(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember. This week in our series, Bob Doughty and I discuss American arts and popular culture during the nineteen thirties. Hard economic times and social conflict have always offered a rich source of material for artists and writers. A painter's colors can show the drying of dreams or the flight of the human spirit. A musician can express the tensions and uncertainty of a people in struggle. The pressures of hard times can be the force to lift a writer's imagination to new heights. So it was during the nineteen thirties in the United States. The severe economic crisis -- the Great Depression -- created an atmosphere for artistic imagination and creative expression. The common feeling of struggle also led millions of Americans to look to films, radio and other new art forms for relief from their day-to-day cares.
The most popular sound of the nineteen-thirties was a new kind of music -- "swing" music. And the "King of Swing" was a clarinet player named Benny Goodman. Benny Goodman and other musicians made swing music extremely popular during the nineteen-thirties. Swing music was a new form of jazz. Many of its first players were black musicians in small, unknown groups. It was only when more well-known white musicians started playing swing music in the middle nineteen-thirties that the new music became wildly popular. One reason for the popularity of swing music was the growing power of radio during the nineteen thirties. Radio had already proven in earlier years that it could be an important force in both politics and popular culture. Millions of Americans bought radios during the nineteen twenties. But radio grew up in the nineteen-thirties. Producers became more skillful in creating programs. And actors and actresses began to understand the special needs and power of this new electronic art form.
Swing music was not the only kind of music that radio helped make popular. The nineteen thirties also saw increasing popularity for traditional, classical music by Beethoven, Bach and other great musicians. In nineteen thirty, the Columbia Broadcasting System began a series of concerts by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra on Sunday afternoons. The next year, the National Broadcasting Company, NBC, began weekly opera concerts. In nineteen thirty-seven, NBC asked Arturo Toscanini of Italy to lead an orchestra on American radio. Toscanini was the greatest orchestra leader of his day. Millions of Americans listened at Christmas time as Toscanini and the NBC Orchestra began playing the first of ten special radio concerts. It was a great moment for both music and radio. For the first time, millions of average Americans were able to hear classical music by great musicians as it was being played. Music was an important reason why millions of Americans gathered to listen to the radio during the nineteen thirties. But even more popular were a series of weekly programs with exciting or funny new actors.
Families would come home from school or work and laugh at the foolish experiences of such actors as Jack Benny, Fred Allen, George Burns, Edgar Bergen, and WC Fields. Radio helped people forget the hard conditions of the Great Depression. And it helped to bring Americans together and share experiences. Swing music. Classical music. Great comedy programs. The nineteen thirties truly were a golden period for radio and mass communications. But it was also during this period that Hollywood and the American film industry became much more skilled and influential. In previous years, films were silent. But the "talkies" arrived in the nineteen thirties. Directors could produce films in which actors could talk. Americans reacted by attending film theaters by the millions. It was a great time for Hollywood. The films had exciting new actors. Spencer Tracy. Bette Davis. Katharine Hepburn. The young Shirley Temple.
The most famous film of the period was "Gone with the Wind" with Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, in the starring roles of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara. "No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed, and often. And by someone who knows how." "And I suppose you think you're the proper person." "I might be, if the right moment ever came." Directors in the nineteen thirties also produced such great films as "It Happened One Night," "Mutiny on the Bounty," and "The Life of Emile Zola". The success of radio and films, as well as the depression itself, caused problems for many Americans newspapers during the nineteen thirties. The trouble was not so much that readers stopped buying newspapers. It was that companies talked about their products through advertisements on radio instead of buying advertising space in newspapers. Nearly half of the nation's independently published newspapers either stopped publishing or joined larger companies during the nineteen thirties. By World War Two, only one hundred twenty cities had competing newspapers.
