(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 about a person important in the history of the United States. This week, we tell about Billie Holiday. She was one of the greatest jazz singers in America.
That was Billie Holiday singing one of her famous songs. She and Arthur Herzog wrote it. Billie Holiday's life was a mixture of success and tragedy. Her singing expressed her experiences and her feelings. Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan in nineteen fifteen in Baltimore, Maryland. Her parents were Sadie Fagan and Clarence Holiday. They were young when their daughter was born. Their marriage failed because Clarence Holiday was not at home much. He traveled as a musician with some of the earliest jazz bands.
Sadie Fagan cleaned people's houses. But she could not support her family on the money she earned. So she moved to New York City where the pay was higher. She left her daughter in Baltimore with members of her family. The young girl Eleanora Fagan changed her name to Billie, because she liked a movie star, Billie Dove. Billie Holiday loved to sing. She sang and listened to music whenever she could. One place near her home had a machine that played records. The building was a brothel where women who were prostitutes had sex with men for money. Billie cleaned floors and did other jobs for the prostitutes so she could listen to the records. It was there that young Billie first heard the records of famous black American blues artists of the nineteen twenties. She heard Bessie Smith sing the blues. And she heard Louis Armstrong play the horn. Both musicians had a great influence on her. Billie Holiday once said: "I do not think I'm singing. I feel like I am playing a horn. What comes out is what I feel. I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That is all I know."
Here is Billie Holiday singing a popular song of the Nineteen thirties, "More Than You Know." Billie Holiday had a tragic childhood. When she was ten, a man sexually attacked her. She was accused of causing the man to attack her and sent to a prison for children. In nineteen twenty-seven, Billie joined her mother in Harlem, the area of New York City where African-Americans lived. Billie's mother mistakenly sent her to live in a brothel. Billie became a prostitute at the age of thirteen. One day, she refused the sexual demands of a man. She was arrested and spent four months in prison.
Two years later, Billie's mother became sick and could not work. Fifteen-year-old Billie tried to find a job. Finally, she was given a job singing at a place in Harlem where people went at night to drink alcohol and listen to music. For the next seventeen years, Holiday was one of the most popular nightclub singers in New York. She always wore a long white evening dress. And she wore large white flowers in her black hair. She called herself "Lady Day." In the early nineteen thirties, a music producer, John Hammond, heard Billie Holiday sing in a nightclub. He called her the best jazz singer he had ever heard. He brought famous people to hear her sing. Hammond produced Holiday's first records. He got the best jazz musicians to play. They included Benny Goodman on clarinet, Teddy Wilson on piano, Roy Eldridge on trumpet and Ben Webster on saxophone. They recorded many famous songs with Billie Holiday. "I Wished on the Moon" is one of them.
In the late nineteen thirties, Billy Holiday sang with Artie Shaw's band as it traveled around the United States. She was one of the first black singers to perform with a white band. But racial separation laws in America made travel difficult for her. During this time, a new nightclub opened in the area of New York called Greenwich Village. It was the first club that had both black and white performers. And it welcomed both black and white people to hear the performers. The nightclub was called Cafe Society.
It was here that Billy Holiday first sang a song called "Strange Fruit." A school teacher named Lewis Allan had written it for her. The song was about injustice and oppression of black people in the southern part of the United States. It told about how mobs of white men had killed black men by hanging them from trees. Many people objected to the song. It was unlike any other popular song. But it was a huge hit. Here is Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit."
In the nineteen forties, Holiday started using the illegal drug heroin. Soon her body needed more and more of the drug. It began to affect her health. In nineteen forty-seven, Billie Holiday was arrested for possessing illegal drugs. She was found guilty and sentenced to nine months in prison. When she was released, New York City officials refused to give her a document that permitted her to work in any place that served alcoholic drinks. This meant Holiday no longer could sing in nightclubs and jazz clubs. She could sing only in theaters and concert halls. Ten days after her release from jail, she performed at New York's famous Carnegie Hall. People filled the place to hear her sing. This is one of the songs she sang at that concert. It is called "I Cover the Waterfront."
In nineteen fifty-six, Billie Holiday wrote a book about her life. The book was called "Lady Sings the Blues." A friend at the New York Post newspaper, William Dufty, helped her write the book. A few months later, she was arrested again for possessing illegal drugs. But instead of going to prison, she was permitted to seek treatment to end her dependence on drugs. The treatment was successful.
That same year, she performed her second concert at Carnegie Hall. Here is one of the songs Holiday sang that night. It is called "Lady Sings the Blues." She and Herbie Nichols wrote it.Billy Holiday's health was ruined by using illegal drugs and by drinking too much alcohol. Her last performance was in nineteen fifty-nine. She had to be led off the stage after singing two songs. She died that year. She was only forty-four. But Lady Day lives on through her recordings that continue to influence the best jazz singers.
重点解析
1.express 表达
He expressed grave concern at American attitudes.
他对美国的态度表达了严肃关注。
2.tragic 悲痛的；不幸的
It was just a tragic accident.
这只是一场悲惨的事故。
3.mistakenly 错误地
He mistakenly believed that she was married.
他误以为她已经结婚了。
4.The song was about injustice and oppression of black people in the southern part of the United States.
oppression 压迫
Where there is oppression there is resistance.
哪里有压迫哪里就有反抗。
5.Many people objected to the song.
object to 对...反对
A lot of people will object to the book
很多人都会对这本书表示反感。
6.It began to affect her health.
affect 影响
More than seven million people have been affected by drought.
