6 Chapter 2 School Days

Chapter 2 School Days Martin Luther King, Jr., was always a very good student. He loved to read and make speeches. He studied very hard and skipped two grades. At just fifteen years old, he graduated from high school. That summer, Martin worked in Simsbury, Connecticut. It was Martin's first time in the North. He had a job in the tobacco fields. He was surprised to see how different life was for blacks in the North. Black and white children went to the same schools. There were no separate restaurants. Martin dreamed that this could happen in the South, too. If only there was some way he could make this dream come true.

第二章学生时代小马丁·路德·金一直是个好学生。 他喜欢读书和演讲。 他学习很努力，跳了两级。 15岁时，他从高中毕业。 那年夏天，马丁在康涅狄格州的辛姆斯伯里工作。 这是马丁第一次到北方。 他在烟草地里有一份工作。 他惊讶地看到，北方黑人的生活是如此不同。 黑人和白人孩子上同一所学校。 没有独立的餐厅。 马丁梦想着这种情况也会发生在南方。 要是有什么办法能让他的梦想成真就好了。

Martin returned to Atlanta to attend Morehouse College. This was the same college that his father had attended. All the students at the school were black. All the teachers were black, too. At first, Martin wasn't sure what he wanted to study. He knew that he wanted to spend his life helping black people. But what was the best way to do that? Perhaps he would follow in his father's footsteps and become a minister. Or maybe he would become a lawyer.

马丁回到亚特兰大，进入莫尔豪斯学院学习。 这就是他父亲上过的那所大学。 学校里所有的学生都是黑人。 所有的老师也是黑人。 起初，马丁不确定自己想学什么。 他知道他想用一生来帮助黑人。 但最好的方法是什么呢? 也许他会步他父亲的后尘，成为一名牧师。 或者他会成为一名律师。

In college, Martin Luther King, Jr., read an essay by a man named Henry David Thoreau. The essay was written in 1849. In this essay, Thoreau said that people have the right to disobey unjust laws. In Thoreau's time, the United States still allowed slavery. Thoreau wanted to protest slavery. He felt the government was wrong to allow it. So he refused to pay his taxes. As a result, he was thrown in jail. But Thoreau did not mind being in jail. He was making a point. Martin

在大学里，马丁·路德·金读过一个叫亨利·大卫·梭罗的人写的一篇文章。 这篇文章写于1849年。 在这篇文章中，梭罗说人们有权不服从不公正的法律。 在梭罗的时代，美国仍然允许奴隶制。 梭罗想要抗议奴隶制。 他觉得政府允许这样做是不对的。 所以他拒绝纳税。 结果，他被关进了监狱。 但是梭罗并不介意进监狱。 他是在表达一个观点。马丁

liked the way Thoreau thought. He also liked that Thoreau protested in a peaceful way. Two of Martin's favorite college teachers were ministers. Because of them, he decided to become a minister as well. As a minister, Martin could speak out against segregation. He could show his people how much he cared. When Martin Luther King, Jr., was only seventeen, he gave a sermon at his father's church.

我喜欢梭罗的思维方式。 他还喜欢梭罗以和平的方式抗议。 马丁最喜欢的两位大学老师都是牧师。 因为他们，他也决定成为一名牧师。 作为牧师，马丁可以公开反对种族隔离。 他可以向他的人民表明他有多在乎。 当马丁·路德·金只有17岁的时候，他在他父亲的教堂里布道。

He wasn't a minister yet, but the sermon was heartfelt and inspiring. His words not only touched the members of the congregation, but his father as well. The very next year, Martin became a minister and also an assistant in his father's church.

他当时还不是牧师，但那次布道是发自内心的，鼓舞人心的。 他的话不仅感动了会众，也感动了他的父亲。 就在第二年，马丁成为了他父亲所在教堂的牧师兼助理。

In 1948, Martin graduated from college. He was nineteen. Martin's father wanted him to stay at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. But Martin wanted to continue his education. In September, he entered

1948年，马丁大学毕业。 他十九岁。马丁的父亲希望他留在埃比尼泽浸信会教堂。 但马丁想继续他的学业。 9月，他参加了比赛