(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
PEOPLE IN AMERICA -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America. Every week at this time, we tell you a story about people who played a part in the history of the United States. I'm Tony Riggs. Today, Larry West and I tell the story of country and western singer and songwriter, Hank Williams.
That was the record Hank Williams made when he first tried to interest recording companies in his music. None of the companies liked it at the time. But a few years later, the high sharp voice of Hank Williams would cut like a knife through the music world. When he sang his songs, people listened. They are still listening, long after his death. Hank Williams was born in nineteen twenty-three on a small farm near Mount Olive, Alabama.
Like most people at that time in the southern United States, the Williams family was poor. Hank's father could not work. He had been injured in World War One. He spent many years in a hospital when Hank was a boy. The Williams family did not own many things. But it always had music. Hank sang in church. When he was eight years old, he got an old guitar and taught himself to play. From then on, music would be the most important thing in his life.
By the time Hank was fourteen, he had already put together his own group of musicians. They played at dances and parties. They also played at a small local radio station. They were known as "Hank Williams and his Drifting Cowboys." For more than ten years, Hank remained popular locally, but was unknown nationally. Then, in nineteen forty-nine, he recorded his first major hit record. The song was "Lovesick Blues."Hank Williams and his group performed "Lovesick Blues" on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry house in Nashville, Tennessee.
People in the theater would not let him stop singing. They made him sing the song six times. After years of hard work, Hank Williams had become a star. Hank wrote many songs in the years that followed. Singers are still recording them today. They may sing the songs in the country and western style -- the way Hank wrote them. Or they may sing them in other popular styles. Either way, the songs will always be his. Hank Williams wrote both happy songs and sad songs. But the sad songs are remembered best. When Hank sang a sad song, those who listened knew it was about something that had happened to him.
Somehow, he was able to share his feelings in his music. One of the most famous of these sad songs is "Your Cheatin' Heart." One music expert said: "Your Cheatin' Heart" is so sad, it sounds like a judge sentencing somebody to a punishment worse than death itself." "Your Cheatin' Heart" was written in the early nineteen fifties. It has been recorded by more than fifty singers and groups in almost every style of popular music. Many years after Hank Williams' death, new fans of his music have asked why he could put so much of his life into his songs. There is no easy answer to that question. Hank Williams had many problems during his life. He and his wife Audrey did not have a happy marriage. Many of his songs seemed to ask: "Why can't we make this marriage work?" Many people knew that when Hank sang this song, "Cold Cold Heart", he was singing about his wife and their problems. Those who had similar problems felt that Hank was singing about them, too.
Hank Williams drank too much alcohol. Those who knew Hank Williams say he did not have the emotional strength to deal with his problems. They say he often felt he had no control over his life. Everything seemed to be moving too fast. He could not stop. And he could not escape. He had money and fame. But they did not cure his loneliness, his drinking, or his marriage problems. Hank was always surrounded by people, especially after he became famous. None, however, could break through the terrible sadness that seemed to follow him everywhere. One song, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", expresses his feelings of loneliness. When Hank Williams began to record his songs, country and western music was not popular with most Americans. It was the music of the poor farming areas of the South.
However, because Hank's songs told of real-life troubles with such great emotion, something unusual began to happen to his music. Radio stations that had never played country and western music began to play Hank Williams' songs. Famous recording stars who never sang country and western music began recording songs written by Hank Williams. He had created a collection of music that stretched far past himself and his times. Hank Williams' life and career were brief. He died on New Year's Day, nineteen fifty-three. He was twenty-nine years old.
重点解析
1.cut through 穿过
The two men broke out of their cells and cut through a perimeter fence.
这两个人逃出牢房，并越过了围墙。
2.put together 组合;组建
It will be able to put together a governing coalition
它将可以组成一个执政联盟。
3.sentence 判决，宣判
She was sentenced to nine years in prison.
她被判处9年监禁。
4.deal with 处理
The meeting will deal with these issues.
本次会议将就这些问题作出处理。
5.control over 控制；支配
They want more State control over private property
他们希望加强国家对私有财产的控制。
6.real-life 现实的；实在的
Daydreams may seem to be rehearsals for real-life situations.
