(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Steve Ember. And I'm Barbara Klein with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today we tell about Beverly Sills. Her clear soprano voice and lively spirit made her one of the most famous performers in the world of opera. Sills worked hard to make opera an art form that the general public could enjoy. She spent the later part of her career as a strong cultural leader for three major performing arts centers in New York City.
That was Beverly Sills performing a song from the opera "The Tales of Hoffman" by the French composer Jacques Offenbach. Sills is singing the role of Olympia, a female robot who keeps breaking down while singing a series of high notes. This difficult aria gives a good example of the sweet and expressive voice that made Beverly Sills famous.
Beverly Sills was born Belle Silverman in nineteen twenty-nine. Her family lived in the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Morris, came from Romania and her mother, Shirley, was Russian. Sills said that her father believed that a person could live the real American dream only with an educated mind. Part of her early education came in the form of listening.
Beverly's mother played old opera records. The young child learned to sing by repeating the words of the songs. Shirley Silverman pushed Beverly at a young age to become a performer. By the age of four Beverly was singing on a weekly children's radio program and also making radio advertisements.
Beverly also had roles in several short movies. By the age of nine, she had a voice teacher, Estelle Liebling, who taught her the art of coloratura. Coloratura is a method of singing in which notes are added to make a part of a song more complex. Most coloratura sopranos can sing very high notes.
Beverly graduated from professional school in nineteen forty-five. She then started singing with traveling opera companies performing the works of such composers as Gilbert and Sullivan. During these ten years she also made guest appearances at opera companies throughout America. She tried seven times to audition and be accepted into the New York City Opera. Finally, in nineteen fifty-five she succeeded. Also that year, Beverly Sills met Peter Greenough while she was performing in Cleveland, Ohio. She married him the next year and moved to Cleveland.
Sills continued singing for the New York City Opera and traveled back and forth to Cleveland. In nineteen fifty-nine she had a daughter named Meredith. Two years later, she had a son, Peter. Beverly Sills and her husband soon learned that their daughter was deaf.
They also found out that their son had major developmental problems. He was mentally handicapped and autistic. In nineteen sixty-one, Sills stopped singing to take care of her children during this difficult time. Her daughter slowly learned to go to school and lead a normal life. But her son later had to live in a care center with medical professionals.
In time, Beverly Sills returned to work. Here she talks about how her family's situation changed her professionally. The recording is part of a two thousand six documentary movie about her life:
BEVERLY SILLS: "My whole attitude about life is different and naturally it affected my singing. It affected my whole attitude about my career. How can I be affected by a trivial thing that someone will say to me backstage, that perhaps that they did not like my singing? How can I be affected by that? That's something that's a million miles from me! I felt as far as my singing was concerned that the only person I really had to please was me."
Beverly Sills' big break into fame took place in nineteen sixty-six when she performed Cleopatra in Handel's "Julius Cesar." Her performances received some of the greatest critical praise of her career. Here is a song from that opera.
Two years later Sills received more praise for her role in the French opera "Manon." One critic wrote that if he had made a list of the wonders of New York City to give a traveler, he would put Beverly Sills as "Manon" at the top of the list. She would even be ahead of the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building! Here is Beverly Sills singing the part of Manon.
Over the next twenty years Beverly Sills became known as "the queen of American opera." In addition to singing, she often appeared on popular television shows. Audiences liked her because of her laughter and funny jokes. Most American opera singers at the time went to Europe for training and jobs. But Sills learned her art in America and that's where she performed. She limited her visits to foreign countries so she could always be near her children.
When she did perform internationally, critics highly praised her performances. In nineteen seventy-three she performed Donizetti's "Lucia de Lammermoor" at Covent Garden in London. Here is the famous mad scene where Lucia becomes wild with sadness over a lost love. It is one of the more difficult songs in opera to sing, but Sills performs the aria beautifully.
Beverly Sills retired from singing in nineteen eighty. But she did not leave the opera world. She became director of the New York City Opera. For eight years she worked hard to modernize the City Opera. She also raised millions of dollars to keep it operating. She later held other important positions, including chairwoman of the board of supervisors for New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. In two thousand two, she became chairwoman of New York's Metropolitan Opera House before retiring for goodthree years later.
Beverly Sills died in two thousand seven of lung cancer. She was seventy-eight. She once said that she had never been a happy woman. But she said she had always been able to feel cheerful because her work kept her going.
We leave you with Beverly Sills singing the role of Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi's opera "La Traviata." In this magical performance you can hear the joyous celebration she found in music.
重点解析
1.a series of 一系列的
Perhaps the feeling of terror is like a series of clicks, speeding up our clock.
也许，恐怖的感觉就像是一系列的滴答声加快了我们的时钟。
2.take care of照顾
I always used to laugh to myself when I heard people say that we need to take care of ourselves in order to be able to take care of others.
我听到一些人说要照顾好我们自己，这样我们才有能力去照顾好别人。 不知道为什么，当我听到这句话的时候，我经常笑我自己。
3.in time 及时
The jet was descending steeply, but its pilot was able to pull it out just in time.
这架喷气式飞机直线下降，但飞行员及时制止了飞机的俯冲。
4.affected by 受到...的影响
I hope your plans in favour of the --- shire will not be affected by his being in the neighbourhood.
你既然喜欢某某郡，打算在那里工作，我但愿你不要因为他在附近而影响了你原来的计划。
5.in addition to除...之外
So what should we do to promote peace, in addition to the proposals mentioned above?
那么，除了上述提到的方案外，我们应该采取什么行动来促进和平呢？
6.lead to由于
His business went under because of competition from the large corporations.
