From missionary to firebrand--Eisle Tu [20160102]

From missionary to firebrand

 

杜叶锡恩（1913年(癸丑年)－2015年（乙未年），英文名字Elsie Hume Elliot Tu，丈夫是教育家杜学魁。她是香港著名的社会运动家及教育工作者，四十年多年来一直服务香港和为社会基层争取权益。她虽然生于英国，但操得一口流利的广东话和普通话。叶锡恩生于英国纽卡斯尔，1948年被普利茅斯弟兄会派往中国江西省南昌传教。1951年杜叶锡恩前往香港，在香港创立慕光英文书院，为1950年代的香港市民提供教育。1963年至1995年，叶锡恩出任市政局议员。1988年至1995年，她曾多次获委任为立法局议员。

2015年12月8日，杜叶锡恩在香港一家医院病逝，享年102岁。

 

Elsie Tu, campaigner for the people of Hong Kong, died on December 8th, aged 102

背景介绍

Elsie Tu, GBM, CBE (née Hume; Chinese: 杜葉錫恩; 2 June 1913 – 8 December 2015), known as Elsie Elliott in her earlier life, was an English-born Hong Kong social activist, elected member of the Urban Council of Hong Kong from 1963 to 1995, and member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1988 to 1995.

正文：

HAD you visited the squatter slums of Kai Tak  in Kowloon, Hong Kong, in the 1950s, a curious sight might have met your eyes. Among the thousands of tiny dilapidated wooden huts, crammed with refugees from newly communist China, threaded with muddy paths where adults clopped in wooden sandals and children splashed in storm-drains, a prim English-woman would be picking her way with care. Her fair hair was brushed in an immaculate shape, her flowered dress suitable for Cheltenham; a large handbag was on her arm. Her large eyes and prominent teeth gave her a look of keen concern.

squatter slums 棚户贫民窟

Kai Tak启德

Kowloon九龙港埠

brushed非常柔软的

immaculate纯洁的

Cheltenham切尔滕纳姆(英国英格兰西南部城市)

Her name then was Elsie Elliott. Later she was Elsie Tu. Under both names she was a formidable advocate for the rights of the downtrodden in Hong Kong, shaming and tormenting the police, the Legislative Council and successive British governors for more than 30 years. Wherever second-class citizens—that is, Chinese—lacked transport, housing, education, fair wages or a voice, she would be there, on their side.

This transformation surprised even her. She had arrived in the colony in 1951 as a meek missionary’s wife from the north of England, ready to support her husband, Bill Elliott, in the saving of souls. The merry notes of her piano accordion rang out then over the huts of Kai Tak, inviting everyone to be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Otherwise she made no noise, for women in the Plymouth Brethren were consigned to silence. But gradually, surrounded by such privation, she grew restless. Eventually she left both the Brethren and her husband. Christian witness, to her, meant being “good and useful”, the motto she had adopted as a timid, studious schoolgirl. It meant speaking out, too—even, as her pacifist 和平主义者father had hoped, getting into politics.

Hong Kong in those days had no social welfare. It was run by British officials and rich businessmen for themselves alone. The poor Chinese who wandered into her tiny church had boils from malnutrition and fungus-encrusted feet; she set up a clinic to treat them. Children, desperate to learn, sat in the street devouring cheap comics; in 1954 she set up Mu Kuang Middle School, which grew from a 30-desk army tent, flapping in winds and summer downpours, to a seven-storey block with 1,300 pupils by 2015. Buying land and buildings, hurdling regulations and dealing with the Education Department introduced her to Hong Kong’s subculture of corruption, in which the ba wong, or triads, extorted protection money from every hut-dweller and even from street hawkers; in which everyone expected backhanders; and where the police were up to their khaki shorts in the narcotics trade.

