(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Steve Ember. And I'm Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English Program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today we tell about Burl Ives. He won a Grammy award for his music and an Oscar for his acting. In nineteen-fifty-eight Burl Ives appeared in the western movie, The Big Country. He played the part of a man who controls huge amounts of land. In the movie, he is not a nice man. He is mean and respects nothing but power. He causes problems for the people around him. Burl Ives won the Academy Award Oscar that year as the Best Supporting Actor. People who knew him well say it was really great acting. That is because Burl Ives was one of the nicest men they had ever met. Burl Ives was not mean. He was a large, friendly man who loved to make people happy with his acting and especially with his music. Except when he acting in a movie, Burl Ives always smiled. He loved making music and wanted other people to enjoy the music he made. If you listen closely to his voice, you can tell he was smiling when he sang his songs. Listen now as he sings "Blue Tail Fly".
Burl Ives was one of seven children. He was born in June, nineteen-oh-nine in the middle western state of Illinois. Mister Ives said he began learning songs as a very little boy. His grandmother taught him to sing while she smoked tobacco in a pipe. As a young man, Burl wanted to teach history. So, he began attending Eastern Illinois Teacher's College in nineteen-twenty-seven. But he was not a very good student. The president of the college told him one day he would never be a very good teacher. He said, "Burl why don't you look around a little. You are always singing, why don't you try that." Burl Ives said he did not even go back to his room to pick up his clothing. He just went down the road and never looked back. He took his guitar and began traveling around the United States. He worked at many jobs. He also learned many songs. Songs from cowboys. Songs from farmers. Songs from people who worked on ships. Songs from people who worked in mines. He learned songs from anyone who would teach him something new. Burl Ives went to New York City in the early nineteen-thirties. He was admitted to the famous Julliard School of Music to study. He also got jobs in New York. He sang in small eating and drinking places. He sang the songs he had learned. By nineteen-thirty-eight he was performing in theaters. He was singing on the radio and was part of a group called The Weavers, which became famous. He began recording the folk songs he had learned. Critics said no one ever sung them better. He recorded "Blue Tail Fly" and made it famous. Another of his songs that became very popular was called, "Big Rock Candy Mountain". The song is a funny story about a homeless man who tells of a place where you do not have to work, where food is free and tobacco is free. It is a place called Big Rock Candy Mountain. Songs like "Big Rock Candy Mountain" could be heard on the Burl Ives radio program each week. The radio program was called The Wayfarin' Stranger. It was first broadcast in nineteen-forty. Burl Ives had recorded many songs but he did not have a major hit until nineteen-forty-seven. That song was "Lavender Blue". During the nineteen fifties, Burl Ives recorded hundreds of songs on many albums. He also began serious movie work. He had played the part of Big Daddy in the famous Tennessee Williams play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on Broadway in New York City. He was asked to play the same part in the movie of the same name. Movie experts praised his powerful performance as Big Daddy. The movie was released in nineteen-fifty-eight, the same year he won his Oscar for the movie Big Country. In nineteen-sixty-one, Burl Ives recorded a song that became another major hit. It made the top ten list of hit songs in country and western and popular music. The song was "Little Bitty Tear". "Little Bitty Tear" was followed a year later with another hit, "It's Just My Funny Way of Laughin". The song earned Burl Ives a Grammy Award that year for Best Country and Western Recording. Burl Ives never seemed to slow down. He was always extremely busy. He had another hit record in nineteen-sixty-four with his recording of " Pearly Shells". And, while he was recording songs for adults, he was also recording songs for children. It is his songs for children that will perhaps keep Burl Ives' memory alive for many years to come. His most famous are two Christmas songs, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer", and "Frosty the Snowman". These songs were used in cartoon movies first shown on American television in the nineteen-fifties and sixties. Burl Ives provided the voice of some of the animals and people. He also sang most of the songs. A snowman in one of the movies even looks like Burl Ives. Both of these moves are still shown on television during the Christmas holiday season each year. They have become Christmas traditions. Here, Burl Ives sings "Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer". Burl Ives never really retired. He moved to the northwestern state of Washington in his last years, but he continued to sing as long as he could. He died of cancer on April Fourteenth, nineteen-ninety-five. He was eighty-five years old.
重点解析
1.look around 游览
At that time, they only gave us one-day off to look around the city.
在那时，他们只给我们一天的时间自由游览该城市。
2.be admitted to加入
In contrast, California gets no new House seats for the first time since it was admitted to the Union in 1850.
相反，加利福尼亚州自1850年后加入合众国后则一直没有得到额外的席位。
3.go back 回去
You know, new clothes are best, and so are old acquaintances. I think, you'd better go back.
衣不如新， 人不如旧， 依我看来， 你还是回去好些。
4.slow down减速
Always remember that your audiences do not have the luxury to rewind or slow down your speech.
请时刻记住，你的听众并不拥有这样的奢侈--把你的演讲减速或者重播。
5.look like看起来像
What did these tattoos look like?
这些纹身看起来像什么？
6.as long as只要
Banks could rediscount the bills with the ECB but they would not do so as long as they earned more on the bills than on the cash.
