(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Shirley Griffith. And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Every week, we tell the story of someone important in the history of the United States. Today we will tell about Nat King Cole, one of America's most popular singers.
Nat King Cole was born in the southern city of Montgomery, Alabama, in Nineteen-Nineteen. His parents named him Nathaniel Adams Coles. His father was a Christian minister.
When Nathaniel was four years old, his parents moved the family north to Chicago, Illinois. Nat learned to play the piano when he was very young. His mother was the only piano teacher he ever had. He gave his first public performance when he was four. By the time he was twelve, Nat was playing piano at his father's church.
Nat played piano in New York City and in Los Angeles, California when he was a young man. In Nineteen Thirty-Seven, he formed a group that played jazz music. Oscar Moore played the guitar and Wesley Prince played the bass. The trio reportedly did not need a drummer because Nat's piano playing kept the beat so well. They named the group, The King Cole Trio. At the same time, Nat also changed his name to Nat King Cole. The trio soon became very popular. Nat sang some songs, but mostly played the piano.
By the middle Nineteen-Forties, Nat King Cole was beginning to be known as a popular singer as well as a jazz piano player. He was one of the first musicians to record with the new Capitol Records.
The first song he recorded for Capitol was "Straighten Up and Fly Right." He wrote the song. The words were based on his father's teachings. The song became one of the biggest hits of Nineteen-Forty-Three. It sold more than five-hundred-thousand copies.
Nat recorded hundreds of songs. Some of the most popular include "Sweet Lorraine," "Nature Boy," "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer," "When I Fall in Love," and "Mona Lisa." In Nineteen-Fifty, the American film industry gave him an award for his recording of "Mona Lisa." That song made him famous as a singer.
By Nineteen-Fifty Six, Nat King Cole was known internationally. He signed an agreement to appear for a lot of money at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Nat often performed in places that only admitted white people. Black leaders criticized him. Nat said he attempted to take legal action against those places but often failed.
Nat earned more money and moved to California. He bought a house in an area where white people lived. At that time, many white Americans did not want to live near blacks. White home owners nearby protested the purchase of a house by a black family. Nat and his family refused to leave and lived in the house without problems.
Nat was the first black man to have his own television show.His show began on NBC Television in Nineteen-Fifty-Six. NBC agreed to support The Nat King Cole Show for a while. It hoped American companies would pay to sell their products on the show. However, major companies were not willing to advertise on a show that had a black performer. They were concerned that white people in the southern part of the United States would not buy their products. Many Americans watched the show, but NBC halted production after a year.
Nat King Cole also acted in movies. The best known one is Saint Louis Blues. He acted the part of the jazz composer W.C. Handy. He also appeared in a film about himself called The Nat King Cole Story.
In the Nineteen-Fifties, he sang with some of the best known orchestras of the time. Here Nat King Cole sings "When I Fall in Love" with the Gordon Jenkins orchestra: Nat King Cole was married two times.
In Nineteen-Thirty-Six, he married a dancer, Nadine Robinson. Their marriage failed. In Nineteen-Forty-Eight, he married Maria Ellington. They had three children. They also adopted and raised two other children.
Nat King Cole always smoked a lot of cigarettes. He died of cancer of the lung in February, Nineteen Sixty-Five. He was only forty-five years old.
He received many awards during his life. He also received many more after his death. One was a Nineteen-Ninety Grammy Award for lifetime achievement.
Nat's daughter, Natalie followed her father as a singer. She recorded many songs after her father died.
In Nineteen-Ninety-One, Natalie Cole recorded an album called Unforgettable. It contains twenty-two of Nat King Cole's songs, including the song "Unforgettable." Modern technology made it possible to mix her voice with a recording of her father singing the same song.
Millions of Nat King Cole's recordings were sold while he was alive. And today, people around the world still enjoy listening to the music of one of America's greatest performers of popular and jazz music.
重点解析
1.at the same time 同时
At the same time that there is an infinite without us, is there not an infinite within us?
在我们的身外既然有个无极，是否在我们的心中也同时有个无极呢？
2.known as被认为是
This gene, which has been the target of considerable research, is also known as the "warrior gene" because it regulates serotonin in the brain.
这个基因一直是相当多的研究者的目标，也被称为“尚武的基因”，因为它负责调节大脑中血清素。
3.based on基于
So if the arrow of time is based on our consciousness and our ability to perceive it, then do people like you who understand it more fully experience time differently then the rest of us?
如果时间之箭是基于我们的意识和感知它的能力，那么像你这样更充分地理解它的人与我们其他人相比是否有不同的时间体验？
4.be willing to 愿意
Your love will not be willing to listen to your criticism.
爱情方面，你的伴侣不会乐意听懂你的批评的。
5.sign an agreement签订协议
Now, we have seen this administration sign an agreement with the Iraqi government, creating a timeframe for removing U.S. troops.