fungus 真菌

encrust  1.vt. 包上外壳；装饰外层 2.vi. 结壳

hut-dweller小屋的居民

malnutrition 营养不良

hawker 沿街叫卖者

extort 敲诈

khaki 卡其布，卡其布色

narcotic 麻醉药

Her relentless exposure of the police, in reports and letters to the South China Morning Post (her favourite, “restrained” modus operandi), became an all-out war, especially when after 1963 she sat on the Urban Council. In 1966, when she campaigned against a fare rise on the Star Ferry linking Hong Kong island and Kowloon, the police accused her of inciting violence among the protesters; she proved them liars and became wildly popular, as well as later winning the CBE for her anti-corruption efforts. To her backers she was invaluable, a British gadfly with pretty good Mandarin and passable Cantonese, who could intercede easily with those in power and could neither be silenced nor deported.

背景介绍：1967年，天星小轮因加价而引发“六七暴动”，她被港英政府施压，迫至落泪。不过，“六七暴动”令英国人意识到只有廉洁和社会安定才可确保港英政府在往后三十年能够长治久安。因此，英国人开始改善香港的施政。1976年，港英政府在叶锡恩的倡议下成立了香港廉政专员公署，令贪污问题逐渐绝迹香港。

relentless不懈的

modus operandi 做法，惯技

South China Morning Post 南华早报

all-out全面的

incite刺激，煽动

gadfly 牛虻

Mandarin （满清的）官吏

Cantonese 广东话

intercede 调节，斡旋

deport 被驱逐出境

Love and politics

The authorities themselves, in the governor’s office and on the Legislative Council (where she also sat, from 1988 to 1995), were less certain what to make of her. She had no stated ideology, beyond “justice for the people”, but was scornful of the favours shown to Taiwanese and would not censure China. In the run-up to the handover of the colony to China in 1997 she attacked the “disgraceful” reforms belatedly introduced by the British, and belittled the self-styled democrats who attacked the Basic Law agreed on, with some input from her, with the Chinese. In 1995 she lost her seat at the age of 82 to a “pro-democracy” candidate whose hand she refused to shake.

背景介绍：1995年3月5日，司徒华与杜叶锡恩竞争市政局观塘北议席。票站外，杜叶锡恩因为不认同泛民主派对民主的立场而拒绝与司徒华握手。最后司徒华胜出选举。杜叶锡恩得6778票，42.3%得票落选。

Scornful 鄙视的，轻蔑的

Her motivations were in fact rather simple. She hated colonialism, believing that it brought out the worst sort of arrogance in the British. She championed the Chinese because, to her, they were its victims. But she embraced them, too, because she fell in love with—and, in 1985, married—a Chinese patriot from Inner Mongolia, Tu Hsuehkwei. He had joined her church and co-founded her school; they had taught each other their respective languages. She called him “Andrew” after the apostle who cared for the needy. Through him she absorbed the philosophy and poetry of China, the songs of the Beijing Opera, the habit of patience and an enhanced sense of racial injustice. In return he supported her in every way he could—except publicly, which might have meant deportation.

背景介绍：1985年，叶锡恩与杜学魁结婚，并改名为杜叶锡恩

Apostle门徒，使徒，（思想或策略的）信奉者，倡导者

With him she experienced a strange reversal of her first role in Hong Kong. Then, as a missionary wife, it was she who had been silent and second-class, reduced to making the refreshments at meetings. Now it was Andrew who would greet her, after another rowdy day on the Legislative Council, with a cup of tea just as she liked it. But then, reverting to the natural shyness she always felt she had, she would say “Thank you, husband,” and sip demurely, as if the order of things were not inverted; and as if she posed no threat to anyone.

词汇与运用：

dilapidated ●○○○○

1.ADJ-GRADED 能被表示程度的副词或介词词组修饰的形容词 （建筑物）失修的，破旧的，破败不堪的 A building that is dilapidated is old and in a generally bad condition.

splash ●●○○○

1.VERB 动词 在水中嬉戏；戏水 If you splash about or splash around in water, you hit or disturb the water in a noisy way, causing some of it to fly up into the air.

1. •A lot of people were in the water, swimming or simply splashing about...水里有很多人在游泳或只是在戏水玩耍。
2. •She could hear the voices of her friends as they splashed in a nearby rock pool...她能听见自己的朋友们在附近的小石潭中嬉水的声音。
3. •The gliders and their pilots splashed into the lake and had to be fished out.滑翔机连同驾驶员都扑通一声栽进了湖里，只能被捞出来。

2.V-ERG 及物/不及物动词 (使)溅泼;(使)飞溅;(使)洒落 If you splash a liquid somewhere or if it splashes, it hits someone or something and scatters in a lot of small drops.

1. •He closed his eyes tight, and splashed the water on his face...他紧闭双眼，将水泼在自己脸上。
2. •A little wave, the first of many, splashed in my face...一朵小小的浪花飞溅在我的脸上，紧接着更多的浪涌过来。
3. •Beer splashed the carpet...啤酒洒到了地毯上。
4. •Lorries rumbled past them, splashing them with filthy water from the potholes in the road...大卡车从他们身旁轰隆隆开过，把路上坑凹里的脏水溅到了他们身上。
5. •He heard the sounds of splashing water and glanced at the door to the bathroom.他听到水泼溅的声音，就看了一眼浴室的门。

3.N-SING 单数名词 溅泼声;扑通声 A splash is the sound made when something hits water or falls into it.

1. •There was a splash and something fell clumsily into the water.扑通一声，有东西重重地掉进了水里。

4.N-COUNT 可数名词 洒泼上去的一点儿;添加进去的少量 A splash of a liquid is a small quantity of it that falls on something or is added to something.

1. •Wallcoverings and floors should be able to withstand steam and splashes...墙面材料和地板都应该能耐热汽且防水。
2. •Add a splash of lemon juice to flavor the butter.加上一点柠檬汁给黄油调味。

5.N-COUNT 可数名词 (与周围颜色形成强烈对照的)一片鲜艳颜色 A splash of colour is an area of a bright colour which contrasts strongly with the colours around it.

【搭配模式】：with supp

1. •Anne has left the walls white, but added splashes of colour with the tablecloth and the paintings.安妮让墙壁维持白色，但用桌布及油画进行了色彩点缀。

6.VERB 动词 (报刊)以醒目方式刊登 If a magazine or newspaper splashes a story, it prints it in such a way that it is very noticeable.

【语法信息】：V n

1. •The newspapers splashed the story all over their front pages...各家报纸都以整个头版醒目地刊登了这一报道。
2. •A picture of his girlfriend Sheryl had been splashed in the previous weekend's tabloids.他的女友谢里尔的一张照片被刊登在前一周末各家通俗小报的显眼位置上。

7.PHRASE 短语 引人注目;引起轰动 If you make a splash, you become noticed or become popular because of something that you have done.

【搭配模式】：V inflects

1. •Now she's made a splash in the American television show 'Civil Wars'.现在她已经凭借美国电视剧《内战》而一炮走红。

prim

1.ADJ-GRADED 能被表示程度的副词或介词词组修饰的形容词 极拘谨的；一本正经的；古板的 If you describe someone as prim, you disapprove of them because they behave too correctly and are too easily shocked by anything rude.

【语用信息】：disapproval

1. •We tend to imagine that the Victorians were very prim and proper.我们倾向于把维多利亚时代的人想象得非常古板、中规中矩。
2. •...a rather prim British spinster.一位极为古板的英国老处女

primly

1. •We sat primly at either end of a long settee...我们非常拘谨地坐在长椅的两头。
2. •She sipped her white wine primly.她很拘谨地呷了一口白葡萄酒。

2.ADJ-GRADED 能被表示程度的副词或介词词组修饰的形容词 整洁的；得体的 If you describe something as prim, you mean that it is very neat, tidy, or sensible.

