(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Now, the VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today, Shirley Griffith and Steve Ember tell about the life of Barbara Cooney, the creator of many popular children's books. She died in March, two thousand.
For sixty years Barbara Cooney created children's books. She wrote some. And she provided pictures for her own books and for books written by others. Her name appears on one hundred ten books in all.
The last book was published six months before her death. It is called "Basket Moon." It was written by Mary Lyn Ray. It tells the story of a boy who lived a century ago with his family in the mountains in New York state. His family makes baskets that are sold in town. One magazine describes Barbara Cooney's paintings in "Basket Moon" as quiet and beautiful. It says they tie together "the basket maker's natural world and the work of his craft."
Barbara Cooney was known for her carefully detailed work. One example is in her artwork for the book "Eleanor." It is about Eleanor Roosevelt, who became the wife of President Franklin Roosevelt. Miz Cooney made sure that a dress worn by Eleanor as a baby was historically correct down to the smallest details.
Another example of her detailed work is in her retelling of "Chanticleer and the Fox." She took the story from the "Canterbury Tales" by English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Barbara Cooney once said that every flower and grass in her pictures grew in Chaucer's time in fourteenth-century England.
Barbara Cooney wondered at times if her concern about details was worth the effort. "How many children will know or care?" she said. "Maybe not a single one. Still I keep piling it on. Detail after detail. Whom am I pleasing -- besides myself? I don't know. Yet if I put enough in my pictures, there may be something for everyone. Not all will be understood, but some will be understood now and maybe more later."
Miz Cooney gave that speech as she accepted the nineteen fifty-nine Caldecott Medal for "Chanticleer and the Fox." The American Library Association gives the award each year to the artist of a picture book for children. She received a second Caldecott Medal for her folk-art paintings in the book, "Ox-Cart Man."
Barbara Cooney's first books appeared in the nineteen forties. At first she created pictures using a method called scratchboard.
The scratchboard is made by placing white clay on a hard surface. Thick black ink is spread over the clay. The artist uses a sharp knife or other tool to make thousands of small cuts in the top. With each cut of the black ink, the white clay shows through. To finish the piece the artist may add different colors.
Scratchboard is hard work, but this process can create fine detail. Later, Barbara Cooney began to use pen and ink, watercolor, oil paints, and other materials.
Barbara Cooney was born in New York City in nineteen seventeen. Her mother was an artist and her father sold stocks on the stock market. Barbara graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts in nineteen thirty-eight with a major in art history.
During World War Two Barbara Cooney joined the Women's Army Corps. She also got married, but her first marriage did not last long. Then she married a doctor, Charles Talbot Porter. They were married until her death. She had four children.
Barbara Cooney said that three of her books were as close to a story of her life as she would ever write. One is "Miss Rumphius," published in nineteen eighty-two. We will tell more about "Miss Rumphius" soon.
The second book is called "Island Boy." The boy is named Matthias. He is the youngest of twelve children in a family on Tibbetts Island, Maine. Matthias grows up to sail around the world. But throughout his life he always returns to the island of his childhood. Barbara Cooney also traveled around the world, but in her later years always returned to live on the coast of Maine.
The third book about Barbara Cooney's life is called "Hattie and the Wild Waves." It is based on the childhood of her mother. The girl Hattie lives in a wealthy family in New York. One day she tells her family that she wants to be a painter when she grows up. The other children make fun of the idea of a girl wanting to paint houses.
But, as the book explains, "Hattie was not thinking about houses. She was thinking about the moon in the sky and the wind in the trees and the wild waves of the ocean."
Hattie tries different jobs as she grows up. At last, she follows her dream and decides to "paint her heart out."
Of all of Barbara Cooney's books, the one that seems to affect people the most is "Miss Rumphius." It won the American Book Award. It was first published in nineteen eighty-two by Viking-Penguin. "Miss Rumphius" is Alice Rumphius. A young storyteller in the book tells the story which begins with Alice as a young girl:
"In the evening Alice sat on her grandfather's knee and listened to his stories of faraway places. When he had finished, Alice would say, 'When I grow up, I too will go to faraway places, and when I grow old, I too will live beside the sea.'
