(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Faith Lapidus. And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today we tell about singer Nina Simone and play some of her music. She was also active in the civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties.
Nina Simone wrote and performed the song you just heard. It is called "Young, Gifted and Black. "In the nineteen sixties, a major black civil rights group declared it the national song of black people in America.
Nina Simone was very young when her musical ability first appeared. She could play songs on the piano when she was three years old. She learned by listening to music and then searching for the correct piano keys.
In a book about her life, Nina Simone wrote that everything that happened to her as a child involved music. She said her first memory was of her mother singing. She said her mother always sang Christian songs around the house. That influence shows up years later in the recording of "If You Pray Right" on Miss Simone's album "Baltimore."
Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in nineteen thirty-three in the southern town of Tryon, North Carolina. Her parents owned several businesses there. Her mother was also a Methodist minister. The family of ten lived in a big house and made good earnings. However, difficult economic times in the United States hurt the family's businesses. The family had to move to smaller homes as their finances continued to shrink.
In time, Eunice's mother went to work cleaning house for a white woman in the town. The woman knew about Nina's piano playing. She suggested that Missus Waymon send her daughter to a piano teacher for lessons. When Missus Waymon said the family did not have the money, her employer said she would pay for the girl's first year of lessons.
Nina Simone wrote that she grew to love her first piano teacher, a white woman from England. In fact, the teacher helped set up financial assistance for Nina's lessons. Nina Simone also wrote about how much she liked her mother's employer. She wrote that, as a child, she expected all white people to be as kind as they were.
Eunice Waymon had her first public performance when she was eleven. Many people in the town had given money to help pay for lessons for the young pianist. Miss Simone wrote that it was expected she would perform to show them what their money had produced.
The performance was at the town hall. Eunice was at the piano. She looked at her parents just before she was to play. She saw them being forced from their seats in the front. A white family wanted to sit in their place. Her parents did not resist.
The young girl stood up and spoke. She said no one would hear her play if her parents were not returned to their seats.They were and the concert began.
Nina Simone wrote that her whole world changed in that moment. She said nothing was easy anymore. She wrote that racism became real for her like the turning on of a light. Nina Simone continued to stand up and speak out. One of her most famous songs expressed her anger about the treatment of black people in America.
"Mississippi Goddam" was released in nineteen sixty-three. Miss Simone wrote the song in reaction to extreme violence against black Americans. The incidents included the murder of a civil rights activist in Mississippi and the killings of four young girls in Alabama.
Eunice Waymon graduated from high school at the top of her class in nineteen fifty. She moved to New York City to attend the famous Juilliard School of Music. She had been awarded money to pay for one year at the school.
After that first year, Eunice had to support herself financially. For a while she worked as a piano player for people studying singing.Then she learned of summer jobs in Atlantic City, New Jersey, that paid more money.
She went to Atlantic City and got a job playing piano at a drinking place. On her second night, she was told she had to sing also. Eunice had never sung in public before. Nina Simone later told a reporter that she decided just to try to sound like the famous singer Billie Holiday. She got the job.
Nina Simone recorded a number of songs made famous by Billie Holiday. Some of Miss Simone's versions also became popular, like this song, "Don't Explain."
Eunice Waymon became Nina Simone because of the job at the drinking place. She said she changed her name because she did not want her parents to know what she was doing.
But she could not hide her career for very long. In nineteen fifty-eight, Nina Simone recorded her first album.It was called "Little Girl Blue." One song became a top radio hit in America. It is "I Loves You, Porgy" from George Gershwin's opera, "Porgy and Bess."
Nina Simone became very active in the civil rights movement in the nineteen sixties. She came to be known as a protest singer. She was also called the "High Priestess of Soul." But she did not like either description. Nina Simone often said she hated to be linked with any one kind of music or message. She sang it all – blues, jazz, Christian spirituals, rock and roll and pop.
Miss Simone was married two times. She had a daughter, Lisa, who is also a singer. Nina Simone left the United States in nineteen seventy-three. She said she was angry about the treatment of black people in America. She lived in the Caribbean and Africa before settling in France. She died there at the age of seventy in two thousand three.
One of Nina Simone's most popular songs was "I Put a Spell On You." She took the title for the book she wrote about her life, published in nineteen ninety-two.
重点解析
1.search for寻找，搜索
In your search for serenity, what have you found that works for you?
您在寻找宁静的过程中，发现了什么是对您有效的呢？
2.show up显露；露出
The orange colour shows up well against most backgrounds.
橙色在多数背景下都很能突显出来。
3.set up建立；设立
Thirdly, if it is necessary, we should set up some new reserves for them.
第三，如果必要的话，我们应该为它们建立一些新保护区。
4.Speak out畅所欲言；大声地说
Speak out your goal each morning to remind yourself of what you want and what you are working for.
每天清晨说出你自己的目标来提醒你想要什么或是你在为什么而工作。
5.at the top of在首位
Dwight Howard should be at the top of their list.
德怀特霍华德应该是他们引援名单中的首位。
6.be linked with 与...有关
Many researchers don't even want to be linked with this type of investigation.