由于大公司的竞争，他的生意陷入了困境。
参考译文
我是史蒂夫·恩伯，我是芭芭拉·克莱恩，这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天我们讲述贝弗利·希尔斯的故事。她清晰的女高音和活泼的精神使她成为世界上最著名的歌剧演员之一。希尔斯努力使歌剧变成一种普通大众可以欣赏的艺术。生涯后期的希尔斯是纽约市三大表演艺术中心的一个强大的文化领袖。
下面这首是贝弗利·希尔斯表演的由法国作曲家雅克·奥芬巴赫创作的歌剧中的一首歌。席尔斯正在以奥林匹亚这个角色演唱歌曲。奥林匹亚是一个女机器人，她正在崩溃中演唱着一系列高音。这首有难度的咏叹调是展现希尔斯甜美而富有表现力的声音的一个很好的例子，正是这幅嗓音让她成名。
贝弗利·希尔斯出生于1929年，她原名叫贝尔·西尔弗曼。她的家人住在纽约布鲁克林的皇冠高地。她的父亲莫里斯来自罗马尼亚，母亲雪莉则是俄罗斯人。希尔斯说，她父亲认为只有受过教育的人才能实现真正的美国梦。她早期教育的一部分来自倾听。
贝弗利的母亲常播放一些老歌剧唱片。小希尔斯通过重复歌曲的歌词来学习唱歌。雪莉·西尔弗曼在贝弗利很小的时候就推动她成为一名表演者。贝弗利四岁时就开始在儿童广播节目中唱歌，还拍了广播广告。
贝弗利也曾出演过几部短片。九岁时，贝弗利有了一名叫埃斯特尔·利布林声乐老师教她花腔艺术。花腔乐是一种演唱方法，这种方法通过添加音符使歌曲的一部分更加复杂。大多数花腔女高音歌手都能唱很高的音。贝弗利于1945年从专业学校毕业。之后，她开始在巡回演出的歌剧公司演唱吉尔伯特和沙利文等作曲家的作品。在这十年间，她还在美国各地的歌剧公司做过客串演出。她试了七次试镜，最终被纽约歌剧院录取。最后，在1955年，她成功了。同年，贝弗利·希尔斯在俄亥俄州克利夫兰演出时遇到了彼得·格里诺。第二年她嫁给了他，并且搬到了克利夫兰。
希尔斯继续为纽约市歌剧院演唱，并往返于克利夫兰。1959年，她有了女儿梅瑞狄斯。两年后，她有了儿子彼得。贝弗利·希尔斯和她的丈夫很快就知道他们的女儿是聋子。
他们还发现他们的儿子有严重的发育问题。他有智力障碍和自闭症。1961年，在这段困难时期，为了照顾孩子，贝弗利不再唱歌。贝弗利的女儿慢慢地开始上学，过着正常的生活。但她的儿子后来不得不和医疗专业人士一起住在护理中心。
贝弗利·希尔斯及时重新开始了歌唱。在这里，她谈到了自己家庭的状况如何改变了她的职业生涯。这段录音是2006年一部关于她生活的纪录片的一部分。
贝弗利·希尔斯：我对生活的整个态度都变了，而且它必然的影响了我的歌唱生涯。它影响了我对职业生涯的整个态度。我怎么会受后台某个人对我说的某些话的影响呢，比如说他不喜欢我的声音？我怎么会受这种影响呢？我是绝对不会受这种事情的影响的！我觉得就我的歌唱而言，我唯一需要取悦的人就是我自己。
贝弗利·希尔斯成名于1966年，当时她在汉德尔创作的《尤利乌斯·恺撒》中扮演克利奥帕特拉。她在其中的表演受到了一些她职业生涯中最严重的批评。这是那出歌剧的一首歌。
两年后，希尔斯因在法国歌剧《玛侬》中的角色而受到更多的赞扬。一位评论家写道，如果他把纽约市的奇观列出来送给一个旅行者，他会把贝弗利·希尔斯作为《玛侬》排在首位。她甚至会排在自由女神像和帝国大厦前面!这里是贝弗利·希尔斯正在《玛侬》中演唱。
在接下来的20年里，贝弗利·希尔斯被人们称为“美国歌剧女王”。贝弗利除了歌唱还经常参加流行的电视节目，观众们喜欢她的笑声和搞笑的笑话。当时大多数美国歌剧演员都去欧洲接受培训和工作。但是希尔斯是在美国学习艺术的，她就是在那里表演的。她尽量减少自己出国的时间，这样她就可以经常和孩子们在一起。
当她在国际舞台上表演时，评论家们高度赞扬了她的表演。1973年，她在伦敦考文特花园表演了多尼采蒂的《露西娅·德·拉默穆尔》。这里是那个著名的露西娅变疯的一场戏，在里面她因痛失挚爱而变疯。这是歌剧中最难唱的歌曲之一，但希尔斯的咏叹调唱得非常优美。
贝弗利·希尔斯于1980年从歌坛退役。但她没有离开歌剧界。她成为了纽约市歌剧院的导演。八年来，她努力使城市歌剧现代化。她还筹集了数百万美元维持公司运营。她后来还担任了其他重要职务，包括纽约市林肯表演艺术中心监事会主席。2002年，她成为纽约大都会歌剧院的主席，三年后退休。
2007年，贝弗利·希尔斯死于肺癌。享年78岁。她曾经说过，她从来都不是一个快乐的女人。但是贝弗利也说她能够总是振奋起来，因为歌唱一直支持着自己向前走。
我们将以贝弗利·希尔斯在朱塞佩·威尔第的歌剧《茶花女》中演唱维奥莱塔一角结束今天的节目。在这段美妙的表演中，你可以感受到音乐带给贝弗利的快乐。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
