James Cleveland Owens was the son of a farmer and the grandson of black slaves(奴隶). His family moved to Cleveland when he was 9. There, a school teacher asked the youth his name. “J.C.,” he replied. She thought he had said “Jesse”, and he had a new name. Owens ran his first race at the age of 13. After high school, he went to Ohio State University. He had to work part time in order to pay for his education. As a second year student, in the Big Ten games in 1935, he set even more records than he would in the Olympic Games a year later. A week before the Big Ten games, Owens fell down when he went downstairs. His back hurt so much that he could not exercise all week, and he was helped in and out of the car that drove him to the games. He refused to listen to the suggestions that he should give up and said he would try, event by event. He did try, and the results are in the record book. The stage was set for Owens’ success at the Olympic Games in Berlin(柏林) the next year, and his success would come to be considered as not only athletic but also political(政治的). Hitler(希特勒) did not give congratulations to any of the black American winners. “It was all right with me,” he said years later. “I didn’t go to Berlin to shake hands with him, anyway.” After returning from Berlin, he received no telephone calls from the president of his own country, either. In fact, he was not honored by the United States until 1976, four years before his death. Owens’ Olympic success made little difference to him. He earned his living by looking after a school playground, and racing against cars and dogs. “Sure, it worried me,” he said later. “But at least it was an honest living. I had to eat.” In the end, however, his gold medals changed his life. “They have kept me alive over the years,” he once said. “Time has stood still for me. That golden moment dies hard.” 小题1:In the Big Ten games, Owens .
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