16 Girls Who Changed the World改变了世界的16个女孩

2019-09-10 07:22卡罗琳·博洛尼亚陈天怡
英语世界 2019年6期
关键词:儿童

卡罗琳·博洛尼亚 陈天怡

Below is a list of women who changed the world when they were young girls and teens. From promoting girls’ education to raising money for meaningful causes to marching for civil rights, their accomplishments are impressive and inspiring.

1. Ruby Bridges

In 1960 at the age of 6, Ruby Bridges became the first black student to attend William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. The first-grader faced protests and riots and had to walk to school accompanied by federal marshals. She became an icon and inspiration in the Civil Rights Movement1.

2. Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani human rights advocate known for her activism in promoting education for girls. In 2012, when she was just 15 years old, a Taliban gunman shot her in an assassination attempt in retaliation for her work. At the age of 17, she received the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest Nobel laureate.

3. Anne Frank

A German-born Jewish girl who moved to the Netherlands during the Nazi regime, Anne Frank rose to fame following the publication of the diary she kept while hiding from the Gestapo. After her family was discovered and arrested, Frank died at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 at the age of 15. Her father Otto—the only surviving family member—was moved reading her diary after the war and published it posthumously2. It has been translated into more than 60 languages.

4. Alexandra Scott

Alexandra Scott was diagnosed with a form of pediatric cancer called neuroblastoma shortly before her first birthday. When she was just 4 years old, she set up her first lemonade stand in her front yard to raise money for childhood cancer research. Inspired by her story, people around the world set up their own lemonade stands to raise money for her cause. By the time she died in 2004, she had raised $1 million. Her family continues her legacy through Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

5. Claudette Colvin

Nine months before Rosa Parks’ famous arrest3, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin stood up against segregation in Alabama by refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery. She was arrested, and a year later was one of the original plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, a case that led the U.S. Supreme Court to declare bus segregation laws4 in Alabama and Montgomery unconstitutional.

6. Bana Alabed

A Syrian girl named Bana Alabed grabbed the world’s attention with her series of heartbreaking tweets from inside the besieged city of Aleppo starting in 2016. Now 8 years old, Alabed continues to advocate for the people of Syria and draw attention to conditions in the war-torn country.

7. Jazz Jennings

Jazz Jennings was just 6 years old when she gave an interview to Barbara Walters for a television special about transgender children. Since that time, she’s continued to educate the world about what it means to be transgender. The LGBTQ5 activist and YouTube star has a TLC show called “I Am Jazz” and co-wrote a children’s book by the same name. Now 17, she regularly speaks out about issues affecting the trans community.

8. Audrey Faye Hendricks

In 1963, 9-year-old Audrey Faye Hendricks joined thousands of fellow kids and teens in the Children’s Crusade, a nonviolent demonstration in Birmingham to stand against segregation. Hendricks was among the hundreds of students arrested and spent about a week in jail for her activism. Images from the Children’s Crusade—which highlighted the violent response from local authorities—caused outrage around the world.

9. Capri Everitt

At the age of 11, a Canadian girl named Capri Everitt set out to raise money for orphaned and abandoned children. She achieved this by traveling with her family to 80 countries, where she sang each national anthem in the national language. Proceeds from her fundraiser went to SOS Children’s Villages6.

10. Mary Shelley

English author Mary Shelley was just 18 years old when she wrote Frankenstein, which many credit as the origin of science fiction. Thus, Shelley has been called “the teenage girl who invented science fiction.”

11. Yusra Mardini

At the age of 18, Yusra Mardini made history as one of the members of the first Olympic refugee team in Rio de Janeiro. While fleeing Syria the previous summer, she helped save the lives of fellow refugees after the overloaded dinghy taking them to Greece started to sink. She jumped into the Aegean Sea and helped push their vessel to safety.

12. Margaret E. Knight

When she was 12 years old, Margaret Knight witnessed a horrific accident involving a mechanical loom at a cotton mill. To prevent harm from befalling other mill workers, she invented a safety device for the machine, which many other mills adopted.