'That is all very well, little Alice,' said her grandfather, 'but there is a third thing you must do.'
'What is that?' asked Alice.
'You must do something to make the world more beautiful,' said her grandfather.
'All right,' said Alice. But she did not know what that could be.
In the meantime Alice got up and washed her face and ate porridge for breakfast. She went to school and came home and did her homework.
And pretty soon she was grown up."
Alice traveled the world. She climbed tall mountains where the snow never melted. She went through jungles and across deserts. One day, however, she hurt her back getting off a camel.
"'What a foolish thing to do,' said Miss Rumphius. 'Well, I have certainly seen faraway places. Maybe it is time to find my place by the sea.' And it was, and she did.
Miss Rumphius was almost perfectly happy. 'But there is still one more thing I have to do,' she said. 'I have to do something to make the world more beautiful.'
But what? 'The world is already pretty nice,' she thought, looking out over the ocean."
The next spring Miss Rumphius' back was hurting again. She had to stay in bed most of the time. Through her bedroom window she could see the tall blue and purple and rose-colored lupine flowers she had planted the summer before.
"'Lupines,' said Miss Rumphius with satisfaction. 'I have always loved lupines the best. I wish I could plant more seeds this summer so that I could have still more flowers next year.'
But she was not able to."
A hard winter came, then spring. Miss Rumphius was feeling better. She could take walks again. One day she came to a hill where she had not been in a long time. "'I don't believe my eyes,' she cried when she got to the top. For there on the other side of the hill was a large patch of blue and purple and rose-colored lupines!"
"'It was the wind,' she said as she knelt in delight. 'It was the wind that brought the seeds from my garden here! And the birds must have helped.' Then Miss Rumphius had a wonderful idea!"
That idea was to buy lupine seed -- lots of it. All summer, wherever she went, Miss Rumphius would drop handfuls of seeds: over fields, along roads, around the schoolhouse, behind the church. Her back did not hurt her any more. But now some people called her "That Crazy Old Lady."
The next spring there were lupines everywhere. Miss Rumphius had done the most difficult thing of all. The young storyteller in the book continues:
"My Great-aunt Alice, Miss Rumphius, is very old now. Her hair is very white. Every year there are more and more lupines. Now they call her the Lupine Lady. ...
"'When I grow up,' I tell her, 'I too will go to faraway places and come home to live by the sea.'
'That is all very well, little Alice,' says my aunt, 'but there is a third thing you must do.'
'What is that?' I ask.
"'You must do something to make the world more beautiful.'"
Many readers, young and old, would agree that Barbara Cooney did just that.
Many of Barbara Cooney's later books took place in the small northeastern state of Maine. She spent summers there when she was a child, then moved to Maine in her later years.
She loved Maine. She gave her local library almost a million dollars. The state showed its love for her. In nineteen ninety-six, the governor of Maine declared Barbara Cooney a "State Treasure."
重点解析
1.tie together缚在一起
Service oriented components are used to tie together enterprise services into complex business processes.
面向服务的组件通常被用来将企业服务与复杂业务流程联系在一起。
2.based on基于
Are any computations in your application based on the date or even time of day?
您应用程序的任何计算是基于日期或者甚至是每天的时间吗？
3.go through通过；经受
You must go through customs in order to pass across the border.
你要过境， 就必须在海关办理手续。
4.begin with开始于
On Monday the negotiation process will begin with a draft resolution.
星期一，谈判进程将随着拟定决议草案开始。
5.make fun of取笑；
When you think about it, whether it’s China or America, the only impediment people feel free to make fun of and humor of is a stutterer.
我们可以想一想，无论是在中国还是美国，人们可以随意开玩笑或取笑的唯一生理缺陷是口吃。
6.known for因…而闻名
As a city known for entertainment and sports, these seemed to be just the right icons.
