(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. Today, we tell about Paul Robeson. He was a singer, actor, and civil rights activist. In the nineteen thirties, he was one of the best known and most widely honored black Americans. Later in his life he was condemned for supporting communism and the Soviet Union.
Paul Robeson was born in Princeton, New Jersey in eighteen ninety-eight. His father was a former slave who became the religious leader of a Protestant church. Paul was an excellent student and athlete. Rutgers University in New Jersey gave him money so he could study there. He played four different sports while at Rutgers. He also was the top student in his class. Members of his class believed Paul Robeson would become the leader of black people in America.
Paul Robeson graduated from Rutgers in nineteen nineteen. He attended law school at Columbia University in New York City. He was only the third black person to attend Columbia Law School. On the weekends, he earned money by playing professional football. He also acted in plays. He married Eslanda Cordoza Goode while he was in law school. After he graduated in nineteen twenty-three, he got a job with a group of lawyers in New York. However, he left when he experienced unfair treatment because he was black. He decided not to work as a lawyer. Instead, he wanted to use his ability in theater and music to support African American history and culture.
Robeson became a professional actor. He joined the Provincetown Players, an acting group linked to American playwright Eugene O'Neill. Robeson was the star in two famous productions by Eugene O'Neill in the nineteen twenties. They were "All God's Chillun Got Wings" and "The Emperor Jones." Critics praised his performances. Robeson became the most recognized black actor of his time.
In London, he earned international praise for his leading part in William Shakespeare's great tragic play, "Othello." That was in Nineteen thirty. Thirteen years later, he played "Othello" on Broadway in New York. It was very popular. In "Othello," Robeson played an African general in ancient Venice. He is married to a young white woman. Othello kills his wife after being tricked into believing that she loves someone else. This is how Paul Robeson sounded in "Othello." Paul Robeson also was famous for appearing in the popular American musical play "Show Boat." He performed the play in London in nineteen twenty-eight and on Broadway four years later. He played a riverboat worker. Jerome Kern wrote the music for "Show Boat." Paul Robeson sang the song "Ol' Man River."
Paul Robeson appeared in eleven movies in the nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties. However, he realized that his acting was limited by the small number of parts for black actors. He criticized the American movie industry for not showing the real lives of black people in America. He stopped making movies and decided to sing professionally instead.
Robeson sang many kinds of music. He sang folk music from many countries. He sang songs to support the labor and social movements of his time. He sang songs for peace and justice. And, he sang African American spiritual music. One of his famous songs was this spiritual, "Balm in Gilead."
Paul Robeson was recognized around the world for his fight for civil rights for black Americans. Separation of black people and white people was legal in the United States. Black people did not have the same rights as white people. They were not treated equally. For example, Robeson could not be served in some eating places in the United States. Violence against black people was common. Angry mobs of whites sometimes killed black people, especially in the southern United States.
In the late nineteen thirties, Paul Robeson became involved in national and international movements that sought peace and better labor conditions. He also supported independence for African colonies from their European rulers. He learned the languages and folk songs of other cultures. He said these folk songs expressed the same feelings that were in African American music. He learned to speak, write and sing in more than twenty languages. Robeson traveled a great deal in Europe during the nineteen thirties. He found that black people were treated better in Europe than in the United States. He met members of liberal political organizations, socialists and African nationalists. He also met many working people and poor people.
For many years, he performed in concerts in many countries. The songs he sang supported the struggle for racial justice for black Americans, and for civil rights and economic justice for people around the world. He refused to perform at concerts where the people were separated by race. He said: "The idea of my concerts is to suggest that all men are brothers because of their music."
In nineteen thirty-four, Paul Robeson made the first of many trips to the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union, he said, he was treated as an equal of whites for the first time in his life. He declared his friendship for the Soviet Union. And he spoke about the need for peaceful co-existence between the United States and the Soviet Union. Conservative groups in the United States strongly opposed his friendship with the Soviet Union and his support for other liberal issues.
Paul Robeson went to Spain in nineteen thirty-eight during the Spanish Civil War. He sang for Spanish civilians. And he sang for the Loyalist forces fighting for the Spanish republic. One of the songs he sang was this Spanish Loyalist song, "The Four Insurgent Generals." In the nineteen forties, many people in the United States were strongly opposed to Paul Robeson's political beliefs. They said he was too liberal or extreme. Next week, we will tell you about how opposition to his political beliefs affected the last part of his life.
重点解析
1.condemn 谴责
The government issued a statement condemning the killings.
政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
2.unfair treatment 不公平待遇
People are indignant at the unfair treatment he received.
人们为他受到的不公正待遇愤愤不平。
3.praise 赞美，歌颂；表扬
The American president praised Turkey for its courage.
美国总统称赞了土耳其的勇气。
4.criticize 批评
The decision was criticized by environmental groups.
这个决定受到了环保团体的批评。
5.fight for 为…而战
I hope they continue to fight for equal justice after I'm gone
我希望我走了以后他们能继续为司法公正而战。
6.be involved in 参与
They have been involved in a campaign of deceit.
