(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Shirley Griffith. And I'm Doug Johnson with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today we tell about artist Edward Hopper. He painted normal objects and people in interesting and mysterious ways.
In June of two thousand-six, visitors entered the redesigned Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. for the first time. When these people walked into the building, they saw two simple, colorful paintings. These paintings showed normal scenes from American life. But they looked mysterious and beautiful. American artist Edward Hopper painted both of these famous pictures.
Edward Hopper was born in eighteen eighty-two in Nyack, a small town in New York state. From a young age, Edward knew he wanted to be a painter. His parents were not wealthy people. They thought Edward should learn to paint and make prints to advertise for businesses. This kind of painting is called commercial art. Edward listened to his mother and father. In nineteen hundred, he moved to New York City to study commercial art. However, he also studied more serious and artistic kinds of painting.
One of Hopper's teachers was Robert Henri, a famous American painter in the early twentieth century. Henri was a leader of a group of artists who called themselves the Ashcan School painters. The Ashcan artists liked to paint normal people and objects in realistic ways. Henri once expressed his ideas about painting this way: "Paint what you feel. Paint what you see. Paint what is real to you."
Edward Hopper agreed with many of these ideas about art. He told people that Henri was his most important teacher.
Hopper studied with Henri in New York City for six years. During those years, Hopper dreamed of going to Europe. Many painters there were making pictures in ways no one had ever seen before. Many of them had begun to paint pictures they called "abstract." The artists liked to say these works were about ideas rather than things that existed in the real world. Their paintings did not try to show people and objects that looked like the ones in real life. Most American artists spent time in Europe. Then they returned to the United States to paint in this new way.
With help from his parents, Hopper finally traveled to Europe in nineteen-oh-six. He lived in Paris, France for several months. He returned again in nineteen-oh-nine and nineteen-ten.
Unlike many other people, however, Hopper was not strongly influenced by the new, abstract styles he found there. "Paris had no great or immediate impact on me," he once said. At the end of these travels, he decided that he liked the realistic methods he had learned from Robert Henri.
When Edward Hopper returned from Paris for the last time, he moved into a small apartment in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. He took a job making prints and paintings for businesses. However, the paintings he made outside of his job were not helping him earn money or recognition. He had a show of his work at a gallery in New York. However, most people were not interested in his simple, realistic style. Very few people bought his paintings.
Things began to improve in nineteen twenty-three. He began a love relationship with an artist named Jo Nivison. Soon they married. His wife sometimes said that Edward tried to control her thoughts and actions too much. However, most people who knew them said they loved each other very much. They stayed married for the rest of their lives. Also, Jo was the model for all of the women in Hopper's paintings.
Success in art soon followed this success in love. In nineteen twenty-four, Hopper had the second show of his paintings. This time, he sold many pictures. Finally, at age forty-three, he had enough money to quit his job painting for businesses. He could now paint what he loved. Edward and Jo bought a car and began to travel around the country to find interesting subjects to paint.
Most people say that Hopper's nineteen twenty-five painting "The House by the Railroad" was his first mature painting. This means that it was the first painting that brought together all of his important techniques and ideas.
"The House by the Railroad" shows a large, white house. The painting does not show the bottom of the house. It is blocked by railroad tracks. Cutting scenes off in surprising ways was an important part of Hopper's style. He became famous for paintings that are mysterious, that look incomplete or that leave viewers with questions.
Shadows make many parts of the home in "The House by the Railroad" look dark. Some of the windows look like they are open, which makes the viewer wonder what is inside the house. However, only dark, empty space can be seen through the windows. Strange shadows, dark spaces, and areas with light were important parts of many Hopper paintings.
There are no people in the painting, and no evidence of other houses nearby. Hopper was famous for showing loneliness in his art. People often said that, even when there were many people in his paintings, each person seems to be alone in his or her own world.
During the great economic depression of the nineteen thirties, many people saw Hopper's lonely, mysterious paintings of everyday subjects. They liked the pictures because they seemed to show life honestly, without trying to make it happier or prettier than it really was. As a result, Hopper continued to sell many paintings during those years, even though most Americans were very poor.
In nineteen forty-two, Hopper painted his most famous work, "Nighthawks."? The painting shows four people in an eating-place called a diner late at night. They look sad, tired, and lonely. Two of them look like they are in a love relationship. But they do not appear to be talking to each other. The dark night that surrounds them is mysterious and tense. There is no door in the painting, which makes the subjects seem like they might be trapped.