1. •On her blonde wavy hair, the white hat looked nicely prim.这顶白色的帽子戴在她金色的卷发上显得非常雅致。

downtrodden

1.ADJ 形容词 受压迫的;遭蹂躏的;被践踏的 People who are downtrodden are treated very badly by people with power, and do not have the ability or the energy to do anything about it.

1. •The owner is making huge profits at the expense of downtrodden peasants...物主靠压榨农民而赢得暴利。
2. •His mother was old, badly dressed and obviously downtrodden.他母亲老了，衣着破旧，显然尝尽了苦难。 
   1. •...support for the downtrodden and underprivileged.对受压迫者和弱势群体的支持

torment ●○○○○

The noun is pronounced /'tɔːment/. The verb is pronounced /tɔː'ment/. 名词读作/'tɔːment/。动词读作 /tɔː'ment/。

1.N-UNCOUNT 不可数名词 极度痛苦；苦恼万分；折磨 Torment is extreme suffering, usually mental suffering.

1. •The torment of having her baby kidnapped is written all over her face.因孩子被绑架所受的万分折磨全写在她脸上。
2. •He spent days in torment while the police searched for his stolen car.在警方搜寻他遭窃汽车的同时，他在极度苦恼中过了好些天。

2.N-COUNT 可数名词 使人痛苦的事;折磨人的事 A torment is something that causes extreme suffering, usually mental suffering.

1. •Sooner or later most writers end up making books about the torments of being a writer...或早或晚，大多数作家最终都会著书讲述身为作家的苦恼。
2. •Outdoors, mosquitoes and midges were a perpetual torment.在户外，蚊子和蠓虫永远让人不得安生。

3.VERB 动词 折磨;使痛苦万分 If something torments you, it causes you extreme mental suffering.

【语法信息】：V n

【语法信息】：V-ed

1. •At times the memories returned to torment her...有时，她再度想起往事，又会痛苦万分。
2. •He had lain awake all night, tormented by jealousy.他彻夜未眠，深受嫉妒的折磨。

4.VERB 动词 戏弄;作弄 If you torment a person or animal, you annoy them in a playful, rather cruel way for your own amusement.

【语法信息】：V n

1. •My older brother and sister used to torment me by singing it to me.哥哥姐姐以前常唱那首歌来戏弄我。

meek ●○○○○

1.ADJ-GRADED 能被表示程度的副词或介词词组修饰的形容词 温顺的;顺从的 If you describe a person as meek, you think that they are gentle and quiet, and likely to do what other people say.

【搭配模式】：the N

1. •He was a meek, mild-mannered fellow.他是一个温顺随和的人。
2. •...the meekest and most docile of people.众人之中最温顺驯良的一个
3. The meek are people who are meek. 温顺的人 
   1. •The meek shall inherit the earth.谦卑的人必承受地土。

meekly

1. •Most have meekly accepted such advice...大多数人都已经顺从地接受了这样的建议。
2. •'Thank you, Peter', Amy said meekly.“谢谢你，彼得，”埃米温顺地说。

meekness

1. •She maintained a kind of meekness.她保持着一种温顺的态度。

consign ●○○○○

1.VERB 动词 把…置于;打发 To consign something or someone to a place where they will be forgotten about, or to an unpleasant situation or place, means to put them there.

【语法信息】：V n to n

【语域标签】：FORMAL 正式

1. •For decades, many of Malevich's works were consigned to the basements of Soviet museums...马列维奇的很多作品在苏联博物馆的地下室里堆了几十年。
2. •It was time to consign his bat and glove to the cupboard...该把他的球棒和手套搁进柜子里了。
3. •The far-reaching pact has also made sure the Cold War is consigned to history with a joint peace declaration.随着和平联合声明的发表，这个意义深远的条约也确保冷战成为了历史。

brethren ●○○○○

1.N-PLURAL 复数名词 （某组织或团体的）成员，会员；（尤指宗教团体的）教友 You can refer to the members of a particular organization or group, especially a religious group, as brethren.

