The Kennedy family occupies, for the moment, a place of equilibrium and purity. It is no longer at the center of a roiling drama of power and striving. Its younger members, including the nieces and nephews among them who have tried for and sometimes achieved elected office, have settled quietly into lives of service; they are not, for the moment, a threat to anybody else’s ambitions.
The violent deaths of John and Robert, murders most foul and horrifying, tore the nation’s heart as painfully as did the death of Abraham Lincoln, and the historical consequences of their deaths were arguably as baleful. Now the last brother, the only one to survive beyond the youthful cusp of maturity, is dying, too. Teddy was the youngest and the slowest, the one who relied the most abjectly on family connections for his advancement and who, at Chappaquidick in 1969 and then with his doomed and damaging campaign for President in 1980, seemed destined to do the most to squander and tarnish the family legacy. Yet in the twenty-eight years since then he has gradually constructed a life of large and consistent accomplishment that has earned him a stature that, in its way, is as impressive as his brothers’.
His appearance at the convention last night was a surprise, at least to me. (I imagine the TV audience knew all about it.) A greater surprise was the strength of his voice and his message. This was no feeble invalid. Kennedy’s energy was fully a match for that of the vast crowd. That he and his niece Caroline, who introduced him with great affection and respect, were there less to celebrate themselves and their past than to accelerate a future represented by Barack Obama, whom they plainly see as the inheritor of what they represent, kept the moment from becoming maudlin. The tears that streaked so many faces came from everywhere tears can come from: from joy and grief, from pride and sorrow, from love and hope, from a simple upwelling of mingled emotions. The lion roared one last time, and we were all his cubs.
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译文:
雄狮-----[纽约客]
肯尼迪家族目前正掌控着一个和谐而纯洁的领域。不久它将成为那出充斥着权力与欲望的争夺的闹剧的主角。这个家族年轻的一代，包括侄子侄女的这一辈人，都努力挤入权利中心，在不经意间建立起了一个全新的政府。不过现阶段，他们还没有对其他野心勃勃的人构成威胁。
谋杀者残忍的杀害了约翰和罗伯特，他们以最卑劣和残忍的手段揉虐着这个国家的心脏。一如当年阿伯罕穆·林肯的死亡，他们的逝世也带来了深远而致命的影响。现在，年轻一代中硕果仅存的一位领袖人物也步入了死亡的阴影。泰迪，这位最年轻也是最慢热的领袖，曾经完全是依靠家族的力量一步步的获得提升。1969年在查帕奎迪克岛的所作所为，以及1980年那场注定失败的总统竞选活动使他成为践踏这个家族声誉的罪人。但是，在那之后的28年中，他不懈的努力，终于获得了诸多巨大的成就，以他自己的方式获得了不输于其弟兄的声望。
昨天晚上，他在议会的亮相震撼了所有的人，至少震撼了我（相信电视机前的观众都能体会这种心情）。尤其是他坚定的嗓音和演讲词中传达出的坚强令人影响深刻，没有一丁点的虚弱和无助，显示了其主人旺盛不竭的精力。当晚，他的侄女卡洛琳怀着敬爱之情将他引入会场。他们两人出席此次会议并非为了炫耀自己的过去，而是为了尽快使巴拉克·奥巴马执政。作为下一任的继承人，奥巴马让现场的气氛变得很是伤感。很多人泪流满面：这里面有欢喜的泪水也有悲伤的泪水，有自豪的泪水也有懊悔的泪水，有爱的泪水也有希望的泪水，当然还有各种感情混杂在一起而流下的泪水。我们作为晚辈，聆听着这头雄狮最后一次的咆哮。
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