Hopper painted "Nighthawks" soon after the Japanese bomb attack against the United States at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Many people thought the painting showed the fear and unhappiness that most Americans were feeling after the attack. The painting became very famous. Today, most Americans still recognize it. The painting now hangs in a famous museum in Chicago, Illinois.
"Nighthawks" was not Edward Hopper's only great success. In nineteen fifty, he finished a painting called "Cape Cod Morning." It shows a brightly colored house in the country. In the middle of the painting, a woman leans on a table and looks out a window. She looks very sad. However, nothing in the painting gives any idea about why she would be sad. Today this painting hangs in a special place in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington. It is one the paintings we noted at the beginning of this program.
Edward Hopper began to struggle with his art during the nineteen fifties and sixties. He had trouble finding interesting subjects. When he did find good things to paint, he struggled to paint them well.
At the same time, the artistic community became less interested in realistic paintings. In the nineteen fifties, the Abstract Expressionist style became very popular. These artists refused to have subjects to paint. They wanted to "paint about painting" and "paint about ideas." They thought Hopper's style was no longer modern or important. As a result, the paintings he did complete met less success than during the earlier years.
Edward Hopper died in nineteen sixty-seven. His wife Jo died less than a year later.
Many years after his death, Hopper's work is still popular in this country and outside America. In two thousand four, the famous Tate Art Gallery in London had a show of his paintings. This show brought the second-largest number of visitors of any show in the history of the museum. Today, people say Edward Hopper was one of the best American artists of the twentieth century.
重点解析
1.dream of梦想
He achieved what the others could only dream of — he went out with her and they even went on holiday together later that summer to the Caribbean.
他得到了很多人梦想都得不到的东西----他和她一起出去玩儿，甚至一起在那个夏末去加勒比海度假！
2.at the end of在…尽头
Copy all your work to a backup device at the end of every day.
在每个工作日结束的时候将您的工作成果备份到存储设备中。
3.in the middle of在…中间
In this square we are standing in the middle of London.
在这个广场，我们在伦敦中部的地位。
4.at the beginning of在…的开始
Start your plan at the beginning of the term and readjust it with each new project.
在学期开始时就实施你的计划并随着每一个新的规划调整。
5.at the same time同时
But at the same time, I know that underneath all that is an evil soul.