【搭配模式】：oft with poss

【STYLE标签】：OLD-FASHIONED 过时

1. •We must help our brethren, it is our duty...我们必须帮助我们的教友，这是我们的责任。
2. •Sri Lankans share a common ancestry with their Indian brethren.斯里兰卡人和他们的印度兄弟有共同的祖先。

devour ●○○○○

1.VERB 动词 狼吞虎咽地吃;吞食 If a person or animal devours something, they eat it quickly and eagerly.

【语法信息】：V n

1. •A medium-sized dog will devour at least one can of food per day...中型犬每天至少要吃掉一罐狗粮。
2. •She devoured half an apple pie.她狼吞虎咽地吃下了半个苹果派。

2.VERB 动词 如饥似渴地阅读;热切地看 If you devour a book or magazine, for example, you read it quickly and with great enthusiasm.

【语法信息】：V n

1. •She began devouring newspapers when she was only 12.年仅 12 岁时，她就开始如饥似渴地阅读报纸。

hurdle ●●○○○

1.N-COUNT 可数名词 障碍;困难;难关 A hurdle is a problem, difficulty, or part of a process that may prevent you from achieving something.

【搭配模式】：usu supp N

1. •Two-thirds of candidates fail at this first hurdle and are packed off home...三分之二的候选人在第一个难关就败下阵来，只好打包回家了。
2. •The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.天气将会是最大的障碍，所以我必须要作好准备。

2.N-COUNT-COLL 可数集合名词 跨栏赛跑;障碍赛跑 Hurdles is a race in which people have to jump over a number of obstacles that are also called hurdles. You can use hurdles to refer to one or more races.

1. •Davis won the 400m. hurdles in a new Olympic time of 49.3 sec.戴维斯以49.3秒的成绩刷新奥运会纪录，在400米跨栏赛跑中一举夺冠。

3.VERB 动词 （在跑步过程中）跳跃，跨越 If you hurdle, you jump over something while you are running.

1. •He crossed the lawn and hurdled the short fence...他跑过草地，跳过低矮的栅栏。
2. •She learnt to hurdle by leaping over bales of hay on her family's farm.她通过在自家农场里跳跨干草捆学会了跨栏。

subculture

1.N-COUNT 可数名词 亚文化(模式) A subculture is the ideas, art, and way of life of a group of people within a society, which are different from the ideas, art, and way of life of the rest of the society.

【搭配模式】：usu with supp

1. •...the latest American subculture.最近的美国亚文化
2. •...the violent subculture of London youth gangs.伦敦年轻帮派的暴力亚文化

modus operandi

1.N-SING 单数名词 (特别的)做法，方法 A modus operandi is a particular way of doing something.

【语域标签】：FORMAL 正式

1. •An example of her modus operandi was provided during a terse exchange with the defendant.与被告的简短交流体现了她独特的办事方式。

censure ●○○○○

1.VERB 动词 严厉批评;指责 If you censure someone for something that they have done, you tell them that you strongly disapprove of it.

1. •The ethics committee may take a decision to admonish him or to censure him...道德委员会也许会决定对他进行训诫或是严厉批评。
2. •I would not presume to censure Osborne for hating his mother.我不会擅自批评奥斯本恨他妈妈这件事。
3. Censure is also a noun. 
   1. •It is a controversial policy which has attracted international censure.这是一项颇有争议的政策，引起了国际社会的批评。

belated ●○○○○

1.ADJ-GRADED 能被表示程度的副词或介词词组修饰的形容词 迟来的；延误的；姗姗来迟的 A belated action happens later than it should have done.

【STYLE标签】：FORMAL 正式

1. •...the government's belated attempts to alleviate the plight of the poor.政府一再拖延的扶贫举措
2. •...a belated birthday present.迟来的生日礼物

belatedly

1. •The leaders realized belatedly that the coup would be disastrous for everyone.领导们方才意识到这场政变对任何人来说都是一场灾难。

arrogant ●●○○○

1.ADJ-GRADED 能被表示程度的副词或介词词组修饰的形容词 傲慢的;自大的;嚣张的 Someone who is arrogant behaves in a proud, unpleasant way towards other people because they believe that they are more important than others.