作为一个知名的娱乐和体育城市，这似乎正是它恰当的肖像。
参考译文
这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天，雪莉·格里菲斯和史蒂夫·恩贝尔为大家讲述讲述芭芭拉·库尼的故事。芭芭拉·库尼她是许多受欢迎的儿童书籍的作者，她于2000年3月去世。
有60年的时间芭芭拉·库尼都在创作儿童书籍，其中一些书是她写的，她还为自己和其他作家的书创作了插图，她的名字总共出现在110本书中。
她的最后一本书在她去世前六个月出版，书名叫做《篮子月亮》。这本书的作者是玛丽·林恩·雷，它讲述了一个世纪前一个男孩和他的家人住在纽约州山区的故事。小男孩的家庭制作篮子，然后在镇子上售卖。一本杂志形容芭芭拉·库尼在《篮子月亮》中的画作安静而美丽。还说这些画作把“制篮者的自然世界和他的手艺联结在一起。”
芭芭拉·库尼以她认真、注重细节的作品而闻名，其中一个例子就是她为图书《埃莉诺》创作的插图。这本书讲的是是埃莉诺·罗斯福的故事，她后来成为了富兰克林·罗斯福总统的妻子。库尼女士确保埃莉诺在婴儿时期穿过的裙子从历史上看、从最小的细节来看都是正确的。
另一本关于她注重细节的作品就是她对《公鸡与狐狸》的复述。她从英国诗人杰弗里·乔叟的《坎特伯雷故事集》中取材。芭芭拉·库尼曾经说过，她画中的每一种花和草都生长在14世纪英国乔叟生活的时代。
芭芭拉·库尼有时会想，自己如此注重细节是否是值得的。“有多少孩子会知道或关心?”“也许一个也没有。但我还是会继续这样创作。除了细节还是细节，除了我自己，我还在取悦着谁？我不知道。但是如果我在自己的画作中倾注了足够多的东西，也许每个人都能收获些什么。并不是所有的内容都会被理解，但是现在有一些会被理解，以后可能会更多。”
库尼女士在接受1959年的凯迪克奖时发表了这篇演讲，获奖作品是《公鸡和狐狸》。美国图书馆协会每年都会将该奖项授予为儿童创作图画书的艺术家。在《驾牛篷车的人》一书中，她凭借自己的民间艺术画作第二次获得了凯迪克奖。
芭芭拉·库尼的第一本书于在20世纪40年代出版。起初，她用一种叫做“刮板画”的方法创作图画。
刮板画是把白粘土放在坚硬的表面制成的。厚厚的黑色墨水涂在粘土上。艺术家使用锋利的刀或其他工具在顶部进行成千上万次的小切割。每一次切割黑色墨水，白色的粘土都会显露出来。为了完成作品，艺术家可以添加不同的颜色。
刮板画是一项艰苦的工作，但这个过程可以创造出精细的细节。后来，芭芭拉·库尼开始使用钢笔和墨水、水彩、油画颜料和其他材料。
芭芭拉·库尼1917年出生于纽约市。她的母亲是一位艺术家，她的父亲在股票市场上卖股票。芭芭拉于1938年毕业于马萨诸塞州的史密斯学院，她主修的是艺术史。
在第二次世界大战期间，芭芭拉·库尼加入了陆军妇女队。她也结婚了，但她的第一次婚姻没有持续多久。后来她嫁给了一位名叫查尔斯·塔尔伯特·波特的医生。他们的婚姻一直维持到她去世。她有四个孩子。
芭芭拉·库尼说，她的三本书与她一生的经历最为接近。其中一本是1982年出版的《花婆婆》。我们很快会告诉你更多关于“花婆婆”的事情。
第二本书叫《小岛男孩》。这个男孩名字叫马蒂亚斯。他是缅因州蒂贝茨岛一个家庭12个孩子中最小的一个。马提亚长大后要环游世界。但在他的一生中，他总是回到童年的小岛上。芭芭拉·库尼也曾环游世界，但她在晚年总是回到缅因州的海岸生活。
第三本关于芭芭拉·库尼生活的书叫做《海蒂和狂野的海浪》。这本书是基于库尼母亲的童年创作的。女孩海蒂住在纽约一个富裕的家庭。有一天，海蒂告诉她的家人，她长大后想成为一名画家。其他的孩子取笑一个女孩想要油漆房子的想法。
但是，正如书中所解释的，“海蒂想的不是房子。她在想天上的月亮，树上的风，还有大海的狂浪。
海蒂在成长过程中尝试过不同的工作。最后，她追随自己的梦想，决定“画出她的心”。
在芭芭拉·库尼所有的书中，对人们影响最大的似乎是《花婆婆》。它获得了美国图书奖。它于1982年由维京企鹅出版。"花婆婆"是爱丽丝·兰菲斯。书中一个年轻的说书人讲述了一个从爱丽丝还是个小女孩开始的故事：
晚上，爱丽丝坐在爷爷的膝上，听他讲遥远地方的故事。他讲完后，爱丽丝会说：“等我长大了，我也要去很远的地方，等我老了，我也要住在海边。”
“这很好，小爱丽丝，”爷爷说，“但是你还必须做第三件事。”
“那是什么?”爱丽丝问。
“你必须做点什么事情让世界变得更美丽，”她的祖父说。
“好吧，”爱丽丝说。但她不知道那是什么。
与此同时，爱丽丝起床洗脸，早餐喝了粥。她去上学，然后回家，做作业。
很快她就长大了。
爱丽丝周游世界。她爬上了积雪从不融化的高山。她穿过丛林和沙漠。然而有一天，她从骆驼身上上摔下来伤了自己的背。
“这是多么愚蠢的事啊，兰菲斯小姐说。”“嗯，我的确看到过一些遥远的地方。也许是时候在海边找到我的位置了。”的确是这样，她也的确这样做了。
兰菲斯小姐几乎找到了完美的快乐。“但我还有一件事要做，”她说。“我必须做点什么让世界更美丽。”
但是要做什么呢?“世界已经很美好了，”她望着大海想。
第二年春天，兰菲厄斯小姐的背又疼了。她大部分时间都得躺在床上。透过卧室的窗户，她可以看到她去年夏天种下的蓝色、紫色和玫瑰色的羽扇豆花。
“羽扇豆，兰菲斯小姐满意地说。“我一直最喜欢羽扇豆。我希望今年夏天我能种下更多的种子，这样明年我就能有更多的花。”
但是她不能。
“严冬来了，然后是春天。兰菲斯小姐感觉好多了。她又可以散步了。一天，她来到一座她很久没有来过的小山前。”“我不相信我的眼睛，”她爬到山顶时哭着说。因为在山的另一边有一大片蓝色、紫色和玫瑰色的羽扇豆!
“是风，她高兴地跪下说。“是风把我花园里的种子吹来的!”鸟儿一定帮了大忙。“然后兰菲斯小姐有了一个绝妙的主意!
这个想法就是购买羽扇豆种子——大量的羽扇豆种子。整个夏天，无论她走到哪里，兰菲斯小姐都会撒下一把种子：撒在田野上，撒在路上，撒在校舍周围，撒在教堂后面。她的背再也不疼了。但是现在有人叫她“那个疯老太婆”。
第二年春天，到处都是羽扇豆。兰菲厄斯小姐做了最困难的一件事。书中年轻的说书人继续说：
“我的婶祖母爱丽丝，兰菲斯小姐，现在很老了。她的头发很白。每年羽扇豆的数量都在增加。现在他们叫她羽扇豆夫人。
“等我长大了，”我告诉她，“我也要去遥远的地方，回家住在海边。”“这很好，小爱丽丝，”姨母说，“但是你还必须做第三件事。”
“那是什么?”我问。“你必须做点什么让世界更美丽。”
很多读者，不论是年轻的还是老的读者，都会同意芭芭拉·库尼所做的就是让世界变得更美丽。
芭芭拉·库尼的很多后来的书都是在缅因州东北部的一个小州创作的。她小的时候在缅因州度过了很多个夏天，后来老的时候就搬到了那里生活。
芭芭拉爱缅因州，她给当地的图书馆捐献了将近一百万美元。缅因州也表示了对她的爱。1996年，缅因州州长宣布芭芭拉·库尼为“缅因州的珍宝”。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