但是同时，我知道在所有这些表象下面是一颗邪恶的灵魂。
6.as a result结果
As a result of all this, their incomes are up and land values have risen.
这一切的结果是，他们的收入增加了，土地的价值也上升了。
参考译文
我是雪莉·格里菲斯，我是道格·约翰逊，这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天我们讲述爱德华·霍普的故事。他以有趣而神秘的方式画普通的物体和人物。
2006年6月，游客们第一次进入华盛顿特区重新设计的史密森美国艺术博物馆。当游客们走进这座大楼的时候，他们看到两幅简单的、色彩斑斓的画作。这些画作展现了美国人生活的普通场景。但是他们看起来神秘而美丽。这两幅著名的画作都出自美国艺术家爱德华·霍普之手。
爱德华·霍普于1882年出生在纽约州的一个小镇尼亚克。年幼时，爱德华知道他想成为一名画家。他的父母并不是富裕的人。他们认为爱德华应该学习画画和印刷，为企业做广告。这种绘画被称为商业美术。爱德华听了他父母的话。1900年，他搬到纽约去学习商业美术。然而，他也学习了更为严肃和艺术的绘画。
霍普的老师之一是罗伯特·亨利，一位二十世纪早期著名的美国画家。亨利是一个自称为阿什坎画派画家的艺术家团体的领袖。阿什坎画派画家喜欢用写实的手法描绘普通人物和物体。亨利曾经用这种方式表达过他对绘画的想法：“画出你的感觉。画出你所看到的。画出对你来说真实的东西。”
爱德华·霍普同意很多这些关于艺术的观点。他告诉人们亨利是他最重要的老师。
霍普在纽约市跟着亨利学习了六年。那些年的时候，霍普梦想着去欧洲。那里有很多画家都在以没人见过的方式绘画。他们中的很多人都在创作“抽象主义”的绘画。这些艺术家喜欢说，这些作品是关于观点的，而不是存在于真实世界的事物。他们的画并没有试图展示那些看起来像现实生活中的人和物。大多数美国艺术家都在美国生活过。然后他们回到美国以这种方式创作绘画。
在父母的帮助下，霍普最终于1906年去了欧洲。他在法国巴黎生活了几个月。在1909年和1910年再次去了那里。
但是，不像很多的其他人，霍普没有受到那里的新的、抽象的风格强烈的影响。他曾经说道：“巴黎对我没有很大的或直接的影响。”在这些游历结束后，他发现自己喜欢的是他从罗伯特·亨利那里学到的写实手法。
爱德华·霍普最后一次从巴黎回来后，搬进了纽约市格林威治村的一套小公寓。他接受了一份为企业制作版画和绘画的工作。然而，他在工作之外画的画并没有帮他赚到钱或获得认可。他在纽约的一家画廊展出了自己的作品。然而，大多数人对他简单写实的风格不感兴趣。很少有人购买他的作品。
事情在1923年开始改善。霍普和一位叫乔·尼维森的艺术家相恋。很快他们结婚了。霍普的妻子有时说，他试图过多地控制她的思想和行为。然而，很多认识霍普夫妇的人都表示，他们彼此很相爱。他们的婚姻维持到了最后。而且，乔是霍普画作中所有女性的模特。
霍普在爱情上成功后很快就在艺术上获得了成功。1924年，霍普举办了第二次个人绘画展出。这次，他卖掉了很多作品。最终，在43岁的时候，他有了足够的钱，辞去了商业绘画的工作。他现在可以画他喜欢的东西了。爱德华和乔买了一辆车，开始周游全国，寻找有趣的绘画题材。
很多人表示，霍普于1925年创作的绘画“铁路旁的房子”是他第一幅成熟的作品。这意味着，这是第一幅把他所有重要的技术和思想汇集在一起的绘画。
“铁路旁的房子”展现了一个大而白的房子。画上没有显示房子的底部。它被铁路轨道挡住了。以令人惊讶的方式切断场景是霍普绘画风格中重要的一部分。他以神秘、看起来不完整或给观赏者带来问题的画作而闻名。
阴影使“铁路旁的房屋”中的房子的很多部分看起来很暗。有些窗户看起来是开着的，这让观赏者好奇屋子里面有什么东西。然而，通过窗户只能看到暗黑和空旷的空间。奇怪的阴影、黑暗的空间和有光的区域是许多霍普画作的重要部分。
这幅画中没有人，附近也没有其它房子。霍普以在自己的绘画中展示孤独而闻名。人们常说，即使在他的画中有很多人，每个人在自己的世界里似乎都是孤独的。
在20世纪30年代的经济大萧条时期，许多人看到了霍普描绘日常生活主题的孤独而神秘的画作。他们喜欢这些绘画，因为它们似乎真实地展现了生活，而不是试图让生活变得更快乐或更美丽。结果就是，霍普在那些年里继续卖出了许多画，尽管那时大多数美国人都很穷。
1942年，霍普创作了他最著名的绘画《夜鹰》。这幅画展示了在一个叫“就餐者”的地方，有四个人在深夜用餐。他们看起来悲伤，疲惫，寂寞。他们中的两个人看起来处于一段恋爱关系之中。但是他们似乎没有和彼此说话。围绕着他们的黑夜神秘而紧张。画中没有门，似乎这些人被困住了。
霍普在日本夏威夷珍珠港袭击美国后不久就画了《夜鹰》。许多人认为这幅画表现了大多数美国人在袭击后的恐惧和不快乐。这幅画变得非常有名。今天，大多数美国人仍然记得它。这幅画现在挂在伊利诺斯州芝加哥的一个著名博物馆里。《夜鹰》并不是爱德华·霍珀唯一的成功之作。在1950年，他完成了一幅名为《科德角早晨》的画。它展示了乡下的一个色彩鲜艳的房子。在这幅画的中间，一个女人斜靠在一张桌子上，望着窗外。她看起来非常悲伤。然而，这幅画中没有东西告诉我们为什么她会感到悲伤。今天，这幅画挂在华盛顿史密森美国艺术博物馆的一个特别的地方。这是我们在节目开始时注意到的一幅画。
爱德华·霍普在五六十年代开始与他的艺术作斗争。他找不到有趣的主题。当他找到好的东西来绘画时，他难以把它们画好。
同时，艺术界对于写实画作的兴趣减少了。20世纪50年代，抽象表现主义风格变得非常流行。这些艺术家拒绝画题材。他们想要“关于绘画的绘画”和“关于想法的绘画”。他们认为霍普的风格不再现代，也不再重要。结果是，他完成的画作不如前几年那么成功。
爱德华·霍普于1967年去世。不到一年，他的妻子乔去世了。
霍普去世多年后，他的作品仍然在这个国家和美国以外的地方很受欢迎。2004年，伦敦著名的泰特美术馆举办了他的画展。这次展览吸引了博物馆历史上第二大的参观者。今天，人们称爱德华·霍普为二十世纪最优秀的美国艺术家之一。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
