(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
And I'm Barbara Klein with People in America in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about Willis Conover. His voice is one of the most famous in the world. Conover's Voice of America radio program on jazz was one of the most popular and influential shows in broadcasting history.
Willis Conover was not a jazz musician. However, many people believe that he did more to spread the sound of jazz than any person in music history. For more than forty years Conover brought jazz to people around the world on his VOA music programs. An estimated one hundred million people heard his programs. He helped make jazz music an international language.
Willis Conover was born in Buffalo, New York, in nineteen twenty. Because his father was in the military, his family moved around a great deal. When Willis was in high school, he played the part of a radio announcer in a school play. People told him that he sounded like a real radio announcer. Later, he competed in a spelling competition that was broadcast on radio. The radio announcer told Willis that he should work in radio. Willis had a deep and rich voice that was perfect for broadcasting.
At first, Conover worked for small radio stations in the state of Maryland. He served in the military during World War Two. Because of his experience talking to people on radio, Conover was not sent away to fight. He was needed to interview new soldiers at Fort Meade, Maryland. After the war, he continued to work for commercial radio stations.
Willis Conover heard a lot of jazz music during the nineteen forties in Washington, D.C. This city was the center of a very important jazz movement. Willis Conover knew many of the jazz musicians in both Washington and New York City. He helped organize many concerts. He also helped stop racial separation in the places where music was played at night. At this time, mainly white people went to music clubs even though many of the musicians were black. Conover created musical events where people of all races were welcome.
Willis Conover wanted to be able to play more of the jazz music that he loved on his radio show. He did not like the restrictions of commercial radio. When he heard that the Voice of America wanted to start a jazz music program, Conover knew that he had found a perfect job. He had full freedom to play all kinds of jazz music on his show which began in nineteen fifty-five.
Willis Conover once said that jazz is the music of freedom. He said that with jazz people can express their lives through music. And that the music helps people to stand up a little straighter.
Many people think that Willis Conover had great political influence during the period after World War Two known as the Cold War. This was a time of increased tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. During the nineteen sixties and seventies, listening to the VOA was not allowed in many Eastern European countries. Also, the governments of these countries thought jazz was dangerous and subversive. But the people in these countries loved jazz. Many people became jazz musicians themselves. They first learned how to play this music by listening to Willis Conover's "Music USA" program.
During the many years his program was broadcast, Conover presented his expert knowledge about jazz. He interviewed great jazz musicians such as Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. He played the best music from the most current musicians. Here is a recording of Conover talking about the way jazz music changes over time.
CONOVER: "Jazz is a living music and anything that is alive grows and changes, just as we grow and change. So it changes all the time. But it's based on our memories and our cultural heritage and how we feel about it. And that changes. So it has its roots in the music of a half-century ago and music that came along since then. It depends on what the musician has heard and what the musician wants to do with it once he or she has heard it. It changes because it's living music."
Willis Conover not only talked about jazz music on his program. He sometimes wrote the music and the words to jazz songs. He usually wrote sad love songs. His many musician friends put the words to music. Here he is voicing the words to a song he wrote in the nineteen sixties. The music is written and played by the great jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd.
Very few Americans knew about Willis Conover's program. Voice of America programs are not permitted to be broadcast in the United States. But he was very famous in the rest of the world. Audiences loved his program. When he traveled to Poland in nineteen fifty-nine, he saw hundreds of people gathered near his plane. People held cameras and flowers. They were cheering and smiling. Conover thought that they were waiting for a famous person to arrive. Then he saw a large sign that said, "Welcome to Poland, Mister Conover." The crowds were there to see him.
Willis Conover also worked to spread jazz in the United States. He was the announcer for many famous jazz festivals and concerts in America.
He presented more than thirty concerts at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. He even produced the White House concert in celebration of jazz musician Duke Ellington's seventieth birthday in nineteen sixty-nine.
Willis Conover once said that Louis Armstrong was the heart of jazz, Duke Ellington was the soul and Count Basie was its happy dancing feet. Here is part of a nineteen seventy-three interview by Willis Conover with the great Duke Ellington. This was one of the last times Conover talked to him. Duke Ellington died the next year. In this interview, these great men express their thanks to one another.
