(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Barbara Klein. And I'm Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about Arthur Miller. Many theater critics believe he was one of the greatest American playwrights of the twentieth century.
Several plays by Arthur Miller will probably be performed for many years to come. That is because critics say Miller was able to dramatize the emotional pain that average people suffer in their daily lives.
A critic once described Miller as an activist for the common man. He demonstrates this well in one of his most famous plays, "Death of a Salesman." The main character is a man whose dreams of success in business have died.
But Miller's interest in the average man did not stop him from exploring major problems of society. In "The Crucible", for example, he shows what happens when unreasonable dislike and fear cause people to accuse innocent people of horrible crimes.
Some other of his best-known plays include "All My Sons", "A View from the Bridge" and "After the Fall."
Arthur Miller was born in New York City in nineteen fifteen. He died in two thousand five at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. For sixty years, he created one dramatic work after another. Miller won many awards for his plays. Among them were a Pulitzer Prize, New York Drama Critics' Circle prizes and Tony awards. In nineteen eighty-four, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. honored him for his lifetime work in drama.
Miller also created stories for movies. For example, he wrote "The Misfits" for actress Marilyn Monroe. Miller's television drama, "Playing for Time", told of an orchestra of prisoners at the Nazi death camp, Auschwitz, during World War Two. Miller was also a political activist for human rights. But it was drama performed in the theater that Miller loved most.
Arthur Miller grew up in New York. His father, Isidore Miller, manufactured clothing and operated a store. But the father lost his money in the great economic Depression in the nineteen thirties. The family had to move from a costly apartment in Manhattan to a small house in Brooklyn.
During the Depression, Arthur worked at many jobs to earn money for college. In nineteen thirty-four, he began studying English at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Miller won an award for writing plays while at school.
Miller returned home to New York after completing his studies. He married his college girlfriend, Mary Slattery. They had two children before later ending their marriage.
In nineteen forty-four, Arthur Miller's first major play was performed on Broadway. It was called "The Man Who Had All the Luck." However, the play did not bring him good luck. It had only four performances. But his second Broadway play, "All My Sons", was a major success It won several awards in nineteen forty-seven.
"All My Sons" tells of a manufacturer who produces faulty parts for airplanes used in World War Two. One of his sons dies as the result of the father's crime. In the play, Miller examines the relationship between the pressure to succeed and personal responsibility.
Miller's great play, "Death of a Salesman", opened on Broadway in nineteen forty-nine. He was thirty-three years old when he wrote it. "Death of a Salesman" questions the pressures in American society for people to gain financial success. The play also continues his exploration of the relationships between fathers and sons.
The central character in "Death of a Salesman" is sixty-year-old Willy Loman. The action opens on the last day of Willy's life. He has been dismissed from his job as a traveling salesman. He also recognizes that he has failed as a father. Willy thinks about killing himself.
Willy's wife Linda understands that he is deeply and dangerously sad. But their son Biff criticizes his father's strange actions. She answers with some of the most famous words in the American theater:
LINDA: "I don't say he's a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the papers. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He's not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person. You called him crazy..."
BIFF:"I didn't mean..."
LINDA:"No, a lot of people think he's lost his – balance. But you don't have to be very smart to know what his trouble is. The man is exhausted."
Linda knows that Willy is extremely tired. He is tired of living. He kills himself before the play is over. Linda talks to Willy at his burial place:
"I search and search and I search, and I can't understand it. Willy, I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And there'll be nobody home..."
"Death of a Salesman" had a big influence on the American public. Many people saw their own lives in Willy Loman, the victim of broken dreams. Americans discussed the financial worries of businessmen who were getting old. But Americans were not the only ones who identified with the ideas in the play. It has been translated into about thirty languages and performed around the world.
Arthur Miller's criticisms of modern American life influenced another of his most important works. "The Crucible" was first produced in nineteen fifty-three. The nineteen fifties were a time of extreme fear of Communism in the United States. Sometimes this fear was unreasonable.
Miller examined this difficult period in American history by setting his play at another difficult time. "The Crucible" takes place in the seventeenth century. He based his play on trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts. Young women in the play accuse people they dislike of being evil witches. The innocent victims are put on trial and executed. The story shows the tragic results of uncontrolled suspicion and fear. "The Crucible" has been produced more than any of Miller's plays, both in America and around the world.
Like the victims in "The Crucible," the playwright himself became the object of suspicion. In nineteen fifty-six, a committee of the United States Congress ordered him to give evidence. In the nineteen forties, he had attended several meetings for writers organized by the Communist Party. The Congressional committee wanted the names of other people who attended Communist meetings.
Arthur Miller said he was not a Communist. But he would not give the committee any names. He was found guilty of disobeying Congress. Later, however, a court canceled that judgment. Miller was lucky. Some people who would not answer questions before Congress served time in prison.