Weekly and monthly publications faced the same problem as daily newspapers -- increased competition from radio and films. Many magazines failed. The two big successes of the period were Life Magazine and the Reader's Digest. Life Magazine had stories for everyone about film actors, news events, or just daily life in the home or on the farm. Its photographs were the greatest anywhere. Reader's Digest published shorter forms of stories from other magazines and sources. Most popular books of the period were like the films coming from Hollywood. Writers cared more about helping people forget their troubles than about facing serious social issues. They made more money that way, too. But a number of writers in the nineteen thirties did produce books that were both profitable and of high quality. One was Sinclair Lewis. His book "It Can't Happen Here," warned of the coming dangers of fascism. John Steinbeck's great book "The Grapes of Wrath" helped millions understand and feel in their hearts the troubles faced by poor farmers.
Erskine Caldwell wrote about the cruelty of life among poor people in the southeastern United States, and James T. Farrell about life in Chicago. The same social concern and desire to present life as it really existed also were clear in the work of many American artists during the nineteen thirties. Thomas Benton painted workers and others with strong, tough bodies. Edward Hopper showed the sad streets of American cities. Reginald Marsh painted picture after picture of poor parts of New York City. The federal government created a program that gave jobs to artists. They painted their pictures on the walls of airports, post offices and schools. The program brought their ideas and creativity to millions of people. At the same time, photography became more important as cameras improved in quality and became more moveable. Some photographers like Margaret Bourke-White and Walker Evans used their cameras to report the hard conditions of the Depression. All this activity in the arts and popular culture played an important part in the lives of Americans during the nineteen thirties. It not only provided relief from their troubles, but expanded their minds and pushed their imaginations. The tensions and troubles of the Great Depression provided a rich atmosphere for artists and others to produce works that were serious, foolish, or just plain fun. And those works, in turn, helped make life a little better as Americans waited, worked, and hoped for times to improve.
重点解析
1.grow up 成长；长大
I will grow up gradually.
我会慢慢的长大。
2.millions of 数百万的；成百万的