现在，我们看到现任政府和伊拉克政府签署了一项协议，从而为撤军制定出一个时间表。
6.make it possible使成为可能
That made it possible to blame Southerners for the outbreak and continuation of the war, and so justify the destruction.
这使人们有可能将战争爆发和持续归咎于南方人，因此也有理由对南方进行破坏。
参考译文
我是雪莉·格里菲思，史蒂夫·恩伯，这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。每周我们会讲述一位美国历史上的重要人物的故事。今天我们讲述美国最受欢迎的之一纳特·金·科尔的故事。
纳特·金·科尔于1919年生于阿拉巴马州的蒙哥马利市。他的父母给他取名为纳撒尼尔·亚当斯·科尔斯。他的父亲是一位基督教牧师。
纳撒尼尔四岁时，他的父母举家北上，搬到了伊利诺斯州的芝加哥。纳特很小的时候就学会了弹钢琴。他的母亲是他唯一的钢琴老师。纳特四岁时首次公开演出。12岁时，纳特在他父亲的教堂里弹钢琴。
奈特年轻时曾在纽约市和加利福尼亚的洛杉矶市弹钢琴。1937年，纳特成立了一个演奏爵士乐的乐队。奥斯卡·摩尔弹吉他，韦斯利·普林斯弹贝斯。他们的三重奏乐队不需要鼓手，因为纳特的钢琴节奏控制的很好。他们给乐队取名为金·科尔三重奏。同时，纳特也把自己的名字改成了纳特·金·科尔。这个三重奏乐队很快就很受欢迎。纳特为几首歌献唱，但大部分时间都在弹钢琴。
到20世纪40年代中期，纳特·金·科尔开始以流行歌手和爵士钢琴演奏家的身份为人所熟知。纳特是首批在国会唱片公司录制歌曲的音乐家之一。
他在国会唱片公司录制的第一首歌曲是《展翅高飞》。这是纳特自己创作的歌曲，歌词是基于自己父亲的教导创作的。这首歌后来成为了1943年最热的歌曲之一，它的销量高达50万张。
纳特录制了上百首歌曲。最受欢迎的歌曲包括《甜蜜的女孩》、《本色少年》、《那些慵懒朦胧疯狂的夏天》、《当我堕入爱河》和《蒙娜·丽莎》。1950年，美国电影业授予了纳特一个奖项，以表彰他录制的《蒙娜丽莎》。这首歌曲使纳特成为一名著名歌手。
到1956年，纳特·金·科尔在国际上出名了。他签署了一项高价协议，在内华达州拉斯维加斯的金沙酒店亮相。纳特经常在只允许白人进入的地方演出。这招致了黑人领袖对他的批评。纳特说，他试图对这些地方进行法律诉讼，但经常失败。
纳特赚了更多的钱，他搬到了加州。他在白人居住区买了一所房子。当时，许多美国白人不愿与黑人住在一起。附近的白人房主抗议一个黑人家庭在这里购买房子。纳特和他的家人拒绝离开，他们就住在这所房子里，没有任何问题。
纳特是第一个拥有自己的电视节目的黑人。他的节目于1956年在NBC电视台开播。NBC同意暂时支持纳特的节目。它希望美国公司会付费在节目里销售他们的产品。但是，大公司不愿意在有黑人演员的节目上做广告。他们担心美国南部的白人将不会买他们的产品。许多美国人都观看这部电视剧，但NBC电视台在一年后停了这个节目。
纳特·金·科尔也出演过电影。最著名的是《圣路易斯布鲁斯》。他扮演过爵士作曲家W.C.汉迪。他还出演了一部关于他自己的电影，叫做《纳特·金·科尔的故事》。
在20世纪50年代，纳特和一些当时最著名的管弦乐队一起演唱。这首是纳特在戈登·詹金斯管弦乐队里演唱的《当我堕入爱河》。纳特结过两次婚。
1936年，他娶了一名舞者纳丁·鲁滨逊。他们的婚姻失败了，1948年，纳特娶了玛丽亚·艾灵顿。他们育有三子，也收养养育了两个孩子。
纳特经常抽很多的烟，他在1965年死于肺癌。年仅45岁。
他一生中获过许多奖项，死后又获取了更多奖项。其中一个奖是1990年的格莱美终身成就奖。
纳特的女儿娜塔莉追随了父亲的脚步，也成为了一名歌手。在她父亲死后，她录制了很多歌曲。
1991年，娜塔莉·科尔录制了一张名为《难以忘怀》的专辑。它收录了22首纳特·金·科尔的歌曲，包括这首《难以忘怀》。现代科技使她的声音和她父亲唱同一首歌的录音结合起来成为可能。
纳特·金·科尔在世的时候，他的唱片销售量高达百万张。时至今日，全世界的人们仍然喜欢聆听这位美国最伟大的流行和爵士乐演奏者之一的音乐。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
