(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Shirley Griffith. And I'm Sarah Long with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today we tell about music writer and performer Roger Miller.
The name of that song is "Dang Me." It was written and recorded by Roger Miller in nineteen-sixty-five. It was not the first song he had written, but it was his first huge hit record. In fact, the recording of "Dang Me" helped Roger Miller win five of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Grammy Awards.
One of those awards was the Grammy for best new country and western artist. Before "Dang Me" became a hit record, few people outside the music business knew the name Roger Miller. Yet he had been working his way to the top of the music business since he was a boy.
Roger Dean Miller was born January second, nineteen thirty-six in the western city of Fort Worth, Texas. His father died when Roger was only one year old. His mother became sick soon after. Roger was sent to live with his uncle in Erick, Oklahoma.
Roger Miller had a difficult childhood. Most of his days were spent working on his uncle's farm, picking cotton. He was a lonely and unhappy child. Roger began writing songs because he loved the music he heard on the radio. He also learned to play the guitar and the violin, sometimes called a fiddle. Much later, he learned to play the drums. Music helped the young Roger escape the hard work on his uncle's cotton farm.
Roger left the farm when he was still very young. He traveled from town to town in the West. He worked at any job he could find during the day. At night, he went to music clubs and drinking places where country and western bands played. These places provided him with a music education.
Roger Miller entered the United States Army at the age of seventeen. He was sent to an army base near Atlanta, Georgia. In Atlanta, he played with a music group called The Circle "A" Wranglers. When he left the Army, Roger moved to the home of country music in Nashville, Tennessee.
At first, he worked in a hotel. Stories say he would sing there for anyone who would listen. He soon got several jobs playing his violin. And he began writing songs for other singers.
Roger liked writing songs. He also wanted to perform his own songs on the stage. He recorded several records, but they were not popular and did not sell many copies.
In nineteen sixty, Roger recorded a song called "You Don't Want My Love." Today, the song is better known as "In the Summer Time." It is the first song he wrote and sang that became popular.
"In the Summer Time" sold many copies. It showed record company officials that Roger Miller was a good performer.
On January tenth, nineteen sixty-four Roger Miller agreed to record sixteen songs. One of those songs was "Dang Me." It became his first number one selling record. It was a hit with country music fans and with popular music fans too. It sold millions of copies.
Another funny song recorded at the same time also became a major hit. It is called "Chug-a-lug".
Roger Miller became extremely popular as the result of the success of "Dang Me" and "Chug-a-Lug". He began appearing on television. His records sold by the millions. But it was another record that made him extremely famous.
Roger often told the story about how he wrote his most famous song. He was driving late at night near the middle western city of Chicago. He saw a sign near the road. Written on the sign were the words, "Trailers for Sale or Rent."
The words stayed in his head and would not go away. Later, he used those words as the opening of his most famous song, "King of the Road." Like many of his other songs it was popular with country fans and with popular music fans as well. The song is still popular almost forty years later. It is played often on radio stations throughout the United States.
Rocco Landesman once taught at the School of Drama at Yale University. He really liked Roger Miller's music. Mr. Landesman wrote several letters asking if Roger could write the music for a play that would appear on Broadway in New York.
The story would be taken from Mark Twain's famous book, "Huckleberry Finn."
Roger agreed to write the music for the show called "Big River." It opened on Broadway in April of nineteen eighty-five. It was a big hit. "Big River" received seven Tony Awards. Roger Miller won two for the music he wrote. The most popular song from the show is called "River in the Rain." The song is about the Mississippi River. Roger sings it here.
Roger Miller died of lung cancer nineteen ninety-two. People who knew him say his songs expressed the way he felt about life -- full of pure excitement and joy.
重点解析
1.go away with 与…离开
Luisa prepares to go away with El Gallo, but he leaves without her.
路易莎准备好和厄尔·盖洛一起离开，但是他却丢下她走了。
2.provide with提供
Innovation is more than designing more fashion products, it also includs to get approvale of the customer and provide with more services and so on.
创新不仅仅只是设计出更多的时髦产品，它还应包括如何令客户更满意、为客户提供更好的服务等方面。
3.At the same time同时
At the same time that there is an infinite without us, is there not an infinite within us?
在我们的身外既然有个无极，是否在我们的心中也同时有个无极呢？
4.appear on 出现
The Telegraph brand will appear on some products but not all.
《每日电讯报》的品牌将出现在某些产品上，但并非全部产品。
5.at the age of在…岁时
It was also at the age of 17 that he had his first run-in with the authorities for his activities.
也正是在17岁那年，他第一次因这些动作与当局发生冲突，一段将近二十年的猫鼠游戏也由此拉开序幕。
6.as well也
Each and every person can do a lot, and you can influence others to do something as well.