很多研究者甚至都不想让自己跟这类研究有任何的瓜葛。
参考译文
我是菲斯·拉皮德斯，我是史蒂夫·恩贝尔。这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天我们讲述歌手妮娜·西蒙的故事，并欣赏她的一些音乐。她还积极参与了20世纪60年代的民权运动。
妮娜·西蒙创作并演唱了刚才的这首歌曲。歌曲名为《年轻，有天赋，黑人》。20世纪60年代，一个主要的黑人民权运动团体宣布这首歌是美国黑人的国歌。
妮娜·西蒙在很小的时候就显现出了她的音乐才能。三岁的时候，她就能在钢琴上弹奏曲子。她通过听音乐，然后寻找正确的琴键学习。
妮娜·西蒙在一本关于她生活的书中写道，她小时候发生的一切都与音乐有关。她说她最初的记忆是她母亲唱歌。你拿说，她母亲经常在家里唱基督教歌曲。多年后，西蒙的专辑《巴尔的摩》中的《如果你祈祷正确》就体现了这种影响。
妮娜·西蒙1933年出生在美国北卡罗来纳州南部城市特赖恩，原名尤尼斯·凯瑟琳·瓦西姆。她的父母在那里拥有着几家企业。她的母亲也是一位卫理公会牧师。一家十口人生活在一个大房子里，收入颇丰。然而，美国的经济困难伤害了家族的生意。这家人的财产持续减少，他们不得不搬到一个更小的房子里。
不久，尤尼斯的母亲开始为镇上的一位白人妇女打扫房子。这位女性知道妮娜会弹钢琴的事。她建议瓦西姆女士让妮娜去跟钢琴老师学琴。当瓦西姆说家里没钱的时候，她的雇主说，她会支付妮娜第一年的学费。
妮娜·西蒙写道，她逐渐喜欢上了她的第一位钢琴老师，一位来自英格兰的白人女性。实际上，这位老师也为妮娜的课程提供了经济援助。妮娜·西蒙也写道，她非常喜欢她母亲的雇主。妮娜写道，作为一个孩子，她期待所有的白人都能跟他们一样善良。
尤尼斯·瓦西姆11岁的时候进行了她的第一次演出。镇子里的很多人都帮助这位年轻的钢琴家支付了学费。西蒙小姐写道，人们希望她能表演给他们看他们的钱都带来了些什么。
演出是在市政厅。尤尼斯坐在钢琴旁。开始弹之前她看了自己的父母。她看到他们被迫让开了他们在前排的座位。一个白人家庭想坐在他们的位子。她的父母没有拒绝。
这个年轻的女孩站起来讲了话。她说，如果她的父母不能返回到他们的位子，那么没人能听到她的琴声。他们回到了座位后，音乐会才开始。
妮娜·西蒙写道，那一刻她的整个世界变了。她表示一切都不再轻松了。她写道，种族主义对她来说变得无比真实，就像一盏灯点亮了一样。妮娜·西蒙继续站起来发声。她的最著名的歌曲之一表达了她对于美国黑人遭受的待遇的愤怒。
《天杀的密西西比》于1963年发行。西蒙小姐写这首歌是为了回应针对美国黑人的极端暴力。暴力事件包括密西西比民权活动家的谋杀河阿拉巴马州四位年轻女孩的遇难。
1950年，尤尼斯·瓦西姆以班级第一名的成绩从高中毕业。她搬到了纽约，就读于著名的茱莉亚音乐学院。她获得了一年的奖学金。
第一年后，尤尼斯不得不在经济上养活自己。有一段时间，她为学习唱歌的人担任钢琴演奏者。后来她去新泽西州的大西洋城暑期打工，这个工作挣的钱更多。
她去了大西洋城，找到一份在酒吧弹琴的工作。第二天，她被告知她也得唱歌。尤尼斯之前从未在公共场所演唱过。妮娜·西蒙后来告诉一个记者，她当时就是试着模仿著名歌手比利·哈乐黛唱歌。她得到了这份工作。
妮娜·西蒙录制了一些比利·哈乐黛的著名歌曲。一些西蒙女士的版本也很受欢迎，比如这首歌曲《不要解释》。
尤妮斯·威蒙因为在酒吧工作而把名字改成了妮娜·西蒙。她说她改名字是因为她不想让父母知道她在做什么。
但是她不能长时间地隐藏自己的职业。1958年，妮娜·西蒙录制了她的首张专辑。专辑名为《忧郁的小女孩》。其中一首歌曲成为了美国的电台大热歌曲。这首歌就是来自乔治·格什温的歌剧《波吉与贝丝》中的《我爱你波吉》。
妮娜·西蒙在20世纪60年代的民权运动中变得非常活跃。她逐渐以抗议歌手为人熟知。她也被称为“灵魂女祭司”。但是这两个名号她都不喜欢。妮娜·西蒙经常表示，她讨厌与任何一种音乐和信息连接起来。她什么类型的歌曲都唱，布鲁斯，爵士，基督教圣歌，摇滚乐和流行歌曲。
西蒙女士结过两次婚。她有一个女儿，丽萨，她也是一个歌手。妮娜·西蒙于1973年离开了美国。她表示，她对于美国黑人遭受的对待感到愤怒。在法国定居之前，她曾在加勒比海和非洲生活过。妮娜于2003年去世，享年70岁。
妮娜·西蒙最受欢迎的歌曲之一是《我对你下了咒语》。她为她写的关于她的生活的书取了这个名字，这本书出版于1992年。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