CONOVER: "Our thanks for so many things, more than I would have time to elucidate, to -- I should have prepared this and I didn't – to the man who has brought America to the world by way of its music as created and shaped by him, Duke Ellington."
ELLINGTON: "Thank you very much, Willis, that's awfully gracious of you and as usual you are the gracious host and it's been a complete joy being here with you and of course it's been instructive as well. And as we say "good evening" or "good morning," whatever time this is, why, please tell all of your lovely listeners that we do love them madly."
In his jazz programs Willis Conover played many kinds of jazz. He played songs he liked and songs he did not like. However, he liked to play the musicians he liked best, such as Duke Ellington, often. Here is the song "Chelsea Bridge" from his favorite saxophonist musician Ben Webster. Conover once said that nothing could quite match this song.
Willis Conover died in nineteen ninety-six after a long struggle with cancer. He was seventy-five. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C. Though his programs are no longer broadcast, his influence is very much alive. Jazz music owes a great deal to this special man.
重点解析
1.be able to会；能够
They should be able to read and understand everything on the printout.
他们应该能够阅读和理解打印输出上的所有内容。
2.based on基于
All of the work we do is based on science.
我们所做的一切都是在科学的基础上完成的。
3.at first起初
She boggled at the suggestion at first, but finally agreed to do the job.
她起先对这个建议犹豫不定，但最后同意做这工作。
4.stand up站起来；坚持
And you close the door, and you stand up sleeping like this because there's no place to lay down.
然后你关上门，就像这样站着睡觉，因为没有地方躺。
5.more than多于；超过
But I was not worried because I still have more than half of the cash in my bank account.
但我并不担心,因为公司的银行账户上还有60多万美元。
6.struggle with与...做斗争
We still have to struggle with all kinds of difficulties.
我们仍得和各种各样的困难作斗争。
参考译文
我是鲍勃·道蒂，我是芭芭拉·克莱恩，这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天我们讲述威利斯·康诺弗的故事。他的声音是世界上最著名的声音之一。康诺弗的《美国之音》爵士乐广播节目是广播历史上最受欢迎和最有影响力的节目之一。
