Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.

Monday, January fifteenth, is Martin Luther King Junior Day in the United States. It celebrates the life and work of the great American civil rights leader.

Martin Luther King Junior was born on January fifteenth, nineteen twenty-nine in the southern city of Atlanta, Georgia. His father was a minister of a Christian Baptist Church.

At that time, laws in the American south kept black people separate from white people. The laws forced African-Americans to attend separate schools and live in separate areas of cities. They did not have the same civil rights as white people.

Marin Luther King Junior attended Morehouse College in Atlanta. There he studied the ideas of India’s spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi. He also studied American philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Both Gandhi and Thoreau wrote about ways to fight injustice. They urged people to disobey unjust laws, but not to use violence.

Martin Luther King Junior wanted to spread these ideas about peaceful protest. He became a Baptist minister like his father.

He and his wife Coretta moved to Montgomery, Alabama. One day in nineteen fifty-five, a black woman got on a city bus in Montgomery. Rosa Parks sat in a seat saved for white people. She refused to move and was arrested.

Reverend King organized a peaceful protest against the city buy system. The protest succeeded. The United States Supreme Court later ruled that racial separation on the bus system was illegal. Martin Luther King Junior became well known. Groups formed to protest racial separation. He became the leader of the struggle.

Reverend King led many peaceful demonstrations. These included the nineteen sixty-three March on Washington, D.C. He gave his famous “I have a Dream” speece to two hundred thousand people. Reverend King received the Nobel Peace Prize in nineteen-sixty. He was shot and killed four years later while visiting Memphis, Tennessee.

Each year, Americans celebrate Martin Luther King Junior’s life and work on the Monday closest to his birthday. Schools and government offices are closed. Cities and towns hold special ceremonies to honor him.    (345 words)

 

                       纪念马丁.路德.金

    星期一,一月十五号,是美国纪念马丁.路德.金日.这一天用来歌颂这位伟大的美国民权运动领袖的一生和他的事业.

    马丁.路德.金于1929年1月15日出生佐治亚州的亚特兰大.美国南部的一个城市.他的父亲是基督教浸礼会的一位牧师.

    当时,美国南部的法律将黑人与白人隔离开来.法律强迫非洲裔美国人上不同的学校,居住在城市的隔离区域.他们不能和白人享有同样的权利.

    马丁.路德.金在亚特兰大的莫尔浩司学院就读.在那里他学习了印度精神领袖圣雄甘地的思想.他也吸纳了美国哲学家亨利.大卫.梭罗的理念.甘地和梭罗都在作品中讲到了反抗不公的方法.他们呼吁人们抵制不公正的法律.但是不使用暴力.

马丁.路德.金想要传播这些和平抗议的思想.他和他父亲一样成为了一位浸礼会的牧师.

他的妻子科雷塔搬到了阿拉巴马州的蒙哥马利.1955年的一天,一位黑人妇女罗萨.帕克斯乘上了一辆蒙哥马利市的公交车.她坐在了一个为白人留的座位上.她拒绝离开这个座位,因此被抓了起来.

金牧师组织了针对城市公交系统的和平抗议.这次抗议胜利了.美国最高法院后来判决公交系统的种族隔离是违法的.马丁.路德.金成了名.反抗种族隔离的组织建立起来了,马丁.路德.金成为了反抗斗争的领袖.

金牧师领导了许多次和平示威,包括1963年3月华盛顿的大集会.面对20万示威群众,他做了著名的演讲[[我有一个梦想]].金牧师获得了1964年度的诺贝尔和平奖.四年后他访问田纳西州的孟菲斯市时遭遇刺客枪击,不幸遇难.

每年,美国人民在最接近马丁.路德.金生日的那个星期一纪念他的一生和事业.学校放假,政府,修习.各个城镇分别举办特别仪式纪念他.