(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Shirley Griffith. And I'm Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today, we tell the story of a man called "Buffalo Bill." His real name was William F. Cody. He created "Wild West" shows that people around the world enjoyed for more than thirty years.
William Frederick Cody was born in eighteen-forty-six in the state of Iowa. He died in Colorado in nineteen-seventeen. Researchers disagree about other incidents in his life. That is because some stories about "Buffalo Bill" are a combination of factual events and make-believe. However, there is general agreement about the influence of "Buffalo Bill" Cody. People say he represented the spirit and tradition of the American West.
William F. Cody grew up in the center of the United States. William's family moved from Iowa to the territory of Kansas when he was still a child. His father died in eighteen-fifty-seven. A short time later, William started working at different jobs to help his family. He worked as a driver for a team of oxen. He guided the powerful animals as they moved goods from place to place. He also carried messages for a local company.
Later, William joined a group of men seeking gold in the mountains of Colorado. They were not very successful. Then he got a job as a Pony Express rider. The Pony Express used teams of men and horses to transport mail across the country. William was a skilled rider. Once he rode five-hundred-fifteen kilometers in a single trip. This was one of the longest rides for the Pony Express. At the time, he was just fifteen years old.
Kansas became a state in eighteen-sixty-one. A few weeks later, the Civil War between the states started. Southern states fought to protect the rights of individual states. Northern states fought to keep the country united. During the war, Kansas joined with the North and provided men for the Union army.
William was too young to fight when the Civil War started. At first, he served the Union forces as a scout, or explorer.
In eighteen-sixty-four, he joined the United States Army. Cody became a member of the Seventh Kansas Cavalry. His force was sent to nearby southern states during the Civil War. Cody drove a team of horses. He remained there until the war ended.
After the war, William Cody married Louisa Frederici in Saint Louis, Missouri. They were married for more than fifty years and had four children. When they were first married, Cody had many different jobs. For example, he operated a hotel in Kansas. Then he began hunting buffalo for work crews building the Kansas Pacific Railroad. The workers used the wild animals for meat. Cody got the name "Buffalo Bill" by winning a buffalo hunting competition. Reports say he shot and killed more than four-thousand buffalo in just eighteen months.
Cody re-joined the Army in eighteen-sixty-eight. He served as a civilian scout for military forces fighting Indians in the West. His experience and skills made him an able fighter and guide for the Army.
Cody helped the Fifth Cavalry defeat a group of Cheyenne warriors. He also served as a guide for individuals who wanted to hunt buffalo. Some hunters came from big cities in the eastern United States and from other countries. Once he guided a member of Russia's ruling family, the Grand Duke Alexis, on a hunting trip. American newspapers reported on their activities.
Cody's exciting life provided the details for many stories. A number of writers began producing stories about famous people of the western United States. These stories became known as dime novels. Dime novels helped make heroes of people like Davy Crockett and Kit Carson.
A writer named Ned Buntline decided to write a book about Buffalo Bill. Buntline's book and newspaper reports helped make Cody famous. The book became popular and was later made into a play called "Scouts of the Prairie." Buffalo Bill even appeared in the show. Critics said Cody was a bad actor, but the show was very successful.
The play led Cody to form his own traveling show. The group included another hero of the American West, Wild Bill Hickok.
During this period, Cody often returned to the West to find other work. He assisted the Army in its operations against Indian tribes. In eighteen-seventy-six, Indian warriors defeated General George Custer and his forces in the Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana. A few weeks later, Cody and other soldiers clashed with a group of Cheyenne Indians. During the fighting, Cody reportedly killed a Cheyenne warrior named Yellow Hair. This event added yet another incident to Buffalo Bill's collection of stories.
Cody liked the idea of being a showman and telling people about the American West. In eighteen-seventy-nine, he wrote his own life story and began publishing his own dime novels. He also continued to produce plays.
Cody organized his first Wild West show in eighteen-eighty-two in the state of Nebraska. The show was performed outside. It was designed to entertain and educate crowds of people. There were cowboys, Indians, buffalo and other kinds of animals. People were not sure exactly what the show was, but they liked it.
The following year, Cody and his business partners formed a traveling show called "Buffalo Bill's Wild West." It brought cowboys and Indians to people in parts of the United States who might never have seen them. The show was a major success for the next thirty years. People liked it for many reasons. One was a desire to return to earlier, simpler times. The American West of the dime novels was fast disappearing. The area was starting to develop.
"Buffalo Bill's Wild West" show included cowboys hunting buffalo. It had riders for the Pony Express. It re-created an Indian attack on a carriage transporting goods. The show also re-created the attack against General Custer and his forces. It included Indians who were involved in the real attack. It also included the famous Sioux chief Sitting Bull, who had killed General Custer. Sitting Bull traveled with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show for several months.