Something else lucky happened to the playwright in nineteen fifty-six. Miller married the beautiful Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe. But their marriage was troubled. Monroe had emotional problems. They had little privacy because the media followed the famous couple everywhere.
Miller wrote the nineteen sixty-one movie "The Misfits" for his wife. The movie explored the modern Wild West through the lives of three troubled people. Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe ended their marriage soon after the movie was completed. A year later, Monroe died of a drug overdose.
Miller wrote another play, "After the Fall," in nineteen sixty-four. Critics said it was the play most about his own life. They criticized him for portraying the wife of the main character as a woman who is dependent on drugs and kills herself. They said the character was based on Marilyn Monroe. But Miller denied this.
Miller married for a third time in nineteen sixty-two. He and his wife Inge Morath, a well-known photographer, had one daughter. Morath died in two thousand two. Miller once said that even after he and Inge had been married almost forty years, people still asked him about Marilyn Monroe.
Arthur Miller also wrote short stories and a book about his life called "Timebends: A Life." He once wrote that when he was young he imagined that with the possible exception of a doctor saving a life, "writing a worthy play was the most important thing a human being could do." Theater owners on Broadway agreed. On the day after he died, the lights of Broadway theaters darkened for a minute in honor of Arthur Miller.
重点解析
1.as the result of作为...的结果
The Seattle Times apologized for the mistake, describing it as the result of sloppy editing.
后来《西雅图时报》为这一错误标题道了歉，说这是编辑掉以轻心的结果。
2.think about考虑；思考
So that would, this is actually a very common mistake and it makes sense if you think about it.
这的确是一个非常普遍的错误,如果你想想，这个是言之有理的。
3.fall into落入；陷入
We can all benefit by acknowledging that we can fall into this trap.
通过承认我们能落入这种陷阱，我们都能从中获益。
4.tired of厌烦
If you are tired of your life you should do something about it.
如果你厌倦了你的生活，你就应该为此做点什么。
5.take place发生
We insist on your leaving the place before any further disturbances take place.
我们坚持让你在进一步的骚乱发生前离开这个地方。
6.based on 基于
Your price should be based on the actual situation of our customers.
你们的价格应该是基于我们的客户群的实际情况。
参考译文
我是芭芭拉·克莱恩，我是史蒂夫·恩贝尔。这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天我们讲述阿瑟·米勒的故事。很多戏剧评论家认为他是20世纪美国最伟大的剧作家之一。
阿瑟·米勒的几部戏剧可能会在未来的许多年里上演。评论家认为原因是，米勒可以戏剧化普通人在他们的日常生活中遭遇的情感伤痛。
一位评论家曾经把米勒描述成一个为普通人服务的活动家。在他最著名的戏剧之一《推销员之死》中，他很好地证明了这一点。主人公是一个在商业上成功的梦想破灭的人。
但是米勒对普通人的兴趣并没有阻止他探索社会的主要问题。例如，在《萨勒姆的女巫》中，他展示了当不合理的厌恶和恐惧导致人们指控无辜的人犯下可怕的罪行时会发生什么。
他其他一些著名的戏剧包括《都是我的儿子》，《桥头眺望》和《堕落之后》。
阿瑟·米勒于1915年出生在纽约市。2005年，他在康涅狄格州罗克斯伯里的家中去世。在六十年的时间里，他创作了一个又一个的戏剧作品。米勒因他的戏剧赢得了很多奖项。其中包括普利策奖、纽约戏剧评论家协会奖和托尼奖。1984年，华盛顿特区的约翰·F·肯尼迪表演艺术中心表彰了他一生在戏剧方面的工作。
米勒还为电影创作故事。例如，他为女演员玛丽莲·梦露写了《不合时宜的人》。米勒的电视剧《为时间而战》讲述了二战期间奥斯威辛纳粹死亡集中营的一群囚犯的故事。米勒也是一位争取人权的政治活动家。但米勒最喜欢的是在剧院里表演的戏剧。
阿瑟·米勒在纽约长大。他的父亲伊西多·米勒制造服装，并经营一家商店。但是父亲在20世纪30年代的经济大萧条中损失了他的钱。这家人不得不从曼哈顿一套昂贵的公寓搬到布鲁克林的一所小房子里。
在大萧条期间，亚瑟为了上大学做了很多工作挣钱。1934年，他开始在安阿伯的密歇根大学学习英语。米勒在学校时因写剧本而获奖。米勒完成学业后回到了在纽约的家。他娶了自己大学的女朋友玛丽·斯莱特里。在婚姻结束前他们生育了两个孩子。
1944年，阿瑟·米勒的第一部主要戏剧在百老汇上演。这部戏剧是《鸿运高照的人》。然而，这部戏剧没有给他带来好运。它只演出了四场。但是他的第二部百老汇戏剧《都是我的儿子》获得了巨大的成功，并在1947年获得了几个奖项。
《都是我的儿子》讲述的是一个制造二战飞机部件的制造商。其中一个儿子因父亲犯下的罪行而死。在戏剧中，米勒审视了获得成功的压力和个人责任的关系。
米勒的伟大戏剧《推销员之死》于1949年在百老汇上演。他写这个戏剧时33岁。《推销员之死》质疑了美国社会中人们获得经济成功的压力。他在这部戏剧中继续探索了父亲和儿子的关系。
该剧的主人公是60岁的威利·罗曼。故事开始于威利生命的最后一天。他是一名旅行推销员，被解雇了。他也发现自己作为一个父亲也失败了。威利考虑自杀。
威利的妻子琳达发现他极度悲伤，非常危险。但他们的儿子比夫批评了父亲的奇怪行为。她用美国戏剧界最著名的几句话来回答：
琳达：“我不是说他是一个伟大的人。威利·罗曼从没有赚很多钱。他的名字也从未出现在报纸上。但是他是一个人，一件糟糕的事情发生在他身上。所以必须要注意。不能让他像老狗一样掉入坟墓。注意，一定要注意到这样的人。你说他疯了...”