13. Amariyanna Copeny

When she was 8 years old, Amariyanna aka “Mari” Copeny of Flint, Michigan, wrote a powerful letter to President Barack Obama asking him to meet with her and others from the city during their visit to D.C. for the congressional hearings on the water crisis. Obama responded by saying he would be going straight to Flint to learn more about the public health crisis and see what could be done. Over the past years, “Little Miss Flint” has become a well-known activist working to better her community. “Letters from kids like you are what make me so optimistic for the future,” Obama wrote in their correspondence.

14. Yuan Yuan Tan

Chinese ballet dancer Yuan Yuan Tan started representing her country in international competitions as a young teen. At 17, she became the the youngest ever principal dancer at the San Francisco Ballet, as well as the first Chinese dancer to earn that title in a major Western company. She gives talks around the world, inspiring young dancers to follow their artistic dreams.

15. Sylvia Mendez

At 8 years old, Sylvia Mendez was instrumental7 in a landmark 1946 desegregation case, which helped pave the way for the civil rights movement and future integration. Mendez v. Westminster challenged the policy that Latino students like Mendez, who was of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, couldn’t attend “whites-only schools” and had to go to so-called “Mexican schools.” Following the success of the case, Mendez became one of the first Latino children to attend a previously all-white school and grew up to become an acclaimed civil rights activist.

16. Bindi Irwin

Bindi Irwin carried on her father Steve Irwin8’s conservation legacy following his death in 2006. When she was 8 years old, she launched “Bindi the Jungle Girl” to encourage more kids to get interested in animals and wildlife conservation. She has continued to make TV appearances, published books and furthered her father’s causes.

下列女性在兒童或青少年时期就改变了世界。她们的成就,无论是促进女童教育、为有意义的事业募捐,还是参与民权游行,都令人瞩目且鼓舞人心。

1. 鲁比·布里吉斯

1960年,6岁的鲁比·布里吉斯成为新奥尔良州威廉弗朗茨小学的首名黑人学生。面对抗议和暴动,就读一年级的她不得不在联邦法警的陪同下走去学校。她由此成为民权运动的一个标志人物,激励了运动的发展。

2. 马拉拉·优素福

马拉拉·优素福是巴基斯坦的人权斗士,以积极推动女童教育而闻名。2012年,她年仅15岁时,一名塔利班枪手出于对她所做工作的报复,试图暗中枪杀她。17岁那年,她获得诺贝尔和平奖,成为最年轻的诺贝尔奖得主。

3. 安妮·弗兰克

安妮·弗兰克是生于德国的犹太人,在纳粹统治时期迁往荷兰居住。躲避盖世太保期间,她写下了一本日记,后经出版而闻名于世。弗兰克在全家被发现并逮捕后,于1945年死于伯根—贝尔森集中营,终年15岁。她的父亲奥托是唯一幸存的家庭成员,战后读到她的日记,深受感动并将日记出版。这本日记已被译成60多种语言。

4. 亚历山德拉·斯科特

亚历山德拉·斯科特在即将年满1周岁时被诊断患有一种儿科癌症——神经母细胞癌。年仅4岁时,她在家中前院搭起了第一个柠檬水小摊,为儿童癌症研究筹款。世界各地的人们为她的故事所鼓舞,纷纷搭起自己的柠檬水小摊,为她支持的事业募捐。2004年她去世之时,已经筹集了100万美元善款。她的家人通过“亚历克斯柠檬水小摊基金”继续完成她生前的愿望。

5. 克劳德特·科尔文

著名的罗莎·帕克斯被捕事件发生9个月前,15岁的克劳德特·科尔文在亚拉巴马州蒙哥马利的一辆公交上拒绝让座,以示对种族隔离的反抗。她遭到逮捕,1年后,成为布劳德诉盖尔案的初审原告之一,美国最高法院在该案中宣布亚拉巴马州和蒙哥马利市的公交隔离法违宪。

6. 芭娜·阿拉贝德

自2016年起,一个名叫芭娜·阿拉贝德的叙利亚女孩在被围困的阿勒颇城中发布了一系列令人心碎的推特,吸引了全世界的目光。阿拉贝德现已8岁,仍然在为叙利亚民众奔走,呼吁大家关注这个战火纷飞的国家。