In later years, a cowgirl named Annie Oakley performed with the show. She was one of the best gun shooters in the country. Annie Oakley could ride a horse standing up while shooting at a target. She could shoot a piece of money out of someone's hand. Once, she became famous for shooting a cigarette held in the mouth of German Crown Prince Wilhelm.
"Buffalo Bill's Wild West" performed in cities and towns across the United States and in Europe. In eighteen-eighty-seven, the show performed in England in honor of Queen Victoria's fiftieth anniversary in power. Six years later, the show was popular at the World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois.
Buffalo Bill Cody was said to be the most famous American in the world by the beginning of the twentieth century. American presidents met with him to discuss issues important to the West. He had many modern ideas. For example, he supported fair treatment for American Indians. And he supported equal pay and equal voting rights for women. He was also a businessman who looked toward the future. He invested in projects that he hoped would bring economic growth to the West.
Cody made a lot of money from his show business success. However, he lost his wealth because of bad investments and failure to watch how the money was used.
In nineteen-oh-eight, "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" combined with another traveling show. But this show failed. A short time later, Cody got a loan from a Colorado company to keep his show operating. But his financial situation got worse over the next few years.
Buffalo Bill Cody died in nineteen-seventeen while visiting his sister in Denver, Colorado. He was buried near the city, at the top of Lookout Mountain. His funeral was a major event. Twenty-thousand people traveled there to attend the ceremony.
Today, thousands of people visit Lookout Mountain every year. They see Cody's burial place and a museum built in his honor. And, they hear stories about people who experienced the excitement of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.
重点解析
1.from place to place各地；到处
A nomad is the member of a trible that wanders from place to place.
游牧民是一个到处流浪、居无定所的部落的成员。
2.serve as担任…，充当…
Abrahim and my father stopped in front of one of the houses, and Abrahim pulled back the curtain that served as the door.
亚伯拉罕和我父亲在其中一所房子前面停下了脚步，亚伯拉罕揭开了当作门用的帘子。
3.clash with与…冲突，不调和
Israeli troops have also clashed with Palestinian protesters in Gaza and the West Bank.
以色列军队在加沙和西岸也和巴勒斯坦抗议者发生冲突。
4.involved in包含；牵涉进…
The following sections describe which roles are involved in each phase and what they do.
下面各节描述在各个阶段所涉及到的角色以及其从事的工作。
5.stand up站起来；坚持；
Some women simply like to test you to see how well you stand up for yourself; others just like to exert their own power.
