囚犯·學者英語美文

The Birdman of Alcatraz

By Milada Broukal & Janet Milhomme

The story of Robert Stroud has been written many different ways. Some say he was a troubled boy from broken home who accidentally killed someone. Others say he was a cold, vicious man, a murderer who should have been executed. Others fall somewhere in the middle. All of them agree on one thing, though. Robert Stroud is one of the most famous American criminals of all time.

Robert Stroud was 19 when he killed a man in a dispute over a dancehall girl in Juneau, Alaska. He was sentenced to 12 years at McNeil Island Prison in Washington state. Prison life was hard. After two years there, Robert Stroud stabbed a fellow prisoner who had told the authorities Stroud was stealing food from the kitchen. Six months were added to his sentence. In 1912 he was transferred to Leavenworth Prison in Kansas.

Robert Stroud had received only a third-grade education. Some people thought he was a stupid, including his cell mate who was taking some correspondence courses. Stroud decided he would like to do the same. Within three years he had received diplomas from Kansas State University in engineering , music mathematics, and theology. Stroud was now prepared for his release in the near future.

In March 1916,shortly before he was to be freed, Stroud killed one of the guards. He had been very angry over not being able to see his brother, who had come all the way from Kansas to visit him. He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to hang. Stroud’s mother would not accept this. She petitioned President Woodrow Wilson and his wife. She impressed them with descriptions of her son’s studies. Just eight days before he was to hang, Stroud’s sentence was changed to life in solitary confinement.

One day Stroud found two baby birds in the exercise yard at Leavenworth. He raised them with the help of birds books. From that point on, his interest in ornithology became a passion. He bought some canaries, did experiments in canary diseases, and studied and wrote about his findings. After a while, prison officials tore down the wall between Stroud’s cell and another empty cell to make more room for Stroud’s canaries. He obtained laboratory equipment and studied chemistry, veterinary medicine, and bacteriology.

By 1931 Stroud was an expert on the care and raising of canaries. He corresponded with other bird lovers all over the world. He wrote some articles that were smuggled out of prison and published. In 1942 he published a book called Stroud’s Digest of the Diseases of Birds. It was considered the best work in the field. Meanwhile, Stroud’s work was making him very well known. Too well known. People began to ask for Stroud’s release. This angered some prison officials.

In 1942 Stroud was transferred to Alcatraz. He was ordered to leave al his birds, his books, and other personal property behind. That personal property had amounted to quite a lot. It weighed 1144 pounds and filled five containers. It included, among other things, 30 empty birdcages, 158 bottles, cans, boxes and beakers of chemicals, and laboratory equipment there were about 250 bird magazines, over 20 books. There were 85 pounds of various seeds, 118 feeding dishes, and 22 birds. In prison on a rocky island in San Francisco Bay, Stroud was deprived of all of this.

He returned then to the study of law and wrote an unpublished book on federal prison reform. He became known as the “The Birdman of Alcatraz.” He was the subject of newspaper and magazines articles, a book, and a movie.

The “Birdman” was kept in isolation for 42 years, longer than any federal prisoner in history. In 1959, in poor health but still seeking parole, he was transferred to the Federal Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri, where he died four years later. He had spent 56 years in prison.

Alcatraz： 1934—1965年間為美國聯邦監獄，位於一個小島上。

Vicious：邪惡的，道德敗壞的`。

fall in the middle：取中間立場。

stab：(用刀等)捅某人、某物。

Transfer：轉移，中轉，調動。

correspondence courses：函授課程。

Diploma：畢業證書，畢業文憑。

Theology：神學。

Petition：祈求，請求。

Woodrow Wilson ：威爾遜，美國第28任總統，曾獲諾貝爾和平獎。

Description：描述，敍述，形容。

solitary confinement：單獨監禁。

Ornithology：鳥類學。

Passion：酷愛，熱愛。

Canary：金絲雀，加納利雀。

tear down ：拆除。

veterinary： 動物疾病的，獸醫的。

Bacteriology：細菌學。

Smuggle：違規攜帶，偷運。

Digest：摘要，概要。

personal property ：私人財產。

amount to ：達到，等於。

Beaker：燒杯。

deprive of ：剝奪。

Parole：假釋