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and Congressman Lehman promised to introduce me to him before the summer ended.
萊曼議員承諾在暑假結束前介紹我認識奧尼爾。
Then, on the very last day of the session, he made good on his promise.
直到暑假的最后一天，他終于兌現了自己的諾言。
In the hall outside the House floor, he pulled me over to meet Speaker O'Neill.
在國會大廳里，他帶我去見奧尼爾。
I was nervous, but Congressman Lehman put me at ease by introducing me in the nicest way possible,
我很緊張，但萊曼介紹我的方式非常貼心，讓我心情放松了很多。
telling the Speaker that I had worked hard all summer.
他告訴奧尼爾，整個暑假我都工作得非常努力。
The Speaker looked at me, then reached over and patted my head.
奧尼爾看著我，拍拍我的頭，
He turned to the congressman and remarked, "She's pretty."
又轉身對萊曼說道：“她很漂亮。”
Then he turned his attention back to me and asked just one question: "Are you a pom-pom girl?"
隨后看著我，只問了一個問題：“你在啦啦隊吧？”
I was crushed. Looking back, I know his words were intended to flatter me, but in the moment, I felt belittled.
我頓時呆住了。現在回想起來，我明白他說這話是想稱贊我，但就在那一刻，我感到自己被輕視了。
I wanted to be recognized for the work I had done. I reacted defensively. "No," I replied. "I study too much for that."
我希望自己的工作得到認可，于是辯解道：“不是，我學這么多可不是為了做這個。”
Then a wave of terror struck me for speaking up to the man who was third in line for the presidency.
然后我突然感到一陣恐懼，畢竟對面站著的是有望成為總統的第三號人選。
But no one seemed to register my curt and not-at-all clever response.
但似乎沒人注意到我魯莽笨拙的回答，
The Speaker just patted me on the head — again! — and moved along. My congressman beamed.
奧尼爾只是拍了拍我的頭——又拍！然后走開了，萊曼則在一旁滿臉堆笑。
Even to my teenage self, this sexism seemed retro.
即使在當時還很年輕的我看來，這種性別歧視也已經很老套了。
