Title: 最后的皇后 ——蒋介石夫人与现代中国的诞生 THE LAST EMPRESS: Madame Chiang Kai-shek and the Birth of Modern China
作者：海纳·帕库拉（Hannah Pakula）
出版商：Simon & Schuster
目的
通过读英文传记走近宋美龄等名媛的人生；
思考怎样活才能活出自己想要的方式。
课程语言点
[ 05'48" ] MIA: missing in action （绯闻，在聚会上和一名美国政客一起失踪共度一夜）
[ 06'20" ] Around four in the morning, a very buoyant (有精力的) Willkie came back, cocky as a young college student after a successful night with a girl，giving a play by play account (极其细致的讲述) of what had happened between him and the Madame.
[ 08'37" ] When Charlie let it be known that his eldest daughter was going to America to school, the Shanghai community was shocked. （卫斯理女校）
How could a father be so foolish as to waste the money he would need to marry his daughter off in educating her? （用置办嫁妆的钱来做教育）
Not only was Charlie Soong endangering what would have been a handsome dowry, but no man in his right mind would want to take on a wife whose head had been filled with progressive ideas from the West.
Ignoring the criticism, Charlie gave his eldest daughter a goodbye party and entrusted (委托) her to his old pal William Burke for the long journey to the United States.
[ 10'19" ] The only thing *oriental (东方的) about me is my face.（宋美龄）
[ 10'36" ] *Occidental (西方的)
[ 11'22" ] I have complete control over the boys, as mother is so disgusted that she handed them over to my bodily. They are hard to manage because they are deucedly (非常地) clever and lazy the same time. （clever vs. smart 前者带点狡猾）
I have whipped (鞭打) the younger one several times, and they both are afraid of me.
You don’t know what a good disciplinarian I can be.（控制欲）
[ 12'47" ] John Carter Vincent, who served in the U.S. Embassy, disliked Madame, "I feel, and others confirm my feeling," he wrote, "that . . . she is a *hard, shallow (肤浅的), and selfish woman — she certainly looks it, but she can *turn on the charm to melt the heart of the most hard boiled foreigner . . . not so with her own countrymen. "
（hard 铁石心肠的人，举例希拉里，表现高贵又好权利，能够控制自己的魅力，融化外国人的心，却不受国人欢迎）
[ 14'15” ] Initially impressed by the Chiang’s rather modest home, (the journalist) told Madame Chiang that she had a opportunity to be a modern day Joan of Arc (圣女贞德), providing she take off those rubies and those emeralds (宝石与翡翠，代指奢侈的生活) and get out in the field.
You’ve got to take off the silk and put on padded clothes (棉衣), that’s the only way you’re going to save China.
（建议朴素地走近广大人民）
[ 15'29" ] Madame’s response? She got up from her chair and walked to the door of the room, "Mr. Round," she said a la (以……样的口气) Marie Antoinette, "will you have another piece of cake?"
[ 16'45" ] If they don’t have pasta (面团), let them eat cake.
（引用路易十六的皇后玛丽安东脱奈特的话，形容其脱离群众）
[ 17'12" ] On New Year’s Eve the couple took a walk in the mountains of Fukien, where they found a tree of white plum blossoms in full flower — a good women, since the five petals of the winter plum (腊梅) stand for joy, good luck, longevity (长寿), prosperity, and peace.
[ 17'46" ] "He carefully plucked a few branches," May-ling wrote in a letter to her professors at Wellesley, "and when we returned home and lit the evening candles, he presented them to me in a little bamboo basket. A real New Year gift! I think from this perhaps you will understand why I am so willing to share life with him. He has the courage of a soldier and the sensitiveness of a poet! "（赞赏蒋战士般的勇气和诗人般的敏感）
[ 19’40” ] Madame was concerned about Taiwan’s relationship with the United States, since mainland China now was in the United Nations and Japan had just cut diplomatic ties with (断交) the island.
She invited the ambassador for dinner and had Chiang placed in his chair to greet McConaughy. Although he wheezed (喘息) and gasped for air, May-ling smoothed things over (把事情安排得妥妥当当), performing her usual job of interpretation during the visit. （她以往做的翻译工作）
Meanwhile, the doctors, who had warned her against removing the G-mo’s heart monitor for too long, waited anxiously with oxygen behind the dining room doors.（一门之隔，体现出不惜生命危险“抱美国大腿”）
[ 22'41" ] Most of the time she applied her eyebrow darkener and lipstick higher or lower than where it belonged. Her foundation (粉底) would be thick on one side and thin on the other. If she stayed home, we would turn a blind eye to (对……视而不见) these flaws. When she had an appointment, guests, or party, she would always ask us, "Is my make-up okay?" and we would deal with what was wrong. For grand parties, we did her make-up ourselves.（移居美国纽约后的生活深居简出）
[ 24'08" ] When she was seeing close relations, she rarely put on make-up, although she wore it when Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Wei-kuo, or her grandchildren visited. （和自己儿子的关系都没有和自己娘家人好）
Her skin remained in good condition, her cheekbones (颧骨) were high, and there were no freckles on her face. Fashion-wise, she was out of date, as she spent most of her time in the residence. She knew this and always asked Mrs. Xiao, a friend of Jeanette Kung, or Madame Chiang Wei-kuo about what was in vogue (时尚).
[ 26'35" ] She would doubtless have objected to such inappropriate behavior in a house of worship, but she would have loved it.（葬礼在教堂举行，盛大到违背基督徒的低调，但是很符合宋美龄的喜好，想成为众人眼光的中心）
总结
有文化的女性自己就是大佬，内心坚强，敢于对时代的苦难发起挑战。