银行可以拿这些国债与欧洲央行进行再贴现，但只要这些国债的收益比现金高，它们就不会这样做。
参考译文
我是史蒂夫·恩贝尔。我是雪莉·格里菲思，这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天我们讲述伯尔·艾夫斯的故事。他作为歌手获得过格莱美奖，作为演员获得过奥斯卡奖。1958年，伯尔·艾夫斯参演了西部片《山河大地》。他扮演一个拥有大量土地的人的角色。在电影里，他不是一个好人。他是个很吝啬而且只尊重权力的人。他给周围的人制造麻烦。伯尔·艾夫斯凭借此片获得了当年的奥斯卡最佳男配角奖。熟悉他的人都说他在这部影片里演的真棒。那是因为伯尔·艾夫斯是他们见过的最好的人之一。伯尔·艾夫斯并不吝啬。他是一个高大、友好的人，他喜欢用他的表演，尤其是他的音乐给人们带来快乐。除了演电影时，伯尔·艾夫斯总是面带微笑。他喜欢创作音乐，希望别人也能欣赏他创作的音乐。如果你仔细听他的声音，你就能知道他唱歌时在微笑。现在我们听他唱《蓝尾巴苍蝇》这首歌。
伯尔·艾夫斯是七个孩子中的一个。他于1909年6月出生在美国中西部的伊利诺斯州。艾夫斯先生说他很小的时候就开始学唱歌了。他祖母会在用烟斗抽烟时教他唱歌。伯尔年轻时想教历史。因此，他于1927年开始就读于东伊利诺斯州师范学院。但是他不是一个很好的学生。这所大学的校长有一天告诉艾夫斯，他将永远不会成为一个很好的老师。他说:“伯尔，你为什么不去四处转转呢?你总是在唱歌，为什么不试试这个呢?”伯尔·艾夫斯说，他甚至没有回房间取自己的衣服。他只是沿着这条路走下去，再也没有回头。他拿着自己的吉他开始在美国各地旅行。他做过许多工作。他还学了许多歌曲，从牛仔歌曲到农民的歌曲，从船上工作人员的歌到矿工的歌曲。他向任何愿意教他新东西的人学习歌曲。伯尔·艾夫斯在20世纪30年代初去了纽约市。他进入了著名的茱莉亚音乐学院学习。他还在纽约找到了工作，在小型餐厅唱歌，唱他学过的歌。1938年，他在剧院演出。他作为“纺织工乐队”的成员在电台里唱歌，这个乐队后来出名了。他开始录制他学过的民谣歌曲。评论家说没有人唱得比他们更好。他录制了《蓝尾巴苍蝇》并使之成名。他另一首非常流行的歌曲叫做《大冰糖山》。这首歌是个关于一个无家可归的人的有趣故事，这个人讲述了一个地方，在那里，你不需要工作，食物是免费的，烟也是免费的。这是一个叫大冰糖山的地方。像《大冰糖山》这样的歌曲每周都能在伯尔艾夫斯的广播节目中听到。这个广播节目叫做《路人甲》。它在1940年首次播出。虽然伯尔·艾夫斯录制过很多的歌曲，但是直到1947年他才有一首大获成功的歌曲，这首歌曲就是《薰衣草蓝》。在20世纪50年代，伯尔·艾夫斯在许多专辑中录制了数百首歌曲。他还开始认真地参与电影工作。他曾在著名的田纳西·威廉姆斯戏剧《热铁皮屋顶上的猫》中扮演《大爸爸》一角，该剧在纽约百老汇上演。人们又请他在同名电影中扮演同一角色。电影专家称赞他扮演“大爸爸”的强有力的表演。这部电影于1958年上映，同年他凭借电影《山河大地》获得奥斯卡奖。1961年，伯尔·艾夫斯录制了另一首大热歌曲。这首歌跻身乡村、西部和流行音乐十大热门歌曲排行榜。这首歌就是《零碎之泪》。一年后，他又有一首大热歌曲《这只是我欢笑的方式》。这首歌为伯尔·艾夫斯赢得了当年的格莱美最佳乡村和西部唱片奖。伯尔·艾夫斯似乎从未放慢脚步。他总是非常忙。1964年，他又录制了一张热卖唱片《珍珠贝壳》。并且，他在为成人录制歌曲的同时，也在为儿童录制歌曲。也许，让伯尔·艾夫斯的记忆在未来的许多年里保持鲜活的就是自己为孩子们演唱的歌曲。他最著名的两首圣诞歌曲是《红鼻子驯鹿鲁道夫》和《雪人雪人》。20世纪五六十年代，这些歌曲出现在首次在美国电视上播放的卡通电影中。伯尔·艾夫斯为一些动物和人类配了声音，他也唱了大部分歌曲。其中一部电影里的雪人甚至长得像伯尔·艾夫斯。现在在每年的圣诞节期间，这两部电影仍在电视上播出。它们已经成为圣诞节的传统。在这里，伯尔·艾夫斯演唱了《红鼻子雨鹿鲁道夫》。伯尔·艾夫斯从未真正退休过。在他生命的最后几年，他搬到了西北部的华盛顿州，但他仍然尽可能地坚持唱歌。他于1995年4月14日死于癌症，享年八十五岁。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