每一个人都能做很多，而且你也能推己及人，让别人也加入到这个行列中来。
参考译文
我是雪莉·格里菲思，我是萨拉·朗。这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天我们讲述作曲家兼歌手罗杰·米勒的故事。这首歌的名字叫做《该死的我》。
它是由罗杰·米勒在1965年创作并录制的歌曲。这不是米勒创作的第一首歌曲，但是这是他的第一首大热歌曲。实际上，录制这首歌曲帮助罗杰·米勒赢得了美国国家录音艺术与科学学院的五项格莱美奖。
其中一个奖项是格莱美最佳新乡村和西部艺术家奖。在《该死的我》这首歌曲火起来以前，很少有音乐行业外的人知道罗杰·米勒这个名字。然而，从孩童时代起，他就一直在努力奋斗，力争成为音乐行业的领军人物。
罗杰·迪安·米勒于1936年1月2日出生在德克萨斯州西部城市沃斯堡。罗杰一岁时，父亲就去世了。不久，他的母亲就病了。罗杰被送到俄克拉何马州埃里克和他的叔叔住在一起。
罗杰米勒度过了一个艰难的童年。他大部分时间都在叔叔的农场里干活，摘棉花。罗杰是一个孤独而不幸的孩子。他喜欢在收音机里听到的音乐，所以就开始写歌。他还学会了弹吉他和小提琴。很久以后，他学会了打鼓。音乐帮助年轻的罗杰摆脱了他叔叔的棉花农场的繁重工作。
罗杰很小的时候就离开了农场。他在西部游历于不同的城镇。白天，他能找到的任何工作他都干。晚上，他就会去有乡村和西部乐队演奏的音乐俱乐部和酒屋。这些地方给了罗杰音乐启蒙。
罗杰·米勒17岁时参了美国陆军。他被派遣到佐治亚州亚特兰大附近的一个军事基地。在亚特兰大，他加入了一个名为“A圈牧马人”的音乐团体。罗杰退伍后，搬到了乡村音乐之都田纳西州的纳什维尔。
起初，罗杰在一家旅馆工作。传说他会为每一位愿意听他唱歌的人歌唱。他很快就找到了几份拉小提琴的工作。他开始为其他歌手写歌。
罗杰喜欢写歌。他还想在舞台上表演自己的歌曲。他录了几张唱片，但都不受欢迎，销量也不多。
1960年，罗杰录制了一首叫《你不要我的爱》的歌曲。今天，这首歌更广为人知的名字是《在夏天》。这是他创作并演唱的第一首受欢迎的歌曲。
《在夏天》卖出了许多张。这告诉了唱片公司的管理人员，罗杰·米勒是一位出色的表演者。1964年1月10日，罗杰·米勒同意录制16首歌曲。其中一首是《该死的我》。这成为罗杰的第一张销量第一的唱片。这首歌很受乡村音乐迷和流行音乐迷的欢迎。它的销量高达数百万张。
与此同时，罗杰录制的另一首搞笑歌曲也大受欢迎。这首歌名字为《一饮而尽》。罗杰·米勒因为《该死的我》和《一饮而尽》的成功而变得非常受欢迎。他开始出现在电视上。他的唱片卖了几百万张。但是，是另一张唱片让他变得非常出名。
罗杰经常讲述他是如何创作这些成名的歌曲的。他深夜在美国中部城市芝加哥附近开车，他看到了路旁的一个指示牌，指示牌上写着“可供出售或出租的拖车”。
这些文字在罗杰的脑海中挥之不去，后来，他把这些文字用在了自己最有名的歌曲《公路之王》的开头。像罗杰的很多歌曲一样，这首歌曲深受乡村音乐乐迷和流行音乐乐迷的喜爱。这首歌在将近40年后仍非常流行。在美国，这首歌经常在电台里播放。
罗科·兰迪斯曼曾在耶鲁大学的戏剧学院教学，他非常喜欢罗杰·米勒的音乐。兰迪斯曼先生给罗杰写了几封信，他问罗杰能不能为一部在纽约百老汇演出的戏剧创作音乐。
这个故事将取自马克·吐温的著名小说《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》。
罗杰答应了为这部叫《大河》的演出创作音乐。它于1985年4月在百老汇公演。这个演出引起了轰动，《大河》获得了7个托尼奖，罗杰·米勒因创作的音乐获得了两个奖。这个演出里最受欢迎的歌曲叫《雨中的河流》。这首歌描述的是密西西比河。这是罗杰的演唱。
罗杰·米勒于1992年死于肺癌。了解罗杰的人都说，他的歌曲表达的就是他对生活的感受，充满了纯粹的兴奋和喜悦。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