【语用信息】：disapproval

1. •He was so arrogant...他是如此傲慢。
2. •That sounds arrogant, doesn't it?那话听起来很嚣张，是不是？
3. •...an air of arrogant indifference.自高自大、事不关己的态度

arrogance

1. •At times the arrogance of those in power is quite blatant.有时那些当权者颇为傲慢嚣张。

arrogantly

1. •Later, Simpson arrogantly claimed: 'We won't lose another game.'稍后，辛普森傲慢地宣称：“我们不会再输了。”

reversal ●○○○○

1.N-COUNT 可数名词 （过程、政策或趋势的）反转，倒转，逆转 A reversal of a process, policy, or trend is a complete change in it.

【搭配模式】：oft N of n

1. •The Financial Times says the move represents a complete reversal of previous US policy...《金融时报》说此举一反美国以往的政策。
2. •This marked a 7% increase on the previous year and the reversal of a steady five-year downward trend.这标志着在前一年基础上有了7％的增长，扭转了5年来持续下降的趋势。

2.N-COUNT 可数名词 （角色的）交换，互换 When there is a role reversal or a reversal of roles, two people or groups exchange their positions or functions.

【搭配模式】：n N

1. •When children end up taking care of their parents, it is a strange role reversal indeed.当孩子们最终要照顾父母时，这的确是一种奇妙的角色互换。

3.N-COUNT 可数名词 (通常涉及金钱损失的)失败，逆境，挫折 A reversal is a failure, usually involving the loss of money.

【搭配模式】：usu pl

【语域标签】：FORMAL 正式

1. •They teach managers to accept reversals as a fact of business life.他们教给管理人员要将挫折视为生意上的平常事。

rowdy ●○○○○

1.ADJ-GRADED 能被表示程度的副词或介词词组修饰的形容词 吵闹的;粗野的;惹是生非的 When people are rowdy, they are noisy, rough, and likely to cause trouble.

1. •He has complained to the police about rowdy neighbours...他向警方投诉邻居们太吵闹。
2. •There were rowdy scenes inside parliament during the debate.在争论的过程中，国会内部一片混乱。

rowdiness

1. •...adolescent behaviour like vandalism and rowdiness.破坏公物和惹是生非之类的青少年行为

2.N-PLURAL 复数名词 粗野的人;吵闹的人 If you describe people as rowdies, you mean that they are noisy, rough, and likely to cause trouble.

【语域标签】：INFORMAL 非正式

1. •...a bar in New York where the owner kept a baseball bat to deal with rowdies.老板备了一根棒球棒以对付闹事者的一家纽约酒吧

demure

1.ADJ-GRADED 能被表示程度的副词或介词词组修饰的形容词 (通常指年轻女子)羞涩的，娴静的 If you describe someone, usually a young woman, as demure, you mean they are quiet and rather shy, usually in a way that you like and find appealing, and behave very correctly.

【语用信息】：approval

1. •She's very demure and sweet...她非常娴静可爱。
2. •The luscious Miss Wharton gave me a demure but knowing smile.性感迷人的沃顿小姐对我羞涩地会心一笑。

demurely

1. •She smiled demurely.她羞涩地笑了笑。

2.ADJ-GRADED 能被表示程度的副词或介词词组修饰的形容词 (衣着等)端庄的，庄重的 Demure clothes do not reveal your body and they give the impression that you are shy and behave correctly.

【搭配模式】：usu ADJ n

【FIELD标签】：WRITTEN 笔语

1. •...a demure high-necked white blouse.端庄的高领白衬衫

demurely

1. •She was demurely dressed in a black woollen suit.她穿了一身黑色羊毛套装，显得很庄重。