C What a 9-Year-Old Saw in Teddy Roosevelt1

Robert Klose

I was rather disappointed when the 100th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt’s death,on Jan.6,was given little if any notice by the media.In the panoply2.panoply：大批。of presidents,he is traditionally cited as one of the greats.This was something I was aware of from an early age.

1月6日是西奧多·羅斯福逝世100周年紀念日，而媒體幾乎沒有任何反應，這令我相當失望。一直以來，他都被認為是最偉大的總統之一。這是我從小就知道的。

Yes,I was an unusual kid.By the time I was 9,I had a favorite president.It might have been that trip to the American Museum of Natural History in New York where I first saw T.R.’s big-game trophies.Or maybe that image of him I ran across in a book,in buckskins with his arms crossed over his chest,ready to take on the world.Or maybe it was my mother who planted the seed,telling me what a sickly child Theodore had been,and how he had committed himself to developing both body and mind through his pursuit of the“strenuous3.strenuous：艱苦的。life.”

Washington and Lincoln aside,the other early U.S.presidents seemed rather stuffy4.stuffy：一本正經的，古板的。to me when compared to T.R.Their images were sepia toned and hung in oval frames lining the walls of the nation’s grammar schools.5.sepia：深褐色；tone：給（畫）定色調。Before Roosevelt’s time,few people even knew what their president looked like.Teddy,by contrast,was America’s first“public”chief executive,thanks in great part to his gift for self-promotion.

古希臘將軍伯里克利在一篇祭文中說過一句話：“他作為一位公民的優點勝過作為個人的所有缺點?！蔽蚁脒@用來概括老羅斯福的一生再合適不過。

是的，我是個不尋常的孩子。到我九歲時，我有了一位最喜歡的總統?；蛟S就是因為那次去紐約美國自然歷史博物館的旅行，在那里我第一次看到了西奧多·羅斯福的大型獵物。抑或是我在一本書中偶然看到他穿著鹿皮裝，雙臂交叉在胸前，準備向世界挑戰。又或許是我母親播下的種子，她告訴我西奧多小時候身體有多不好，以及他是如何通過追求“艱苦生活”來發展身心的。

除了華盛頓和林肯，我覺得其他早期的美國總統與西奧多·羅斯福相比似乎都很古板。他們的形象是棕褐色的，用橢圓形相框框起來懸掛在國家文法學校的墻壁上。在羅斯福時代之前，很少有人知道他們的總統是什么樣子的。相比之下，特迪是美國第一位“公共”首席執行官，這在很大程度上要歸功于他自我宣傳的天賦。

In one of her reminiscences,his daughter Alice remarked that her father“always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral,the bride at every wedding and the baby at every christening.”6.reminiscence：回憶；christening：洗禮。He was the center of attention by his own design,and I didn’t want him any other way.Astride a leaping stallion,charging up San Juan Hill,or pounding his fist as he addressed adoring audiences,T.R.bespoke energy,7.astride：跨著，騎著；stallion：種馬；pound：連續猛擊或敲打；bespeak：展現，顯示。if nothing else.He once wrote,“I have only a second rate brain,but I think I have a capacity for action.”

It was an odd thing to say,considering that Roosevelt wrote more than 30 volumes and was a voracious8.voracious：（對知識、信息等）渴求的，貪婪的。reader who read a book a day,even as president.He consumed a tremendous spectrum of literature,from poetry to classics to natural history.He also spoke French and could read Greek and Latin.

Now it comes back to me—the real why of Theodore Roosevelt in my young life.I was a skinny kid.I was bullied.I loved nature and books.I wanted to learn foreign languages.T.R.was my president because his success crystallized9.crystallize：使具體化。my aspirations.If I could only be like Teddy,how sweet life would be.

