She was born to wealth and power in an era when money and politics were left to the men. Later, as The Washington Post’s publisher, Katharine Graham became one of America’s most powerful women.
Despite a privileged background, Katharine had to deal, while growing up, with the high demands her mother placed on her children. Katharine’s love of journalism, which she shared with her father, led to her career after college at The Washington Post, the newspaper her father bought in 1933. At the Post, Katharine met Phil Graham, a young, charming lawyer who became her husband. When, in 1945, Katharine’s father chose Phil over her to take over his struggling paper, Katharine didn’t object and stayed at home as a wife and mother of four.
While Phil’s successful efforts to restore the Post to prominence (显著) made the Grahams popular members of the Washington social scene, Katharine privately suffered tremendous pain from her husband’s increasingly abusive behavior and wild mood swings caused by severe depression. When Phil committed suicide (自杀), the 46-year-old Katharine found herself thrown into a new job, that of newspaper publisher. But determined to save the family paper for her children, Katharine rose to the challenge of running the Post, attending meetings in every department, working endlessly to prove herself to her critics, and becoming the toast of Washington.
In 1971, Katharine ordered the Post to print a copy of the Pentagon Papers, the top-secret documents disclosing the truth about the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. What’s more, he
r courageous decision and support for her journalists prep
ared the Post to break the most important political story in modern history: Watergate, one of the greatest scandals (丑闻) in American political history. Katharine managed to keep control over the most chaotic (disorder) of situations when it was reported, all the time insisting the news stories be accurate and fair. Watergate made the Washington Post an internationally known Paper and Katharine was considered as the most powerful woman in America.
小题1:
Katharine Graham was born in a time when women were not ________.
A．given the chance to receive education
B．considered as intelligent as men
C．permitted to achieve their goals
D．allowed to enter every field小题2:
When her husband was chosen to take charge of the newspaper, Katharine Graham ________.
A．was strongly against the idea
B．was not happy to be rejected
C．was willing to take her share of responsibility
D．didn’t believe her husband would do a good job小题3:
Which of the following statements is true?
A．It was Katharine Graham’s husband who made the greatest contributions to the Post.
B．When Katharine Graham first took over the Post, her critics dou
bted her ability.
C．Katharine Graham was successful in her career but suffered severe depression.
D．Katharine Graham was free to do whatever she liked in her early life.小题4:
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A．Ups and downs of The Washington Post.
B．Katharine Graham’s family life and career.
C．Katharine Graham: from housewife to successful publisher.
D．Katharine Graham: a woman who shaped American journalism.