The problem is millions of people are unemployed.
问题是，大批的人都失业了。
3.as well as 也；既…又
They visited some factories, hospitals as well as the school.
他们参观了这所学校，还参观了工厂和医院。
4.a number of 一些；大量的
The research begs a number of questions.
研究绕过了一些问题。
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目。富兰克林·罗斯福在19世纪30年代实施的新政政策改变了美国政府的面貌，新总统和国会通过了帮助农民、加强银行体系并为数百万工人提供工作的立法。罗斯福政策的结果之一是美国国内有组织的劳工运动变得更为强劲。在本周的系列节目中，莎拉·朗和道格·约翰逊将继续讲述富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福担任总统时的故事。
19世纪20年代，劳工领袖在组织工人方面几乎没有获得成功。三位共和党总统和全国性的保守主义浪潮，使他们无法获得更多成员或增加其谈判能力。在1929年经济大萧条开始时，有组织的劳动力数量进一步下降。到1933年，美国的工会会员人数不到三百万。但是，到19世纪30年代末，超过150万美国工人加入了工会。罗斯福政府提出的新法律使劳动力增长成为可能。1933年的《国家工业复苏法》赋予劳工领袖组织和代表工人的权利，最高法院裁定这项法律是非法的。但是另一项法律，1935年的瓦格纳《劳动关系法》，帮助工会增加他们的权力。
美国传统工会的大多数领导人，对他们获得的新权力，反应都比较迟缓。他们是保守派，代表具有某些技能的工人，如木工或焊工。他们很少组织有其他技能的工人。但是，一个新的劳工领袖团体利用新的法律，按行业而不是按技能组织工会。他们认为，如果工人和同一间工厂中的其他工人联合起来提出共同的要求，他们将拥有更多的权力。这些新领导人开始组织汽车工业、钢铁工业和其他主要工业的工会。新运动的领袖是煤矿工人们的领袖约翰·L·刘易斯。刘易斯是一位身强力壮、观点坚定的领导人，他十二岁起就开始在煤矿工作。国劳工联合会的大多数领导人并未给他们提供多少帮助。
因此，刘易斯和其他几个工会的负责人组成了自己的小组，按照行业而非技能来组织工会。他们称自己的小组为工业组织党派，他们还试图希望马上能有会员加入。工业组织党派成功地组织了几个主要行业的工人。但是，这也是经过艰苦抗争才得以成功。工业组织党派的第一场大战，是与大型汽车公司通用汽车对抗。1935年下旬，通用汽车公司几家工厂的工人开始坐在机器旁边进行“静坐”罢工，以要求更好的工资和工作条件。44天后，通用汽车投降了。公司认可了汽车工人工会有权代表通用汽车工人，同时同意进行一项有关新工作协议的谈判。福特汽车公司的斗争更加激烈了，福特公司的保安殴打工会组织者和工人。但福特公司最终同意与新的工会谈判。
钢铁行业的情况也是如此。但是，新的劳工领袖成功地成为全国钢铁行业工人的官方代表。到1938年，工业组织党派赢得了组织主要工业的战斗。在以后的几年里，它将与更传统的美国劳工联合会联合成立一个组织，这个组织仍然是当今美国最重要的劳工组织，即美国劳工联盟。罗斯福总统并不总是劳工团体的积极支持者。但他也不像之前的三位共和党总统那样，一直支持大企业。事实上，罗斯福经常公开反对民主国家中大企业的危险。这些演讲引起了许多传统商界和保守派国家领导人的极大关注。1935年，罗斯福逐渐宽容的政策使许多富裕的美国人担心，总统是社会主义者、独裁者或疯子。
例如，前总统赫伯特·胡佛谴责罗斯福的新政政策是对“个人自由的整体观念”的抨击。商界领袖摩根大通银行的家人告诉来访者，不要在摩根面前提及罗斯福的名字。他们说，这会让他的血压升高。保守党对罗斯福的这种反对情绪，在整个1935年和1936年稳步增长。许多美国人真的担心罗斯福政府的扩张是走向独裁的第一步。他们担心罗斯福和民主党试图获得权力，就像德国的纳粹、意大利的法西斯和俄罗斯的共产党那样。共和党在1936年夏天举行了总统会议，党内代表们选择了阿尔弗雷德·兰登作为罗斯福的反对者竞选总统。兰登先生是农场大州堪萨斯州的州长。他是一位成功的石油生产商，持有保守的商业观点。但是，他对罗斯福新政中的一些社会变革持开放态度。共和党人希望他能吸引那些支持温和改革派的普通美国人，但又对罗斯福的社会政策表示担忧。
民主党提名罗斯福和副总统约翰加纳连任。1936年总统竞选的主要议题是富兰克林·罗斯福本人，罗斯福像确信自己能赢得选举一样在全国各地竞选。他和欢呼的人群一起大笑，告诉他们新政有助于改善他们的生活。在纽约，罗斯福发表了一次重要讲话，承诺如果他连任，将继续当前政府的工作。“当然，我们将继续努力改善美国工人的工作条件。“我们会继续努力，使美国家庭和农场获得廉价电力、更好更便宜的交通、低利率、更健全的家庭融资、更好的银行业、安全问题的监管、国家间的互惠贸易等。“而且，我的朋友们，对于所有这些，我们才刚刚开始斗争。”共和党候选人阿尔弗雷德·兰登在竞选开始时说，罗斯福的许多新政方案都是好的。但他表示，共和党政府可以花费更少的款项，而把工作做得更好。然而，随着竞选的进行，兰登的话语变得更加有力。他对罗斯福的许多方案进行抨击。
竞选变得越来越激烈。罗斯福说，他的对手只关心他们的钱，而不关心其他美国人。“我接受他们的仇恨，兰登的支持者指责罗斯福破坏了美国的经济传统，并且威胁到民主制度。这个国家四十年来从未见过如此激烈的运动，但当它结束时，这个国家也见证了历史上最伟大的一次胜利。在1936年的选举中，富兰克林·罗斯福以美国历史上获得最多的选票数击败了阿尔弗雷德·兰登。罗斯福赢得了除缅因州和佛蒙特州以外的所有州的选票。巨大的选举胜利标志着罗斯福的声望达到了顶峰。在接下来的节目中，我们将探讨他在第二届政府中面临的许多问题。
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