他的女兒艾麗斯在回憶時談到，她的父親“總想在每場葬禮上成為尸體，在每場婚禮上成為新娘，在每場洗禮儀式上成為嬰兒?！彼偘炎约涸O計成眾人關注的焦點，而我也不想讓他成為其他任何方式的人?？缟弦黄ヌS的戰馬，沖上圣胡安山，或者邊揮舞著拳頭邊給崇拜他的民眾作演講，西奧多·羅斯福所做的事都在彰顯著他的力量和干勁。他曾經寫道：“我只有一個二流的大腦，但我認為我有行動力?！?/p>

羅斯福寫了三十多卷書，而且他讀起書來如饑似渴，即使身為總統，每天也都讀一本書，這是一件很讓人稱奇的事情。他閱讀了海量的文學作品，從詩歌到古典文學再到自然歷史。他還會說法語，而且能讀懂希臘語和拉丁語。

現在我想起了西奧多·羅斯福成為我年輕時的偶像的真正原因。我是個瘦小的孩子，經常受人欺負。我喜歡大自然和書籍。我想學外語。西奧多·羅斯福是我的總統，他的成功使我的愿望具體化了。如果我能像他那樣，生活該有多美好啊。

I realize that in speaking as the 9-yearold I was,I run the risk of hagiography10.hagiography：將主角理想化（偶像化的）傳記。,of idealizing a man who was,in fact,a very nuanced personality.As an adult I now see that T.R.was more complicated,and flawed,than I could have grasped as a child.Yes,he championed the common man,but he also harbored racial views that were matter-of-fact in his time but would meet with disfavor today.11.champion：捍衛，支持；harbor：懷有。And in a world yearning for peace on many fronts,his bellicose streak might be more divisive today than it was in an earlier America just beginning to flex its muscles.12.bellicose：好戰的；streak：個性特征，傾向；divisive：引起分裂的，造成不和的；flex one’s muscles：顯示實力（尤指作為對他人或他國的警告或威脅）。

Still,for a city kid from New Jersey Roosevelt represented adventure,wide-open spaces,and irrepressible energy and optimism.Over time,as I grew,I may have had inklings of his personal shortcomings,but they were subsumed by the robust,forward-looking,bully man I always perceived Teddy to be.13.inkling：略知，模糊的想法；subsume：把……納入，歸入；bully：快活的，勇敢的。

By the time I got to college I was studying the classics,as T.R.had.I recall reading Pericles,the Greek general,who in his famous funeral oration14.oration：演講，演說。said something I find particularly valuable in our age,which sometimes seems so sparing of the virtue of forgiveness:“His merits as a citizen outweighed his demerits as an individual.”

I think the old Rough Rider15.Rough Rider：莽騎兵，是1898年美西戰爭時羅斯福組織的一支由牛仔、礦工、原住民等組成的自愿騎兵隊。would have called that fair enough.

我意識到，在我九歲的時候，我冒著偶像化傳記的風險，把一個事實上非常微妙的人格理想化了。如今作為一個成年人，我發現西奧多·羅斯福比我小時候所了解的更加復雜，也有更多缺陷。是的，他支持過普通大眾，但他也持有種族觀點，這在他那個時代很平常，但在如今則會遭到反對。而且在一個渴望多方面和平的世界里，他的好戰傾向在今天看來可能比美國早期剛開始秀實力那會兒更容易引起爭端。

盡管如此，對于一個來自新澤西州的生活在城市里的孩子來說，羅斯福代表著冒險、廣闊的空間、抑制不住的活力和樂觀。隨著時間的推移以及我的成長，我可能漸漸了解了他個人的缺點，但比起一直以來他在我心中健壯、有遠見且勇敢的形象，這些缺點都不值得一提了。

我上大學后，和西奧多·羅斯福一樣學習古典文學。我記得讀過古希臘將軍伯里克利的文章，他在其著名的祭文中說了一些我認為在我們這個時代特別有價值的話，似乎是在保留寬恕的美德：“他作為一位公民的優點勝過作為個人的所有缺點?！?/p>

我想這位老莽騎兵也會覺得他說得很對。