威利斯·康诺弗不是爵士音乐家。然而，许多人认为他在传播爵士乐方面所做的贡献比音乐史上任何人都多。40多年来，康诺弗通过他的美国之音音乐节目把爵士乐带给了世界各地的人们。据估计，有1亿人收听过他的节目。他帮助使爵士乐成为一种国际语言。
威利斯·康诺弗于1920年出生在纽约布法罗。因为他的父亲是军人，所以他的家庭经常搬家。威利斯上高中的时候，在学校的戏剧中扮演一个广播员的角色。人们告诉他，他的声音听起来像一个真正的电台播音员。后来，他参加了一场由电台播出的拼写比赛。电台播音员告诉威利斯他应该在电台工作。威利斯有一副低沉浑厚的的嗓音，非常适合广播。
起初，康诺弗在马里兰州的小型电台工作。他在第二次世界大战期间在军队服役。由于科诺弗有在广播中与人交谈的经验，他没有被派往战场。他被派去马里兰州米德堡采访新兵。战后，他继续在商业电台工作。
威利斯·康诺弗在20世纪40年代在华盛顿听了很多爵士乐。这个城市是一个非常重要的爵士乐运动的中心。威利斯·康诺弗认识华盛顿和纽约的许多爵士音乐家。他帮助组织了很多音乐会。他还帮助那些晚上播放音乐的地方停止了种族隔离。这时候，去音乐俱乐部的主要是白人，尽管很多音乐家是黑人。康诺弗创造了音乐活动，在活动中所有种族的人都受到欢迎。
威利斯·康诺弗想要在电台节目中播放更多他喜欢的爵士乐。他不喜欢商业电台的限制。当康诺弗听说《美国之音》想要开办一个爵士乐栏目时，他知道自己找到了一个完美的工作。在这档开始于1955年的节目中，他有充分的自由去播放各种爵士乐。
威利斯·康诺弗曾表示，爵士乐是自由的音乐。他表示人们可以通过爵士表达他们的生活。爵士音乐帮助人们站得更直。
很多人认为，在二战后的冷战时期，威利斯·康诺弗有很大的政治影响。冷战时期，美国和苏联的关系日益紧张。在20世纪六七十年代，很多东欧国家都不允许收听《美国之音》节目。而且，这些国家的政府认为爵士是危险和颠覆性的音乐。但是这些国家的人们喜爱爵士乐。很多人自己成为了爵士音乐家。他们起初通过收听威利斯·康诺弗的《音乐美国》节目来学习演奏爵士乐。
在他的节目播出的多年时间里，康诺弗呈现了他的爵士乐专业知识。他采访了伟大的爵士音乐家，如比利·霍利迪、艾灵顿公爵和路易斯·阿姆斯特朗。他播放了当今最优秀的音乐家的作品。这是一段康诺弗谈论爵士乐是如何随着时间而变化的录音。
康诺弗：“爵士乐是一种有生命的音乐，任何有生命的东西都会生长和改变，就像我们一样生长和改变。所以爵士乐总是在变化。但是它是基于我们的记忆和我们的文化遗产，以及我们我们对它的感觉而变化的。而这是会变的。所以它的根源在于半个世纪前的音乐以及之后出现的音乐。它取决于音乐家听过什么，以及他或她听了爵士乐以后想要用它来做什么。爵士乐有变化，因为它是有生命的音乐。”
威利斯·康诺弗在他的节目中不仅谈论爵士乐，他有时为爵士歌曲写音乐和歌词。他通常创作悲伤的情歌。他的很多音乐家朋友把歌词谱成音乐。这是他在为他在20世纪60年代写的一首歌配音。音乐是由伟大的爵士吉他手查理·伯德创作和演奏的。
很少由美国人知道威利斯·康诺弗的栏目。《美国之音》节目不允许在美国播放。但是他在世界的其他地方很出名。观众喜爱他的节目。1959年，当康诺弗去波兰旅行的时候，他他看到有上百人聚集在他的飞机周围。人们拿着相机和花朵。他们在欢呼微笑着。康诺弗以为他们在等待着一个有名的人物。然后他看到一个大的标识牌，上面写着，“欢迎来到波兰，康诺弗先生。”人们在那里是为了见他。
威利斯·康诺弗也致力于在美国传播爵士乐。他是美国许多著名爵士音乐节和音乐会的播音员。
在华盛顿的肯尼迪中心，他呈现了超过30场音乐会。1969年，他甚至制作了白宫音乐会，以庆祝爵士音乐家艾灵顿公爵的70岁生日。
威利斯·康诺弗曾表示，路易斯·阿姆斯特朗是爵士乐的心脏，艾灵顿公爵是爵士乐的灵魂，贝西伯爵是它快乐的跳舞的脚。这里是1973年威利斯·康诺弗对伟大的艾灵顿公爵的采访的一部分。这是康诺弗最后一次和他说话。艾灵顿公爵第二年就去世了。在这个访谈中，这些伟大的人表达了他们对彼此的感谢。
康诺弗：“我们要对许多事情表示感谢，这超出了我有时间解释的范围，我应该为此做准备，可是我没有。感谢艾灵顿公爵，由他创造并塑造的音乐，使美国走向世界。”
艾灵顿：“非常感谢你，威利斯。你真是太好了，和往常一样，你是个亲切有礼貌的主持人，和参加你的访谈我感到非常高兴，当然也很有启发意义。当我们说“晚上好”或“早上好”的时候，无论什么时候，请告诉你所有可爱的听众，我们确实疯狂地爱着他们。
康诺弗在他的节目中播放各种类型的爵士乐。他播放他喜欢的歌曲和他不喜欢的歌曲。然而，他喜欢经常播放他最喜欢的音乐家的音乐，比如艾灵顿公爵的音乐。这首是他最喜欢的萨克斯音乐家本·韦伯斯特演奏的歌曲《切尔西之桥》。康诺弗曾表示，没有什么能比得上这首歌。
威利斯·康诺弗在与癌症长期斗争后于1996年去世。享年75岁。他被安葬在华盛顿特区外的阿灵顿国家公墓。尽管威利斯的节目不再播出了，但是他的影响力很大。爵士乐亏欠这个特别的人很多。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