比夫：“我不是这个意思...”
琳达：“不，很多人觉得他失去了他的平衡。但是，你不需要很聪明就知道他的问题是什么。这个男人累坏了。”
琳达知道威利极度疲惫。他厌倦了生活。在戏剧结束前，他自杀了。琳达在威利的墓地对他说：
“我找了又找，我还是不明白。威利，我今天支付了房子的最后一笔款项。今天，亲爱的。没有人会回家...”
《推销员之死》对美国大众产生了巨大的影响。很多人在这个梦想破灭的受害者威利·罗曼中看到了自己的生活。美国人讨论了正在变老的商人的经济担忧。但是并不是只有美国人认同剧中的观点。这部剧被翻译成约30种语言，并且在世界各地演出。
阿瑟·米勒对现代美国生活的批评影响了他另一部最重要的作品。《萨勒姆的女巫》于1953年第一次出版。20世纪50年代的美国极度畏惧共产主义。有时候这种畏惧是不合理的。
米勒通过将他的戏剧置于另一个困难时期来审视美国历史上的这段艰难时期。《萨勒姆的女巫》的故事发生在17世纪。这部戏剧是根据发生在马萨诸塞州塞勒姆的审判写成的。剧中的年轻女性控告她们不喜欢的人为邪恶的女巫。无辜的受害者经受着审判和处刑。这个故事显示了不受控制的怀疑和恐惧带来的悲剧后果。在美国和全世界，《萨勒姆的女巫》的出版量超过了米勒的其他任何戏剧。
就像《萨勒姆的女巫》中的受害者一样，剧作家自己也成为了被怀疑的对象。1956年，美国国会的一个委员会命令他出示证据。20世纪40年代，他参加了几个由共产党组织的会议。国会委员会想知道其他参加共产党会议的人的名字。
阿瑟·米勒表示他不是个共产主义者。但是他不会告诉委员会任何名字。他因违反国会命令被判有罪。但是后来，法庭取消了那次裁决。米勒是幸运的人。此前一些不回答国会问题的人进了监狱服刑。
1956年，另一件幸运的事发生在这位剧作家的身上。米勒娶了美丽的好莱坞女演员玛丽莲·梦露。但是他们的婚姻出现了问题。梦露有情绪问题。他们几乎没有隐私，因为媒体到处跟着这对有名的夫妇。
1961年，米勒为他的妻子写了的电影《不合时宜的人》。这部电影通过三个陷入困境的人的生活探索了美国西部。在这部电影完成后不久，阿瑟·米勒和玛丽莲·梦露就结束了他们的婚姻。一年后，梦露死于服药过量。
1964年，米勒写了另一部戏剧《堕落之后》。评论家称这是一部关于米勒自己生活的戏剧。他们批评他把主角的妻子描绘成一个依赖毒品并自杀的女人。他们称这个角色是基于玛丽莲·梦露创作的。但是米勒否认了这一点。
1962年，米勒第三次结婚。他妻子是著名的摄影师英格·莫拉斯，他们有一个女儿。莫拉斯于2002年去世。米勒曾经说，即使在他和英格结婚将近四十年之后，人们仍然会问他关于玛丽莲·梦露的事。
阿瑟·米勒也写作短篇小说，他写了一本关于他生活的书《时移世变》。他曾经写道，当他年轻的时候，他想象着，除了医生挽救生命之外，“写一部有价值的剧本是一个人能做的最重要的事情。”百老汇的剧院老板也同意这一观点。在米勒逝去的哪一天，百老汇剧院的灯光熄灭了一分钟，以向阿瑟·米勒致敬。
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