清晨朗读147：Dear Mr. President (Part 1)

“MynameisJohnGordon,andIama15year-oldstudentatCarolinaFriendsSchoolinDurham,NC.”...



（如果喜欢这里的内容，你能够给我的最大的帮助是转发，告诉你的朋友，鼓励他们也一起练习：））



文／王渊源John

Good morning!

很多人反馈昨天的练习内容有点难，生词比较多。

遇到这种情况，不要太难受，也不要给自己太多的压力。要记得我们追求的是进步，而不只是把今天的文章搞懂。如果发现难度有点大，还是把重点放在练习上（盲听，跟读，朗读，重复）。

练完了第一轮，可以查一些单词，尽量把文章大意搞懂，但是不要让查询的时间占太多的时间（千万不要超过一半，最好低于三分之一）。

只要保证持续进步，难的内容会慢慢变得简单一些。

...

另外，还有很多人反馈说特别喜欢看这种talk shows。要注意，英文的talk show指的是这种有很多guest interviews的节目，而中文现在经常用的脱口秀指的更多是英文的stand-up comedy。

这两种我都很喜欢。

...

今天的练习内容有点特殊，希望大家不要见笑。

我们今天要朗读的是我15岁的时候给克林顿总统写的信。内容有点长，所以分两天读（但是我把整个的文字放在下面）。

这封信是关于Leonard Peltier，一位因为被认为杀了两名FBI Agents而被判无期徒刑的印第安人。因为我认为他的case有很多问题，所以我的这封信是劝克林顿总懂给他释免。

其实，我也无法判断这个人是否真的有罪，但是我认为有足够的疑问，也认为过程中有很多问题，所以会愿意写这封信。当时写这封信的背景是我们在上一门印第安人历史的课，谈到最近的历史，就了解到Peltier的故事。老师没有要求学生必须写信，但是很多学生都写了。

后来克林顿没有给他释免，到现在这个案子还是有很多争议。也会有人劝奥巴马卸任前给Peltier释免。

Have fun!

John

朗读内容

（今天了朗读内容从Dear Mr. President开始，读完第三段就结束，剩余的内容明天继续读）

President Bill Clinton

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Washington D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

My name is John Gordon, and I am a 15 year-old student at Carolina Friends School in Durham, NC.  In recent months I have become aware and concerned about the case of Leonard Peltier, a Lakota Sioux.  Mr. Peltier is currently serving a life term in federal prison for allegedly murdering two FBI Agents, Ron Williams and Jack Coler, on June 26, 1975.  Mr. President, there are many people that are serving life sentences in prison right now, and most of them deserve to be there, but Mr. Peltier does not.  He and his people were victims of racist government discrimination before the incident in which Agents Williams and Coler were killed, and ever since the incident, Mr. Peltier has been a casualty of the remnants of racism still left in our legal system.

Prior to the date on which the agents were killed, the traditional Indians on the Pine Ridge reservation where Mr. Peltier resided had been living under a reign of terror carried out by the tribal government of Dick Wilson.  The late Mr. Wilson’s GOON (Guardians Of Oglala Nation) Squads acted out his policy of terrorizing anyone and everyone who opposed him, using guns acquired with government money.  Members of AIM (American Indian Movement) were the ones who spoke out against him and his ways, and it was AIM members and supporters, primarily traditional Indians, who were terrorized, and killed.  During the period of three years from March 1973 to March 1976, at least 342 traditional Indian people were killed.  The Pine Ridge reservation had the highest murder rate in the entire country.  There were more murders in Pine Ridge than in the whole state of South Dakota.  It is also important to note that, to this day, none of the 342 recorded murders have been investigated.  So you can see that the people on the Pine Ridge reservation lived in a climate of intense fear and mistrust.  Their people were getting killed every day, and the government didn’t even bat an eye or lift a finger to try and stop it.

So when the car containing Agents Williams and Coler drove into the reservation, the Indians there had good reason to be afraid: an unfamiliar car usually meant trouble.  Then, when gunshots were heard, and it is not clear who made the first shots, the natural thing to do would be to get your gun and go try to defend the women and children.  It is a tragedy that Williams and Coler died.  It is also a tragedy that later that day, during the brief standoff with the FBI, an Indian named Joe Stuntz was killed.  But his death was never even investigated.

Four men, including Leonard Peltier were indicted for the killing of the two FBI Agents.  Leonard was arrested in Canada and waited for extradition hearings.  Meanwhile, in the states, two of the Indians were found not guilty by self-defense, and charges were dropped against the other man.  Leonard was then extradited to the US on the basis of affidavits that the FBI later admitted were falsified.  That was injustice number one.  Next, Mr. Peltier was tried in Fargo, North Dakota, a town historically biased against Indians, under a openly anti-Indian Judge, Paul Benson.  The trial was rigged to convict Mr. Peltier, and much of the evidence that had been used to acquit the previous two defendants was not allowed in Mr. Peltier’s trial.  As a result, on April 18, 1977, he was convicted and sentenced to two life terms.  In the following years, Mr. Peltier’s appeals were denied, despite new evidence of serious misconduct by the FBI.

On October 15, 1985, while arguing the case before the Court of Appeals, prosecutor Lynn Crooks said: “we don’t know who killed those agents.” Later, on September 11, 1986, after sitting on it for almost 11 months, the Court of Appeals issued its opinion.  It said that the government “withheld evidence from the defense favorable to Peltier”, and that had the evidence been made available, “there is a possibility that the jury would have acquitted Leonard Peltier.”  They said all this, yet they denied him a new trial.  That represents absolute backwards thinking, it makes no sense.

Mr. President, I have tried to make it clear why I think Leonard Peltier should not be in prison.  He is a good man who deserves to have been treated better by his country.  Currently, he is up for parole, and a parole hearing officer has made a positive recommendation for his parole, but parole is not enough.  It has limitations, and Leonard Peltier deserves to have none.  He should be a free man, and you can make him one by granting him executive clemency.  It is the right thing to do, Mr. President, and I strongly urge you to do so.

Sincerely,

John Gordon

今天没有原文链接

朗读语音也可以去喜马拉雅听：主播王渊源John的清晨朗读会专辑

足迹



Efland, NC, October 2016

什么是清晨朗读会？

这里就是清晨朗读会。通过这个微信号，我每天早上7点左右会给你发可以模仿和朗读的材料，包括语音，也包括文本，希望我们能够每天一起练习。

如何使用此练习材料

较理想的状态

1）先听一遍我读的语音

2）再听一遍，这次跟着模仿（听不懂你模仿的没关系，跟不上也没关系，就尽量模仿你听到的音！）

3）朗读一遍原文

4）以上三个部分再重复2－3遍

5）（可选）发到朋友圈里，告诉朋友你今天练了英语！（对我来讲，这是最大的支持和帮助，提前感谢！）

起码要达到的状态

1）听一遍

2）跟着模仿一遍

3）朗读一遍

注意⚠️：听的时候最好不要看原文，听不懂100％没关系，你要是能听得懂100％那还学什么？

王渊源John是谁





我的中文名字叫王渊源，英文名字叫John Gordon，是个美国人，在中国呆了十几年了，从事了14年的英文教育工作，接触过好几十万中国同学。让我一直很困惑的一件事情是很多中国朋友学了很长时间的英文，但并没有一个很好的学习效果。而我知道语言学习并不是那么神秘的事情，只要坚持一些简单的事情，就能够学会。我希望我能够帮助大家解决动力问题，方法问题以及材料问题。

如何置顶此公众号

这样更方便做每天的练习！

第一步骤：

第二步骤：



就这么简单。安卓的话，还可以添加到桌面，更方便！

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