有些女人仅仅想测试一下你有多么坚持自我；另外一些则仅仅喜欢执行他们自己的权力。
6.combine with结合
Because cholesterol can't travel alone through the bloodstream, it has to combine with certain proteins.
胆固醇因为不能单独在血液中移动，所以必须和特定的蛋白质结合。
参考译文
我是雪莉·格里菲斯，我是史蒂夫·恩伯，这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天我们讲述“水牛比尔”的故事。他的本名是威廉·F·科迪。他创作了“狂野西部”演出，这个演出有超过三十多年的时间都深受世界各地人们的喜爱。
威廉·弗雷德里克·科迪于1846年出生于爱荷华州。他于1917年在科罗拉多州去世。研究人员在他其他的生平事迹上并未达成一致。这是因为有关“水牛比尔”的故事是事实和虚构的结合。但是，在“水牛比尔”的影响力方面，人们达成了普遍的一致。人们认为科迪代表了美国西部的精神和传统。
威廉·F·科迪在美国中部长大。当威廉还是个孩子的时候，他们一家从爱荷华州搬到了堪萨斯州。他的父亲于1857年去世。不久之后，威廉开始做不同的工作来帮助他的家人。威廉曾为一群牛当司机。当这些强大的动物把货物从一个地方运送到另一个地方时，他引导它们。他还为当地一家公司传递信息。
后来，威廉加入了一个在科罗拉多州的山区寻找黄金的团体。他们不是很成功。后来他找到了一份担任驿马信使的工作。驿马信使靠一队队的人和马把邮件运送到全国各地。威廉是个熟练的骑手。他曾经在一次单程旅行中骑行了515千米。那是驿马信使骑行里程最长的一次。那时，他只有15岁。
堪萨斯在1861年成为了一个州。几周后，美国内战爆发了。南方州为保护独立州的权利而战。北方州为保持国家统一而战。在战争期间，堪萨斯州加入了北方，并为联邦军队提供了人手。内战开始的时候，威廉还太年轻，不能参加战争。起初，他作为一名侦察员或勘探者为联邦军队服务。1864年，他加入了联邦军队。科迪成为堪萨斯第七骑兵队的一员。在内战期间，他的军队被派往附近的南方的州。科迪赶着一群马。战争结束后，他留在了那里。
战争结束后，威廉·科迪在密苏里州的圣路易斯与路易莎·弗雷德里西结婚。他们的婚姻持续了超过50年，并且育有四个孩子。在他们起初结婚的时候，科迪做着很多不同的工作。举个例子，他在堪萨斯开了一家旅馆。然后他开始为建造堪萨斯太平洋铁路的工人搜寻水牛。工人们会吃这些野生动物的肉。在科迪赢得了一次水牛狩猎比赛后，他就得到了“水牛比尔”这个名字。据报道说，科迪在18个月内就猎杀了超过4000头水牛。
科迪于1868年再次参军。他曾在西部与印第安人作战的军队中担任平民侦察兵。他的经验和技巧使他成为了一名有能力的战士和军队向导。科迪帮助第五骑兵队打败了一群夏安族武士。他还为那些想要猎杀野牛的人担任向导。一些猎人来自美国东部的大城市和其他国家。有一次，他带领俄罗斯统治家族的亚历克西斯大公去打猎。美国报纸报道了他们的活动。
科迪充满激情的生活为很多故事都提供了细节。一些作家开始创作关于美国西部名人的故事。这些故事后来被称为廉价小说。廉价小说帮助戴维·克罗克特和基特·卡森等人成为英雄。
一位名叫内德·邦特兰的作家决定写一本关于水牛比尔的书。邦特兰的书和报纸报道帮助科迪成名。这本书很受欢迎，后来被改编成剧本《草原侦察兵》。野牛比尔甚至出现在演出中。评论家说科迪不是个好演员，但这部剧很成功。
这出戏使科迪组织了他自己的巡回演出。这群人包括美国西部的另一位英雄，怀尔德·比尔·希科克。
在此期间，科迪经常返回西部寻找其他工作。他协助军队打击印第安部落。1876年，印第安战士在蒙大拿州的小大角战役中击败了乔治·卡斯特将军和他的军队。几周后，科迪和其他士兵与一群夏安族印第安人发生了冲突。据报道，科迪在战斗中杀死了一名名叫黄头发的夏安族战士。这一事件为水牛比尔的故事集又添了一笔。
科迪喜欢成为一名表演者的想法，他喜欢跟人讲述美国西部的故事。1879年，他写了自己的人生故事，并开始出版自己的廉价小说。他还继续创作戏剧。
1882年，科迪在内布拉斯加州组织了他的第一次狂野西部演出。演出是在室外举行的。它是为了娱乐和教化群众而组织的演出。参演的有牛仔，印第安人，水牛和其他种类的动物。人们不确定这个节目到底是什么，但他们喜欢它。
第二年，科迪和他的商业伙伴组织了一个名为“野牛比尔的狂野西部”的巡回演出。它把牛仔和印第安人带到美国的一些地方，这些地方的人可能从来没有见过牛仔和印第安人。这个演出在接下来的三十年里都取得了重大的成功。人们喜欢它的原因有很多。其中一个就是人们想要回到以前的简单的时光里。美国西部的廉价小说正在快速消失。这片区域也开始开发。
“水牛比尔的狂野西部”演出包括牛仔狩猎水牛的部分。也有驿马信使的骑手。演出重现了印第安人攻击运输货物的马车的情形。演出也重现了攻击卡斯特将军和他的军队的情形。演出人员包括参加了当时参加攻击的印第安人。其中还包括著名的苏族酋长坐牛，他杀死了卡斯特将军。“坐牛”跟随“水牛比尔的狂野西部”节目旅行了好几个月。
在后来的几年里，一个名叫安妮·奥克利的女牛仔参加了演出。她是这个国家最好的神枪手之一。安妮·奥克利可以骑马站着射击目标。她可以击中某个人手中的一块钱。有一次，她因为射击德国威廉王子嘴里叼着的香烟而出名。
“水牛比尔的狂野西部”在欧洲和美国各地的城镇里演出。1887年，为了庆祝维多利亚女王执政五十周年，这个节目在英国演出。六年后，该节目在伊利诺斯州芝加哥的世界博览会上大受欢迎。
据说水牛比尔科迪是20世纪初世界上最著名的美国人。美国总统与他会面，讨论对西部重要的问题。他有许多现代思想。例如，他支持公平对待印第安人。他支持女性同工同酬和平等投票权。他也是一个展望未来的商人。他投资项目，希望能给西部带来经济增长。
科迪成功的演出事业给他带来了很多收入。然而，由于糟糕的投资和不清楚钱的去向，他失去了他的财富。
1908年，“水牛比尔的狂野西部”和另一个旅行演出结合了起来。这个演出走向了失败。不长时间，为了继续自己的演出，科迪从一家科罗拉多的企业申请了贷款。但是，在接下来的几年里，他的财政状况变得越来越遭。
水牛比尔科迪于1917年去世，当时他正在科罗拉多州的丹佛市看望他的妹妹。他埋葬在城市附近的观景峰的峰顶。他的葬礼是当时的一个重大事件。2万人前往那里参加了葬礼。
现在，每年有成千上万的人参观观景峰。他们去参观科迪的墓地和一座纪念他的博物馆。而且，他们会听体验过精彩的“水牛比尔的狂野西部”表演的人讲的故事。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