白日梦可能像是真实情景的预演。
参考译文
《美国人物志》—VOA慢速英语栏目。每周这个时候，我们都会为大家讲述美国历史上的一位重要人物。我是托尼·里格斯。今天，拉里·韦斯特和我将为大家讲述一位乡村西部歌手兼歌曲作家汉克·威廉姆斯的故事。这张唱片是汉克·威廉姆斯首次为引起唱片公司注意而作的音乐。那时没有一家公司喜欢他的歌。但几年后，汉克·威廉姆斯尖锐高昂的嗓音就像小刀一样劈开了音乐世界的大门。当他在唱歌时，人们聆听他的音乐。在他去世很久之后，人们仍在听他的歌。
1923年，汉克·威廉姆斯出生在阿拉巴马州橄榄山附近的一个小农庄里。和那时美国南部的多数人一样，威廉姆斯一家很贫穷。汉克的父亲不能工作。他在一战中受伤了，他多数时间都在医院中度过，而那时汉克还是个小男孩。威廉姆斯一家所拥有的东西不多，但是家中总有音乐，汉克在教堂唱歌。8岁时，他得到了一把旧吉他，他自学吉他。从那时起，音乐成了他生命中最重要的事。14岁的时候，他已经组建了自己的音乐团队。他们在舞会和聚会中演唱。他们还在当地一家小广播站表演。他们的队名是“汉克·威廉姆斯和他的漂泊牛仔”。在十年多的时间里，汉克一直在当地很受欢迎，但是其他地方没人知道他。
1949年，他录制了他的首张热门唱片。这首歌是《Lovesick Blues》。汉克·威廉姆斯和他的团队在田纳西州那什维尔的Grand Ole Opry剧院舞台上表演了这首《Lovesick Blues》。剧院的人们不肯让他停下来，他们让他唱了六次。经过多年努力后，汉克·威廉姆斯成了明星。在接下来的几年里，汉克写了很多歌。歌手们至今仍在演唱这些歌曲。他们以乡村西部音乐形式演唱这些歌曲—这是汉克创作这些歌的风格。或者他们也会以其他流行唱法演唱。不管哪种风格，这些歌将永远属于他。
汉克·威廉姆斯写开心的歌，也写悲伤的歌，但是人们印象最深的还是那些悲伤的歌曲。当汉克·威廉姆斯演唱一首悲伤的歌曲时，听众们知道，这是发生在他身上的事情。他总能在自己的音乐中分享他的感受。其中最出名的歌曲之一是《Your Cheatin' Heart》。一位音乐专家表示：“《Your Cheatin' Heart》这首歌非常忧伤，听起来像是一位法官对某人实施了比死刑还糟糕的刑罚。《Your Cheatin' Heart》创作于20世纪50年代早期。50多位歌手录制过这首歌，几乎包括所有流行音乐风格。
汉克·威廉姆斯去世多年后，他的新粉丝问道，为什么他可以将生活融入他的歌曲之中。要回答这个问题并不简单。汉克·威廉姆斯一生中遇到过很多问题。他和妻子奥德丽的婚姻并不快乐。他的很多歌似乎都在问：“为什么我们的婚姻无法维持？”很多人都知道，当汉克·威廉姆斯唱《Cold Cold Heart》这首歌时，他是在唱他的妻子和他们之间的问题。那些遇到相似问题的人觉得汉克也是在唱他们自己。
汉克·威廉姆斯酗酒。那些认识汉克·威廉姆斯的人说他没有情感力量来支撑他处理自己的问题。他们说他经常觉得无法掌控自己的生活。一切似乎都太快了。他无法停下来，他也无法逃离，他有钱、有名望，但这些无法治愈他的孤独，无法解决他的酗酒和婚姻问题。汉克总是被人们所包围，尤其是在他成名之后。但没有一个人可以突破这种似乎无处不在的可怕悲伤。
《I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry》这首歌表达了他的孤独感。当汉克·威廉姆斯开始演唱自己的歌曲时，多数美国人已经不喜欢乡村和西部音乐了。这是美国南部贫穷农耕地区的音乐。但是，因为汉克的歌曲以强烈的情感讲述现实问题，一些不同的奇妙开始降临他的音乐。从未播放过乡村和西部音乐的无线电台开始播放汉克·威廉姆斯的歌。从未唱过乡村西部乐的著名歌手开始演唱汉克·威廉姆斯写的歌。他创造了一种音乐合集，远远延伸过自己和他的时代。汉克·威廉姆斯的生命和事业都是短暂的。他在1953年元旦去世，年29岁。
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