7. 洁丝·詹宁斯

洁丝·詹宁斯年仅6岁时就在一期关于跨性别儿童的电视专题节目中接受了芭芭拉·沃尔特斯的采访。此后,她一直在向世界讲述跨性别者的人生。作为LGBTQ积极分子和优兔红人,她在TLC上开设了一档节目“我是洁丝”,并与人合著了一本同名儿童读物。她现已17岁,经常公开探讨跨性别群体所面临的问题。

8. 奥黛丽·法耶·亨德里克斯

1963年,9岁的奥黛丽·法耶·亨德里克斯和数千名儿童与青少年一起,参加了伯明翰的非暴力反种族隔离示威活动“儿童十字军”。作为数百名被捕学生中的一员,亨德里克斯由于积极参与活动,在监狱被关押了约1周。儿童十字军活动的影像突显了地方当局的暴力镇压,引起了世界各国民众的愤慨。

9. 卡普里·艾福利特

加拿大女孩卡普里·艾福利特11岁时开始为孤儿和弃儿筹集善款。她为此在家人的陪伴下前往80个国家,用该国语言演唱该国国歌。她将募捐所得都捐赠给了SOS儿童村。

10. 玛丽·雪莱

英格兰作家玛丽·雪莱年仅18岁时就写出了被许多人誉为科幻开山之作的《弗兰肯斯坦》,因此被称为“发明了科幻的少女”。

11. 尤思拉·马尔蒂尼

尤思拉·马尔蒂尼18岁时,作为里约热内卢奥运会难民代表队的一员创造了历史。前一年夏天,在逃离叙利亚前往希腊时,她乘坐的救生艇因超载开始下沉。她跳进爱琴海,帮助将小艇推到安全地带,拯救了难民同胞的生命。

12. 玛格丽特·E.奈特

12岁时,玛格丽特·奈特在棉纺厂目睹了一起机械纺织机造成的惨案。为防止其他纺织厂工人受伤,她发明了一种纺织机安全装置,后有多家棉纺厂采用。

13. 阿玛尼亚娜·科本尼

密歇根州弗林特市8岁的女孩阿玛尼亚娜·科本尼 (也被称为“玛尼”·科本尼)写了一封慷慨激昂的信给奥巴马总统,请求总统在她和同伴前往华盛顿参加水危机国会听证时与他们见面。奥巴马回信称,他会直接前往弗林特了解这一公共卫生危机的情况,并寻求对策。过去几年,“小弗林特女士”已经成为一位为所在社区谋求福利的著名活动家。奥巴马在两人的通信中写道:“正是像你这样的孩子写来的信,让我对未来充满信心。”

14. 谭元元

中国芭蕾舞演员谭元元十几岁时就开始代表国家参与国际赛事。17岁时,她成为旧金山芭蕾舞团历史上最年轻的领舞,也是在西方大型舞团获此殊荣的首位中国舞者。她在世界各地演讲,激励年轻的舞蹈演员追寻自己的艺术梦想。

15. 西尔维娅·门德斯

8岁的西爾维娅·门德斯是1946年一桩消除种族歧视案件的关键人物,这一标志性案件为民权运动和此后的种族融合奠定了基础。当时的政策不允许墨西哥和波多黎各血统的门德斯以及像她一样的拉丁裔学生进入“白人学校”学习,而必须去所谓的“墨西哥学校”上学。门德斯诉威斯敏斯特学区案对这一政策提出了质疑。门德斯胜诉后,成为一所前白人学校的首批拉丁裔学生之一,并最终成长为受人爱戴的民权活动家。

16. 宾蒂·欧文

在父亲史蒂夫·欧文2006年去世后,宾蒂·欧文继承了父亲保护自然资源的遗志。她8岁时推出了电视系列节目“丛林女孩宾蒂”,鼓励更多儿童关注动物和野生动物保护。今天,她仍在参与电视节目、出版图书并延续父亲的事业。

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