Ex-girlfriends of President Barack Obama have spoken for the first time of his "sexual warmth" and disclosed the contents of love letters that he sent during his 20s, in a new biography.
Genevieve Cook and Alex McNear, who had relationships with Mr Obama in New York in the early 1980s, gave previously unseen material on Mr Obama to David Maraniss, a Pulitzer prize-winning author.
Letters Mr Obama sent to Ms McNear and journal entries by Ms Cook depict a serious and earnest young man struggling to come to terms with his racial identity and place in modern American society.
In one diary entry from February 1984, Ms Cook – a girlfriend for more than a year – noted that in their relationship "the sexual warmth is definitely there – but the rest of it has sharp edges".
She recalled "feeling anger" at Mr Obama, whose "warmth can be deceptive".
Foreshadowing a criticism often levelled at him today, she said: "Though he speaks sweet words there is also that coolness".
Ms Cook remembered meeting "Barry" at a Christmas party in 1983. After drinking Bailey's Irish Cream from the bottle, she chatted with him on an orange beanbag, before exchanging telephone numbers.
Her journal recalls a 22-year-old man in "a comfy T-shirt depicting buxom women", marked by the smells of "running sweat, Brut spray deodorant, smoking, eating raisins, sleeping, breathing".
Ms Cook “engaged [Mr Obama] in the deepest romantic relationship of his young life,” Maraniss writes, but they separated in 1985. Reflecting on the “emotional scarring” that made him hard to get close to, she wrote at the time: “I guess I hoped time would change things, and he’d let go and 'fall in love’ with me”.
Her journal entries described a long effort to understand Mr Obama that eventually failed when they broke up.
“How is he so old already, at the age of 22?” she wrote. “I have to recognise (despite play of wry and mocking smile on lips) that I find his thereness very threatening.”
In another entry, she wrote: “Barack — still intrigues me, but so much going on beneath the surface, out of reach. Guarded, controlled.” She said she thought he was “balancing the tendency to be always the observer” with “how to effect change.” The two broke up in 1985.
奥巴马总统的前女友们首次谈及奥巴马的“性爱热度”,并在一本新传记中透露了奥巴马二十几岁时写的情书的内容。
吉纳维芙•库克和艾利克斯•麦克尼尔曾于20世纪80年代早期在纽约与奥巴马有过恋情,她们将此前未公开的关于奥巴马的资料交给了普利策奖获得者戴维•马兰尼斯。
奥巴马写给麦克尼尔的情书和库克写的日记描述了一个认真诚挚的年轻人,努力适应自己的种族身份和在现代美国社会中的位置。
在一篇1984年2月的日记中,库克——她和奥巴马交往了一年多——写道,他们的交往中“确定无疑地有性爱热情,然而除此之外则处处是棱角”。
她回忆说,对奥巴马“感到愤怒”,觉得他的“热情可能是装出来的”。
她写道:“尽管他会讲甜言蜜语,但依然可以感觉到他的冷漠。”这段带有预兆性的评论也是奥巴马现在经常受到的批评之一。
库克回忆道,她是1983年在一个圣诞节聚会上遇到“巴里”(奥巴马昵称)的。在喝下瓶中的百利爱尔兰奶油酒后,她坐在一个桔红色的豆袋椅上和他聊天,之后就互相交换了电话号码。
她的日志中写道,当时这位22岁的年轻人“穿着一件舒适的T恤,就像个体态丰满的妇女”,身上散发出“汗液、Brut牌除臭喷雾、抽烟、吃葡萄干、睡觉、呼吸”的味道。
马兰尼斯写道,库克女士“曾让奥巴马陷入青年时期最深刻的恋情中”,但他俩于1985年分手。当时在反思让她难以亲近奥巴马的“感情致命伤”时,她写道:“我想我那时是希望时间会改变一些事情,他会放开心结,与我‘坠入爱河’。”
她的日记描述自己花了很长时间努力去理解奥巴马,但最终两人还是分手了,她所做的努力也归于失败。
她写道:“他才22岁,怎么就已然如此老成呢?我看见他的嘴角时不时会浮现出一丝嘲弄的苦笑,这让我发觉他的心总是在别处,这个问题很严重。”
在另一篇日记中,她写道:“贝拉克依然让我着迷,但他的表面下隐藏着太多无法触及的东西。极其谨慎和克制。”她在日记中说,她以为他是在平衡“观察者的倾向”和“如何做出改变” 之间的关系。两人于1985年分手。
浪漫英文情书精选:My Everything我的一切
精选英语美文阅读:无雨的梅雨天 (双语)
浪漫英文情书精选:My Love Will Reach Any Distance爱无边
浪漫英文情书精选:Good Morning早上好
双语美文欣赏:孤独人生
精选英语散文欣赏:一棵小苹果树
双语美文:What are you still waiting for?
精选英语美文阅读:你见或者不见我(中英对照)
精选英语美文阅读:饶孟侃《呼唤》
浪漫英文情书精选:Don't Give Up不要放弃
如果生命可以重来(双语)
浪漫英文情书精选:Need You With Me需要你爱我
精选英语美文阅读:一封未发出的英文情书《但是你没有》
态度决定一切 Attitude Is Everything
精选英语美文阅读:假如生活欺骗了你
生命可以是一座玫瑰花园
精选英语美文阅读:被忽略的爱 Helpless love
英语美文:Keep on Singing
伤感美文:人生若只如初见
精选英语美文阅读:A Friend's Prayer 朋友的祈祷
双语阅读:回家的感觉真好
美文:爱的奇迹
爱情英语十句
精选英语散文欣赏:平等的爱
浪漫英文情书精选:True Love Of My Life我的真爱
美文阅读:青春物语
浪漫英文情书精选:Could This Be Real?这是真的吗?
精美散文:爱你所做 做你所爱
最美的英文情诗:请允许我成为你的夏季
精选英语散文欣赏:微笑挽救生命
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |