in America.docxVIP

英-高级英语1 何兆熊 Unit 10 The Artist in America The Artist in America John F. Kennedy 1 This day, devoted to the memory of Robert Frost1, offers an opportunity for reflection which is prized2 by politicians as well as by others and even by poets. For Robert Frost was one of the granite3 figures of our time in America. He was supremely4 two things―an artist and an American. 2 A nation reveals itself5 not only by the men it produces, also by the men it honors, the men it remembers. 3 In America our heroes have customarily run to men of large accomplishments. But today this college6 and country honors a man [1] whose contribution was not to our size but to our spirit; not to our political beliefs but to our insight; not to our self-esteem, but to our self-comprehension. 4 [2] In honoring Robert Frost we therefore can pay honor to the deepest sources of our national strength. That strength takes many forms and the most obvious forms are not always the most significant. 5 The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the nation’s greatness. [3] But the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested7. 6 For they determine whether we use power or power uses us. [5] Our national strength matters; but the spirit which informs8 and controls our strength matters just as much. This was the special significance of Robert Frost. 7 [6] He brought an unsparing9 instinct for reality to bear on10 the platitudes11 and pieties12 of society. [7] His sense of the human tragedy fortified13 him against self-deception and easy consolation. 8 [8] “I have been,” he wrote, “one acquainted with14 the night.” 9 [9] And because he knew the midnight as well as the high noon, because he understood the ordeal as well as the triumph of the human spirit, he gave his age strength with which to overcome despair. 10 At bottom he held a deep faith in the spirit of man. And it’s hard