2 Chapter 1 A Perfect Boy

Chapter 1 A Perfect Boy On January 15, 1929, a baby boy was born in the city of Atlanta, Georgia. The doctors said he was perfect. His parents were so happy. They named him Michael, the same name that his father had. But when little Michael was five, his father decided to change both of their names to Martin. So now, the little boy became Martin Luther King, Jr.

1929年1月15日，一个男婴在乔治亚州的亚特兰大市出生。 医生说他很完美。 他的父母非常高兴。 他们给他起名叫迈克尔，和他父亲的名字一样。 但是当小迈克尔五岁的时候，他的父亲决定把他们的名字都改成马丁。 于是，这个小男孩成了小马丁·路德·金。

Young Martin had a very happy home life. He had an older sister named Willie Christine. (Everyone called her Chris.) He also had a younger brother named Alfred Daniel. The Kings lived in a large house on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta. Their neighborhood was comfortable. No one was very poor or very rich.

年轻的马丁有着非常幸福的家庭生活。 他有一个姐姐叫威利·克里斯汀。 (大家都叫她克里斯。)他还有一个弟弟叫阿尔弗雷德·丹尼尔。 金一家住在亚特兰大奥本大街的一所大房子里。 他们的邻居很舒适。 没有人很穷也没有人很富有。

There was a lot of love in Martin's family. Martin never remembered his parents arguing. Martin's mother, Alberta Williams King, was very soft-spoken and easygoing. Her father was a wellknown minister. After high school, she went to college, which was something that not many black women did back then. Alberta had a warm personality, and Martin always found it very easy to talk to her.

马丁的家庭充满了爱。 马丁从不记得父母吵过架。 马丁的母亲阿尔伯塔·威廉姆斯·金(Alberta Williams King)说话很温和，很随和。 她父亲是一位有名的牧师。 高中毕业后，她上了大学，那时候很多黑人女性都没有上过大学。 阿尔伯塔性格热情，马丁总是觉得和她交谈很容易。

Martin's father, Martin, Sr., was a large man in many ways. He weighed about 220 pounds and was filled with self-confidence. Martin, Jr., admired his father very much. His father's family was very poor and lived in a rundown shack. They were sharecroppers. A sharecropper is a farmer who does not own his own land. Instead, he works on another farmer's land and gets some of the crops for himself. Martin's father worked hard to get his high-school and college diplomas. After college, he became a minister of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

马丁的父亲老马丁在很多方面都是个大个子。 他重约220磅，充满自信。 小马丁非常崇拜他的父亲。 他父亲家很穷，住在一间破旧的棚屋里。 他们是佃农。佃农是指不拥有自己土地的农民。 相反，他在另一个农民的土地上工作，并为自己获得一些作物。 马丁的父亲努力学习以获得他的高中和大学文凭。 大学毕业后，他成为亚特兰大埃比尼泽浸信会的牧师。

The Ebenezer Baptist Church was like a second home to Martin. He sang in the church choir. He went to Sunday school and made many friends. It was there that Martin learned to get along with all kinds of people—kids as well as teachers.

埃比尼泽浸信会教堂就像是马丁的第二个家。 他在教堂唱诗班唱歌。 他去了主日学校，交了很多朋友。 正是在那里，马丁学会了与各种各样的人——孩子们和老师——相处。