[ti:Vice President Kamala Harris Brings Historic Change to US Politics] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Kamala Harris has become the first female Vice President in American history. [00:08.48]The former senator from California took the oath of office Wednesday. [00:15.60]President Joe Biden was sworn in minutes later. [00:20.92]Harris not only became the first female vice president in the nation's history. [00:28.36]She is also the first Black person and the first Asian American to hold the office. [00:37.72]After taking the oath, the 56-year-old Harris hugged her husband, [00:44.00]Douglas Emhoff, and then gave Biden a fist bump. [00:50.16]She is taking over as vice president just four years [00:55.08]after coming to Washington as a senator from California. [01:01.04]Harris used two Bibles to take the oath of office. [01:06.88]One belonged to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, [01:11.88]the late civil rights leader whom Harris has often said inspired her. [01:19.00]The other belonged to Regina Shelton, who helped raise Harris [01:24.72]during her childhood in the San Francisco area. [01:29.72]Harris entered the race for president in 2019 [01:34.88]along with Biden and others, but later ended her campaign. [01:40.96]Biden chose her as his vice presidential candidate. [01:47.12]Supporters say Harris' path is especially meaningful [01:52.60]because she takes office at a time of deep reflection [01:57.72]for Americans about their past and future. [02:02.84]Demonstrations across the country aimed at directing attention [02:08.24]to racial injustice and police violence marked 2020. [02:15.56]The United States also is dealing with the coronavirus health crisis. [02:22.80]Experts say the pandemic has affected Black [02:26.80]and minority communities more than others. [02:32.16]Lateefah Simon is a civil rights activist and longtime friend of Harris. [02:40.32]"In many folks' lifetimes, we experienced a segregated United States," [02:47.08]she told The Associated Press. [02:51.12]"You will now have a Black woman who will walk into the White House [02:56.24]not as a guest but as a second in command of the free world." [03:03.64]Harris is the child of immigrants, [03:06.88]a stepmother of two and the wife of a Jewish man. [03:12.56]She "carries an intersectional story of so many Americans [03:18.16]who are never seen and heard," said Simon. [03:23.20]Biden, in his acceptance speech, commented on the 1913 march [03:30.12]for women's suffrage the day before President Woodrow Wilson took office. [03:37.28]He said some marchers were attacked. [03:41.08]"Today, we mark the swearing in of the first woman [03:45.88]in American history elected to national office, [03:50.08]Vice President Kamala Harris," he said. [03:55.00]"Don't tell me things can't change." [03:58.52]Harris' mother, Shyamala Gopalan, [04:02.76]was a cancer researcher who came to America from India. [04:08.96]Her father was an economist from Jamaica. [04:13.24]The two met at the University of California, Berkeley and married in 1963. [04:20.60]They split in 1971, when Kamala was seven. [04:27.16]Harris has often spoken about the deep relationship she had with her mother, [04:33.76]whom she has described as her single biggest influence. [04:39.88]"I was raised to not hear ‘no,'" she recently told CBS News. [04:46.88]"Let me be clear about it...it wasn't like, oh, the possibilities are immense. [04:53.72]Whatever you want to do, you can do,'" Harris said. [04:58.68]"I was raised to understand many people will tell you, [05:02.96]‘It is impossible,' but don't listen," she added. [05:08.44]In India, people in the small village where Harris has family roots [05:14.08]gathered to celebrate her taking the oath of office. [05:18.32]A ceremony was held at a Hindu temple in Thulasendrapuram, [05:24.72]where Harris' grandfather on her mother's side was born. [05:30.72]After completing religious activities inside the temple, [05:35.08]villagers went outside to cheer and clap, [05:38.88]while some held up pictures of Harris. [05:43.04]"We are feeling very proud that an Indian is being elected [05:48.40]as the Vice President of America," [05:51.16]said Anukampa Madhavasimhan, a teacher. [05:55.52]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM