(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
PEOPLE IN AMERICA -- a VOA Special English program about famous Americans of the past. Today, Harry Monroe and Kay Gallant tell the story of dancer and movie star, Fred Astaire.
The year is nineteen thirty-two. The United States is suffering the greatest economic depression in its history. Jobs are hard to find.
One young man is attempting to get a job dancing in the movies. Earlier, he and his sister had made a short film showing how they danced and sang. A motion picture company official watches the film. He writes this about the young man: "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little."
Even with this poor report, the young man still gets a job in the movies. And -- in time -- his acting, singing and dancing changed the American motion picture musical. His name was Fred Astaire.
(MUSIC: "I Want to Be a Dancing Man")
Fred Astaire was born in the Middle Western city of Omaha, Nebraska, in eighteen ninety-nine. He was the second child of an Austrian beer maker, Frederick Austerlitz, and his wife, Ann Gelius Austerlitz. Fred and his sister, Adele, learned to dance when they were very young. Their mother took them to New York to study dance. They performed in their first professional show when Fred was ten years old and Adele was twelve. Later, as teenagers, the two danced in many shows throughout the United States.
Their first big success was on Broadway in nineteen seventeen. One critic wrote that Fred danced as if he had no bones.
The Astaires -- as they were known -- quickly became Broadway stars. During the nineteen twenties, they sang and danced in eleven different shows. They also performed in England.
In nineteen thirty-two, Adele Astaire married a British man, and stopped performing. Critics had always considered her a better dancer than her brother. But Fred did not give up. He would go on alone, in the movies. Many years later in the film, "The Bandwagon," he played a man in a similar situation.
(MUSIC: "By Myself, Alone")
One of Fred's first films was called "Flying Down To Rio." It was in this movie that he first danced with a young woman named Ginger Rogers.
Fred and Ginger were not the stars of the picture. But when they danced this dance, The Carioca, everyone knew that something important was happening in the world of movie dancing.
(MUSIC: "The Carioca")
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made nine movies together. Their dancing was considered -- and still is considered -- the best ballroom dancing in the world.
Dance critic Arlene Croce wrote: "Astaire and Rogers became the most popular team the movies have ever known. Their dancing was a vehicle of serious emotion between a man and a woman. It never happened in the movies again."
Many great American songwriters wanted to write songs for Fred and Ginger. Among them were Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George and Ira Gershwin. They liked the way Fred sang a song. He did it simply, with respect for the words. One of these songs was Cole Porter's "Night and Day." Fred sang it to Ginger in the movie "The Gay Divorcee."
(MUSIC: "Night and Day")
Fred Astaire made forty other films. In addition to Ginger Rogers, he danced with many other talented women. Rita Hayworth. Eleanor Powell. Judy Garland. Cyd Charisse. Leslie Caron.
Fred also danced alone in some very unusual places. He danced up walls and on the ceiling in the film "Royal Wedding." He danced on rooftops in "The Belle of New York." He danced on roller skates in "Shall We Dance?" And he danced with firecrackers exploding at his feet in "Holiday Inn."
Fred Astaire made all this look easy. But it was not.
Critics have said his technical skill was the greatest in the history of the movie musical. He said: Dancing is a sweat job. You cannot just sit down and do it. You have to get up on your feet. It takes time to get a dance right, to create something memorable. I always try to get to know my dance so well that I do not have to think, 'what comes next?' Everything should fall into line. And then I know I have got control of the floor."
Before each movie was filmed, Fred Astaire and his partner worked for as many as six weeks to plan each step and movement. He also planned how the cameras would photograph them, so that as much dancing as possible could be filmed at one time.
Earlier, movie directors had photographed dancers showing one part of their body at a time as they danced. Fred would not permit this. He wanted moviegoers to see his whole body at all times. And he would not permit any camera tricks to make his dancing appear smoother or faster than it was.
In nineteen forty-nine, Fred Astaire won a special award for his film work from America's Motion Picture Academy. He also won awards from the television industry for a number of his television programs.
Fred stopped dancing in nineteen seventy. He was more than seventy years old at the time. He said a dancer could not continue dancing forever. He said he did not want to disappoint anyone, even himself. He danced again in public only once after that. It was with another great male dancer, Gene Kelly, in the movie "That's Entertainment, Part Two".
Fred did not always appear as a dancing man. He had a dramatic part in the movie "On The Beach" in nineteen fifty-nine. And he starred in a non-dancing television series called "It Takes a Thief".
Fred Astaire and his first wife, Phyllis, raised three children. Phyllis died in nineteen fifty-four. Twenty-five years later, Fred married race horse rider Robyn Smith.
Fred Astaire died on June twenty-second, nineteen eighty-seven. He was eighty-eight years old. He was called the greatest dancer in the world. His dancing was called perfect. And moviegoers everywhere will remember him as a great performer whose work will live forever in his films.
重点解析
1.as if犹如，好像
One way to do that: Think about it as if it happened to someone else, someone you like — or maybe someone you don’t.
可以这样做。 想象一下如果这些事发生在别人身上会是什么样子，你喜欢的某个人—或是你不喜欢的某个人。
2.give up放弃
I was not ready to quit and give up my journey towards life balance and this is when it hit me.
我不打算放弃和中断我的朝向生活平衡的旅程，而这就是它对我产生影响的时候。
3.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？
4.it takes time to需要时间；
It takes time and effort to apply democracy to different countries, and to do so without the turmoil of revolution.
不同的国家实现、并以没有骚乱和革命的方式实现民主，需要大量的时间和努力。
5.attempt to尝试；企图做某事
Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to burn or shred the money yourselves.
在任何情况下，都不要企图自己烧毁或撕碎美元纸币。
6.get control of控制
We’re also going to have to look at how do we, over the long term, get control of our deficit.
我们必须看看如何去做这些事情，并且要在一个较长时期控制好财政赤字。
参考译文
这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。在本栏目中我们将讲述美国历史上重要的人物。今天，哈里·梦露和凯加·伦特为您讲述舞蹈和电影明星弗雷德·阿斯泰尔的故事。
那年是1932年。美国正经历着其有史以来最严重的经济萧条。