七百多万多人受到了干旱的影响。
参考译文
我是雪梨·格里菲斯。我是史蒂夫·恩贝尔。这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。每周我们都会讲述美国历史上的一名重要人物。本周，我们将讲述比莉·荷莉戴的故事。她是美国最伟大的爵士歌手之一。这是比莉·荷莉戴最出名的歌曲之一。她和阿瑟·赫尔佐克共同创作了这首歌。 比莉·荷莉戴的一生成功和悲剧交织。她的歌曲表达了自己的经历个感受。
1915年，比莉·荷莉戴出生于马里兰的巴尔的摩，其名字是埃莉诺拉·费根。她的父母分别是莎蒂·费根以及克拉伦斯·荷莉戴。他们的女儿出生时，两个人都还很年轻。他们的婚姻告终，因为克拉伦斯·荷莉戴经常不在家。作为音乐家，他和一些早期的爵士乐队在外演出。莎蒂·费根为别人打扫房子，但是仅靠这些钱不足以维持家庭。所以她搬到纽约市，这里的薪水会高一些。她将女儿留在巴尔的摩的亲戚家。年轻的埃莉诺拉·费根将名字改成了比莉，因为比莉·多夫是她喜欢的一个明星。比莉·荷莉戴喜欢唱歌。只要有时间，她就唱歌听歌。在她家附近的一个地方有一台机器能够放录音。这个地方是个妓院，这里的女人是靠卖身赚钱的妓女。比莉给这些妓女们清理地板还做一些其他工作，这样她就能听录音带。也是在那里，比莉第一次听到了1920年代著名美国蓝调艺术家的录音带。她听贝西·史密斯唱蓝调，听路易斯·阿姆斯特朗吹号。两位音乐家都对比莉有着很大的影响。比莉·荷莉戴曾说：“我认为我不是在唱歌。我感觉我像是在吹号。吹出的声音就是我的感受，我讨厌直白地唱歌。我不得不变调用自己的方式唱歌。这就是我所知的。”以下是比莉·荷莉戴演唱1930年代最流行的一首歌《More Than You Know》。
比莉·荷莉戴有一个悲惨的童年。10岁的时候，一个男人对她进行了性侵。而她却因造成男人对她的攻击而被送进儿童监狱。1927年，比莉回到母亲身边，来到纽约市的黑人住宅区，这里住的都是非裔美国人。比莉的母亲错误地将她送至一家妓院居住。在13岁的时候，比莉成了妓女。一天，她拒绝了一名男性的性要求，她被捕了并在监狱关押了四个月。两年后，比莉的母亲生病无法工作，15岁的比莉尝试着找工作。最后，她在黑人住宅区的一个地方唱歌，夜晚，人们到这里喝酒听音乐。
在接下来的17年里，荷莉戴成为了纽约最受欢迎的夜店歌手之一。她总是穿着一条常常的白色晚礼服，头戴一朵大白花并称自己为“戴夫人”。1930年代早期，音乐制作人约翰·哈蒙德在一家夜店听到了比莉·荷莉戴的歌声。他称她是自己见过的最好的爵士歌手。他将比莉介绍给名人，让他们听她唱歌。 哈蒙德制作了荷莉戴的第一支专辑，他邀请最好的爵士音乐家演奏。其中包括演奏单簧管的班尼·古德曼、弹钢琴的泰迪·威尔森、吹喇叭的罗伊·埃尔德里奇以及吹萨克斯的本·韦伯斯特。他们和比莉共同演奏了很多著名歌曲，《I Wished on the Moon》就是其中之一。1930年代晚期，在亚提·萧的乐队周游美国时，比莉·荷莉戴和他们一起演奏。她是首批与白人乐队合作的黑人歌手之一。但是美国的种族隔离制度让她的环游演出变得困难。那段时期，一家新夜店在纽约地区的一个叫做格林威治村的地方营业。这是第一家拥有白人和黑人表演家的俱乐部。夜店欢迎黑人和白人前去听表演者的演唱。这家夜店叫做咖啡公社。就是在这里比莉·荷莉戴首次演唱了《Strange Fruit》。一位叫做路易斯·艾伦的学校老师为她写了这首歌。这首歌是关于美国南方地区黑人所受到的不公正和压迫。歌中讲述了白人暴徒是如何杀害黑人的。很多人反对这首歌。这首歌和任何其他流行歌都不一样，但是却取得了巨大的成功。请听比莉·荷莉戴演唱《Strange Fruit》
1940年代，荷莉戴开始使用毒品海洛因。很快她的身体就需要越来越多的毒品，她的健康也受到了影响。1947年，比莉·荷莉戴因藏有毒品而被捕。她被判有罪并被判了9个月。当她刑满释放时，纽约官方拒绝给她文件也不允许她去任何提供酒精服务的地方工作。这意味着荷莉戴再也不能在夜店或爵士俱乐部唱歌。她只能在剧院和音乐厅唱歌。从监狱释放10天后，她在纽约著名的卡内基音乐厅表演。来听她唱歌的人坐满了大厅。这是她在音乐厅内表演曲目之一《I Cover the Waterfront》。1956年，比莉·荷莉戴写了一本讲述她生平的书籍《布鲁斯歌后》。一位在《纽约邮报》工作的朋友威廉·达夫迪帮助她写这本书。几个月后，她再一次因藏有毒品而被捕。但是她被没有入狱，而是被允许寻求治疗消除她对毒品的依赖。治疗成功了。同年，她在卡内基音乐厅进行了第二场演出。这是她当晚演唱曲目之一。这首歌是《布鲁斯歌后》。她和贺比·尼科尔斯共同创作了这首歌。比莉·荷莉戴的健康被毒品和酒精所摧毁。她最后一次演出是在1959年。她唱了两首歌后，不得不下台。那一年，她去世了，年仅44岁。但是戴夫人永远活在她的音乐里，继续影响着最好的爵士歌手。
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