他们参与了一系列的欺骗活动。
参考译文
我是雪莉·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》。今天我们要讲述保罗·罗伯逊的故事。他是歌手、演员也是人权运动家。上世纪30年代，他是最知名最受尊敬的非裔美国人之一。在人生后阶段，他因支持共产主义和苏联而受谴责。1898年，保罗·罗伯逊在新泽西普林斯顿出生。他的父亲之前是一名奴隶，之后成为圣士会教堂的宗教领袖。
保罗是一名优秀的学生和运动员。受到新泽西罗格斯大学的资助，他得以在这所学校读书。在罗格斯大学，他参加了四项不同的体育运动。他还是班里的优等生。班上的同学认为保罗·罗伯逊将成为美国黑人的领袖。保罗·罗伯逊1919年从罗格斯大学毕业。他去了纽约州哥伦比亚大学攻读法律专业。他是哥伦比亚大学法学院唯一的三名黑人学生之一。周末的时候，他靠打职业足球挣钱。他还演戏剧。还在法学院读书时，他和埃斯兰达·古德·罗伯逊结婚了。1923年毕业后，他在纽约的一所律师所工作。但他因黑人身份而受到了不公正的对待，因此他离开了。他决定不当律师。
他希望依靠自己在剧院和音乐上的能力支持非裔美国人的历史和文化。罗伯逊成为了一名专业演员。他加入普罗文斯顿剧团，这是一个和美国剧作家尤金·奥尼尔有关联的戏剧艺术团体。上世纪20年代，罗伯逊因出演尤金·奥尼尔两部著作而成为明星。这两部剧是《上帝的儿女都有翅膀》和《琼斯皇》。评论家赞扬了他的表演。罗伯逊成为那个时代最被认可的黑人演员。在伦敦，他因主演威廉·莎士比亚的四大悲剧之一《奥赛罗》而收获国际好评。那是在1930年。
13年后，他在纽约百老汇出演《奥赛罗》。这部剧很受欢迎。在《奥赛罗》一剧中，罗伯逊扮演古威尼斯时期的一位非洲将军。他和一位年轻的白人女性结婚。奥赛罗受人挑拨误以为她爱上了别人，因为杀了她。以下是他在《奥赛罗》的声音。保罗·罗伯逊也因出演美国流行音乐剧《演出船》而出名。1928年，他在伦敦出演该剧，四年后在百老汇演再次出演该剧。他在其中饰演船上的一名员工。杰罗姆·科恩为该剧写歌。保罗·罗伯逊演唱了一首《Ol' Man River》。
上世纪20年代和30年代，保罗·罗伯逊共出演了11部电影。但他意识到自己的演技受到了限制，电影中只有小部分角色是给黑人的。他批评美国电影行业没有展现美国黑人的真实生活。他不再拍电影并决定成为专业歌手。罗伯逊演唱了很多种歌。他唱很多国家的民乐，他用歌唱支持那个时代的工人和社会运动。他歌唱和平和正义，而且他还唱非裔美国人的圣歌。他最著名的歌曲之一就是这首圣歌《Balm in Gilead》。
保罗·罗伯逊为美国黑人争取民权的斗争得到世界认可。在美国，黑人和白人隔离是合法的。黑人无法享有和白人一样的权利。他们遭到了不公平对待。例如，美国一些吃饭的地方不招待黑人。暴力对待黑人的事件很普遍。有时愤怒的黑人暴徒会杀害黑人，尤其是在美国南部。上世纪30年代后期，保罗·罗伯逊参与国家和国际运动寻求和平和更好的工作条件。他还支持非洲殖民地从欧洲统治者手中独立。他学习其他国家的语言和民歌。他说这些民歌表达了和非裔美国音乐一样的情感。他学着用20多种语言表达、写作和歌唱。
罗伯逊在上世纪30年代去过欧洲很多地方。他发现黑人在欧洲的待遇比在美国要好。他和自由政治组织的成员、社会主义者和非洲民族主义者会面，他还会见了很多工人阶级和穷人。多少年来，他在很多国家开演唱会。他唱的歌是在支持美国黑人的种族平等斗争，支持世界人民民权和经济公平的斗争。他拒绝在隔离种族的音乐会上演出。他说：“我的音乐会是为了展现因为音乐所有人都是兄弟的想法。”
1934年，保罗·罗伯逊首次前往苏联，之后也多次前往。在苏联，他说这是他一生中首次得到和白人一样的对待。他宣告了他和苏联的友谊。他谈到了美国和苏联和平共存的需要。美国保守党强烈反对他和苏联的友谊和他对其他自由问题的支持。1938年西班牙内战期间，保罗·罗伯逊前往西班牙，为西班牙民众歌唱。他为与那些争取西班牙共和国而斗争的忠诚派力量歌唱。其中之一是一首西班牙忠诚之歌《The Four Insurgent Generals》。上世纪40年代，美国很多人都强烈反对保罗·罗伯逊的政治信仰。他们说他太过自由、极端了。下一周，我们将讲述对他政治信仰的反对声如何影响他的后半生。
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