当时工作很难找。一个年轻人想找一份在电影中跳舞的工作。此前，这个年轻人和他的姐姐拍摄了一个短片，展示了他们唱歌和跳舞的才能。一位电影公司的官员看了这部短片。他对这个年轻人说道，“你当不了演员，你也当不了歌手。有一点秃。跳舞倒是可以。”
即使报告这么糟糕，这个年轻人仍旧得到了一份参演电影的工作。后来，他的表演、演唱和舞蹈改变了美国的音乐剧电影。他就是弗雷德·阿斯泰尔。
（音乐：“我想成为一个舞者”）
弗雷德·阿斯泰尔于1999年在内布拉斯加州的中西部城市奥马哈出生。他是奥地利啤酒制造商弗雷德里克·奥斯特里茨及其妻子安·格里厄斯·奥斯特里茨的第二个孩子。弗雷德和他的妹妹阿黛尔很小的时候就学会了跳舞。他们的母亲带他们去纽约学习舞蹈。在弗雷德10岁、阿黛尔12岁的时候，他们参加了第一次专业演出。后来，作为青少年，他们姐弟两个在美国各地的很多表演中跳舞。
1917年在百老汇的表演使他们第一次大获成功。一位评论家称，弗雷德跳起舞来就像没有骨头一样。
阿斯泰尔姐弟是他们当时的名号，很快他们就成为了百老汇的明星。在20世纪20年代，他们在11个不同的演出中唱歌跳舞。他们也去了英国表演。
1932年，阿黛尔·阿斯泰尔嫁给了一名英国人，婚后就不再演出。评论家一直称阿黛尔是一位比他弟弟更好的舞者。但是弗雷德没有放弃。他继续自己参演着电影。多年以后，他在电影《风尚》中扮演了一名有相似处境的情形。
（音乐：“我自己，一个人”）
弗雷德参演的第一批电影之一是《飞到里约》。就是在这部电影里，弗雷德第一次和一名叫金吉·罗杰斯女人一块跳舞。
弗雷德和金吉不是这部电影的主角。但是，当他们跳《在里约》这只舞的时候，每个人都知道电影舞蹈界发生了一件重要的事情。
（音乐：“在里约”）
弗雷德和金吉一块拍了九部电影。他们的舞蹈当时被人们称为--现在也仍旧被人们称为--世界上最好的交际舞。
舞蹈评论家阿琳·克罗斯写道，“阿斯泰尔和罗杰斯成为了电影中最受欢迎的组合。他们的舞蹈是一个男人和一个女人表达恋爱关系的一种方式。后来它再也没有在电影中出现过。”
美国很多伟大的作曲家都想为弗雷德和金吉创作歌曲。这些人包括杰罗姆·柯恩，厄文·博林，科尔·波特和乔治，还有艾拉·格什温。他们喜欢弗雷德唱歌的方式。他唱的很简单，尊重歌词。这些歌曲之一就是科尔·伯特的为他创作的《夜与日》。弗雷德在电影《柳暗花明》中把这首歌唱给了金吉。
弗雷德·阿斯泰尔还参演了其他四十部电影。除了金吉·罗杰斯，他也和其他有才华的女人跳舞。其中有丽塔·海华斯。埃莉诺·鲍威尔。朱迪·加兰。赛德·查里斯。莱斯利·卡隆。
弗雷德也在一些非常不寻常的地方独舞。在电影《王室的婚礼》中，他在墙上和天花板上跳舞。在《纽约美人》中他在屋顶上跳舞。在《随我婆娑》中，他穿着溜冰鞋跳舞。在《假日酒店》里，他在鞭炮旁边跳舞。
弗雷德·阿斯泰尔让这一切看起来很轻松。但其实并不是这样。
评论家称，在音乐剧电影史上，弗雷德的舞技是最好的。他说，跳舞是份很棒的工作。你不能坐着跳舞。你就得站起来才能跳舞。跳好一支舞需要时间，才能创造出一些难忘的东西。我总是把舞蹈练到非常娴熟的地步，这样在跳舞时我就不用想下一个动作是什么了。一都应该井然有序。然后我就会知道怎么样控制好演出的场景。”
在拍摄每部电影之前，弗雷德·阿斯泰尔和他的搭档都会花六周的时间来练习每一个步伐和每一个动作。他们也会排练摄影机如何拍摄他们的舞蹈，来找出更全面地拍摄舞蹈镜头的方式。
早些时候，电影导演拍摄演员的舞蹈时，一次只能展现他们身体的一部分。弗雷德不允许这样的事情发生。他想让看电影的观众在所有时候都能看到自己的整个身体。他也不允许使用任何的摄影技巧来让他的舞蹈看起来比实际上更平滑或更快。
1949年，弗雷德·阿斯泰尔凭借其电影作品获得了美国电影学院的一个特别奖。他也凭借一些自己的电视节目获得了电视界的一些奖项。
弗雷德到1970年时就不再跳舞了。当时他已经70多岁了。他说，舞者不可能永远跳下去。他说他不想让任何人失望，包括他自己。从那以后，他只在公共场合跳过一次舞。那次，他和另一位伟大的男性舞蹈家金·凯利合作拍摄了电影《娱乐世界第二部》。
弗雷德并不总是以舞者的角色出现。他在1959年的电影《在海滩》中扮演了一个戏剧性的角色。他也主演了一部没有跳舞内容的电视剧《侠盗风流》。
弗雷德·阿斯泰尔和他的第一任妻子菲利斯养育有3个孩子。菲利斯于1954年去世。25年后，弗雷德弗雷德娶了赛马骑手罗宾·史密斯为妻。
弗雷德·阿斯泰尔于1987年6月22日去世。享年88岁。人们称弗雷德为世界上最伟大的舞蹈家。人们说他的舞蹈是完美的。世界各地的影迷都将以伟大的表演艺术家而铭记弗雷德。他的作品将永远存活在他的电影里。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
