Level 4-Day 77.The Story of Anne Frank

词汇提示

1.persecution 迫害

2.handicapped 残疾人

3.intellectuals 知识分子

4.pectin 果胶

5.herbs 草药

6.seasoning 调味

7.gypsies 吉普赛人

8.homosexual 同性恋

9.chronically 长期地

10.eliminated 消除

11.authorities 当局者

原文

The Story of Anne Frank

War,persecution, and economic depression affect not only adults, but also old people, children, babies, the sick and the handicapped.

Since history is written mostly about politicians, soldiers, intellectuals and criminals, we don't read very often about how events affect ordinary people.

Now and then a special book will shed light on what it was like to live in the midst of terrible events.

Such a book is "The Diary of Anne Frank."

Anne Frank was born in Frankfurtam Main, Germany, in 1929.

Her father Otto Frank was a businessman who moved the family to the Netherlands in 1934.

In Amsterdam, Otto started a company selling pectin to make jams and jellies.

Later he began a second company that sold herbs for seasoning meat.

Otto Frank had decided to leave Germany because of the policies and personality of the new German Chancellor Adolph Hitler.

Hitler had a personal hatred not only for Jewish people but also for everything Jewish.

He felt that one way to strengthen Germany and solve its problems was to kill or drive out all the Jews.

Hitler also felt that other groups, such as blacks, gypsies, the handicapped,homosexuals and the chronically unemployed should be eliminated.

Then only strong healthy "true Germans" would be left.

Since Hitler had a plan to solve Germany's economic problems, he received a lot of popular support.

Very few Germans realized that he was mentally and emotionally unbalanced and would kill anyone who got in his way.

The Frank family was Jewish, and they felt that they would be safe in the Netherlands.

However,in May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands and soon took over the government.

In 1941, laws were passed to keep Jews separate from other Dutch citizens.

The following year, Dutch Jews began to be shipped to concentration camps in Germany and Poland.

Just before this began, Anne Frank, Otto's younger daughter, received a diary for her 13th birthday.

Less than a month later, the whole family went into hiding.

Otto Frank had made friends with the Dutch people who worked with him in his business operations.

Now these friends were ready to help him, even though hiding Jews from the authorities was treated as a serious crime.

Behind Otto Frank's business offices, there was another house that was not visible from the street.

Here the Franks moved many of their things.

Only a few trusted people knew they were living there.

The Franks moved into these small rooms on July 6, 1942,and they lived there with another Jewish family, the Van Pels, until the police captured them on August 4, 1944.

So,for more than two years, the two families never went outside.

All their food and supplies had to be brought to them.

During this period, Anne Frank told her diary all her thoughts and fears.

Like any teenage girl, she hoped that good things would happen to her, that she would become a writer or a movie star.

She complained that her parents treated her like a child.

She insisted that she was grown up.

She also talked about how difficult it was to live in a small area with seven other people and not be able to go outside.

She wrote about the war and hoped that the Netherlands would soon be liberated from the Germans.

Anne sometimes envied her older sister, Margot, who was so much more mature, and who never got into trouble.

She and Margot wrote letters to each other to pass the time.

Anne even had a romance with Peter van Pels, who was seventeen.

Then all their fears came true.

All the eight Jews hiding in the house were arrested and eventually sent to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland.

Although the war was ending, it did not end soon enough for the Frank family.

Only Otto Frank survived the war.

One of their helpers, Miep Gies, saved Anne's diary and kept it.

After the war, Otto Frank decided to publish it.

Since 1947 more than 20 million copies have been sold in 55 languages.

Anne's diary shows the terrible cost of hatred, persecution and war better than any history book.

翻译

安妮·弗兰克的故事

战争、迫害和经济萧条不仅影响成年人，也影响老人、儿童、婴儿、病人和残疾人。
由于历史主要是关于政治家、士兵、知识分子和罪犯的，我们很少读到事件对普通人的影响。
时不时地，一本特别的书会揭示生活在可怕事件中的感觉。
这样一本书就是《安妮日记》。
安妮·弗兰克1929年出生于德国法兰克福。
她的父亲奥托·弗兰克是一位商人，1934年全家搬到了荷兰。
在阿姆斯特丹，奥托开了一家公司，销售用来制作果酱和果冻的果胶。
后来，他又开了第二家公司，出售调味肉用的草药。
由于德国新总理阿道夫·希特勒的政策和个性，奥托·弗兰克决定离开德国。
希特勒不仅对犹太人，而且对一切犹太人都有个人的仇恨。
他认为，加强德国和解决其问题的一个方法是杀死或驱逐所有犹太人。
希特勒还认为其他群体，如黑人、吉普赛人、残疾人、同性恋者和长期失业者应该被消灭。
这样就只剩下强壮健康的“真正德国人”了。
由于希特勒有一个解决德国经济问题的计划，他得到了很多民众的支持。
很少有德国人意识到他在精神上和情感上都不平衡，会杀死任何挡他路的人。
弗兰克一家是犹太人，他们觉得在荷兰会很安全。
然而，1940年5月，德国入侵荷兰，并很快接管了政府。
1941年，通过了将犹太人与其他荷兰公民分开的法律。
第二年，荷兰犹太人开始被运往德国和波兰的集中营。
就在这一切开始之前，奥托的小女儿安妮·弗兰克(Anne Frank)在13岁生日时收到了一本日记。
不到一个月后，全家人都躲起来了。
奥托·弗兰克与在他的商业运作中与他一起工作的荷兰人交了朋友。
现在这些朋友都愿意帮助他，尽管向当局藏匿犹太人是一种严重的罪行。
在奥托·弗兰克的商业办公室后面，还有一栋房子，从街上看不见。
法兰克人把他们的许多东西搬到了这里。
只有少数值得信赖的人知道他们住在那里。
1942年7月6日，弗兰克斯一家搬进了这些小房间，他们和另一个犹太家庭范佩尔(Van Pels)住在一起，直到1944年8月4日被警察逮捕。
因此，在两年多的时间里，两家人从未出门。
他们所有的食物和补给都必须运来。
在此期间，安妮·弗兰克把她所有的想法和恐惧都写在日记里。
像任何一个十几岁的女孩一样，她希望好事会发生在她身上，希望她能成为一名作家或电影明星。
她抱怨父母把她当孩子对待。
她坚持说她已经长大了。
她还谈到了和其他七个人住在一个小地方，不能出去是多么困难。
她写了关于战争的文章，希望荷兰能很快从德国人手中解放出来。
安妮有时羡慕她的姐姐玛戈特，因为她成熟得多，而且从不惹事。
她和玛戈特互相写信打发时间。
安妮甚至和17岁的彼得·范·佩尔斯有过一段恋情。
然后他们所有的恐惧都成真了。
躲在房子里的8名犹太人全部被捕，最终被送往波兰的奥斯维辛死亡集中营。
虽然战争即将结束，但对弗兰克一家来说，结束得还不够快。
只有奥托·弗兰克在战争中幸存下来。
他们的助手之一梅普·吉斯保存了安妮的日记并保存了下来。
战后，奥托·弗兰克决定出版这本书。
自1947年以来，该书已被翻译成55种语言，销量超过2000万册。
安妮的日记比任何一本历史书都更好地展示了仇恨、迫害和战争的可怕代价。