(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember. Imagine a time machine. You've just climbed into it for the purpose of visiting the United States – in the nineteen-fifties. What would you expect to find? In the nineteen fifties, America was a nation whose population was growing as never before. It was a nation where the popular culture of television was both reflecting and influencing its lifestyle. But it was also a nation that believed it was on the edge of nuclear war. Americans were happy to put World War Two behind them. The war ended in nineteen forty-five. People were hopeful. They thought the world would be peaceful for a while. By nineteen fifty, however, political tensions were high again. The United States and the Soviet Union were allies in World War Two. But, after the war, they became enemies in what came to be known as the Cold War. Communists took control of one eastern European nation after another. The Soviet Union led by Josef Stalin strengthened its armed forces. However, the United States thought America alone possessed the most powerful weapon of all -- the atomic bomb.
But in nineteen forty-nine, a United States Air Force plane discovered strange conditions in the atmosphere. What was causing them? The answer came quickly: the Soviet Union had tested its own atomic bomb. The nuclear race was on. The two nations competed to build weapons of mass destruction. A "doomsday clock" on the cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists warned of a growing danger of nuclear destruction. Members of that group were afraid of what science had produced, and even more afraid of what it could produce. By nineteen forty-nine, the time on the doomsday clock was three minutes to midnight. In nineteen fifty, North Korea invaded South Korea. The Korean war increased efforts in the United States to develop a weapon even more deadly than the atomic bomb. That weapon was the hydrogen bomb. The Soviets were also working to develop their own hydrogen bomb. Some Americans built bomb shelters in their backyards, hoping to have a safe place for their families in case of a nuclear attack. Other Americans, however, were tired of being afraid. After years of sacrifice, they wanted to enjoy the good life in a growing economy.
Nineteen fifty-two was a presidential election year. Americans elected Dwight Eisenhower, a military hero of World War Two. The years after the war produced the Baby Boom generation. In nineteen fifty there were twenty-four million young children in America. By nineteen sixty that number was thirty-five million. More families meant the need for more houses. And bigger families needed bigger houses. In nineteen fifty alone, almost one and a half million new homes were built in America. Most of these new houses were located in suburbs, the areas outside cities. People moved to the suburbs because they thought the schools there were better than city schools. They also liked having more space for their children to play in. More space meant children had room to lay out electric train sets. In a lot of American homes, playing with electric trains was an activity that brought the whole family together. Television ads for Lionel trains even featured baseball great Joe DiMaggio. "Lionel Trains proudly present The Joe DiMaggio Show, starring the Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio himself" The late nineteen fifties brought the Barbie doll and a big circular tube of colorful plastic called the Hula Hoop. People had to learn to move their hips in a circular motion, like a hula dancer in Hawaii, to spin it around their body. Hula Hoops became very popular in America.
Also popular was the poodle cut -- not for dogs, but for women who wanted to look stylish. They fixed their hair into lots of small curls, like the hair on a poodle. Actress Mary Martin had made the poodle cut famous in the musical "South Pacific." That play opened on Broadway in New York in nineteen forty-nine. In Hollywood, one of the biggest movie stars of the nineteen fifties was Marilyn Monroe. She starred in films like "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" in nineteen fifty-three. Her platinum-blonde hair style also became popular among American women. "I woke up this morning, you know, and the sun was shining. And it was nice, and all that type of stuff. And the first thing, I saw you, and I said, now, boy this is gonna be one terrific day..." Another famous actor was James Dean, best known for the nineteen fifty-five movie "Rebel Without a Cause." That same year he died in a car accident at the age of twenty-four. In literature, there were writers and poets who came to be known as the Beat generation. These included Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsberg. To them, much of life in nineteen-fifties America was empty and meaningless.
The painter Jackson Pollock represented a spirit of rebellion in art. Pollock would drop paint onto a canvas. What did his works mean? People had to decide for themselves. In music, the rebel was Elvis Presley -- the king of rock and roll. Elvis Presley was a twenty-one-year-old truck driver when he sang on television for the first time. Some parents and religious leaders thought he was a bad influence. They thought the way he moved his body to the music was too suggestive. But young people screamed for more. They listened to Elvis' music on records, on the radio and on the television program "American Bandstand." "American Bandstand" became the most popular dance party in America. Every week, young people danced to the latest songs in front of the TV cameras. But it wasn't all rock and roll. Whether on Bandstand-type television programs or at local "record hops," or at home, young Americans – and their parents – danced cheek to cheek to romantic ballads as well. Television in the nineteen-fifties included dramas acted live on TV. And there were quiz shows, and game shows, and comedy programs.
If Elvis was the king of rock and roll, Lucille Ball was the queen of comedy. During the nineteen fifties, millions of Americans watched "I Love Lucy." Lucille Ball starred with her husband Desi Arnaz. They played Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. Ricky is a Cuban bandleader in New York. Lucy is a housewife who wishes she could be famous like her husband. "What will I have to do?" "You gonna have to get me back on the television show." "How?" "I don't know how. But, if you don't, I'll..." "I will, Ricky. I'll get you back on the show. Don't even think of what you'll do if I don't." Lucille Ball and "I Love Lucy" were both big influences on generations of entertainers and TV comedy producers. Variety shows offered a mix of entertainment. Americans watched shows hosted by comics like Milton Berle, Jackie Gleason and Sid Caesar. Ed Sullivan was not a comedian, but for years his show brought new acts into American homes every Sunday night. Television shows were all in black-and-white. But one night in nineteen fifty-three, Americans got their own time-machine glimpse into the future of TV. It happened with an announcement during Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows."
"This is Richard Harkness in Washington. This week will long be remembered in the annals of television, for on Thursday, December seventeenth, the Federal Communications Commission approved Compatible Color Television." That meant that owners of TV sets could still watch programs broadcast in color -- in black and white -- instead of having to buy a new set. Color TV's popularity grew quickly, and the prices of color TVs came down, meaning more color TVs in American homes, and more and more programs produced in color. "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC." During the nineteen fifties, most of the people who appeared on television were white. If black actors appeared, they were usually in jobs working for white people. But in real life, a civil rights movement was beginning to gather strength. Legal battles were fought to end racial separation, especially in public schools. In nineteen fifty-four, the United States Supreme Court made a historic ruling. The case was known as Brown v. Board of Education. The court ruled that the requirement in some states for racially separate schools was unconstitutional. The court rejected the idea that schools for black students could be "separate but equal" to those attended by white students. By the nineteen sixties, the civil rights movement would shake American society. Dwight Eisenhower was president for most of the nineteen fifties. He faced the problems of communism, nuclear threats and racial tensions. "Ike" had a calm way of speaking to the public. Many Americans saw him as a fatherly president. They thought that even in a dark and dangerous world, everything would be all right. Were they correct? We'll try to answer that in future programs.
重点解析
1.expect to 期望；预期
You cannot expect to like all the people you will work with.
不要指望你会喜欢所有和你共事的人。
2.take control of 控制；掌管
He failed in his attempt to take control of the company.
他试图掌控公司，但以失败告终。
3.be tired of 对……厌烦；讨厌
I know that you must be tired of this excuse.
我知道你一定厌烦了这个借口。
4.wake up 唤醒；起床
You have to wake up now, baby.
该起床了，宝贝儿。
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目，我是史蒂夫·恩伯。想象一下时间机器，你刚刚爬上它，为了前往20世纪50年代的美国。你希望发现什么？在20世纪50年代，美国是一个人口空前增长的国家，电视大众文化既反映又影响其生活方式。但美国也是一个认为自己处于核战争边缘的国家。美国人很高兴把第二次世界大战抛在脑后。战争于1945年结束，人们满怀希望，他们认为世界和平会维系一段时间。然而，到1950年，政治紧张局势再次高涨。美国和苏联在第二次世界大战中是同盟国。但是，战后，他们成了后来被称为冷战的敌人。共产主义者接二连三地控制一个个东欧国家，斯大林领导的苏联加强了武装力量。然而，美国认为只有美国拥有最强大的武器——原子弹。
但是在1949年，美国空军的一架飞机发现了大气中的奇怪状况，这是什么引起的？很快就得到了答案：苏联已经测试了自己的原子弹。核竞赛开始了，这两个国家竞相制造大规模杀伤性武器。《原子科学家公报》封面上的一个“末日钟”警告说，核毁灭的危险越来越大。小组成员对科学所研制出来的这种东西感到担忧，同时也更害怕它所能产生的影响。到1949年，世界末日时钟的时间还差三分钟就到午夜时分了。1950年，朝鲜入侵韩国。朝鲜战争加大了美国研制比原子弹更致命武器的努力。这种武器就是氢弹。苏联也在努力开发自己的氢弹。一些美国人在自家后院建了防空洞，希望能为家人提供一个安全的地方，以防遭到核袭击。然而，其他美国人已经厌倦了害怕。经过多年的牺牲，他们想在经济增长中享受美好的生活。
1952年是总统选举年，美国人选举德怀特·艾森豪威尔为二战的军事英雄。战后的几年造就了婴儿潮一代。在1950年，美国有2400万儿童。1960年，是3500百万。更多的家庭意味着需要更多的房子，更大的家庭也需要更大的房子。仅在1950年，美国就建造了将近150万套新住宅。这些新房屋大多位于城外郊区，人们搬到郊区，是因为他们认为那里的学校比城市里的好，他们也喜欢拥有更多的空间让孩子们玩耍。更多的空间意味着孩子们有地方布置电动火车组。在很多美国家庭里，玩电动火车是一项把全家人聚在一起的活动。莱昂内尔火车队的电视广告甚至出现了棒球巨星乔·迪马乔。“莱昂内尔火车队自豪地呈现了乔·迪马乔秀，由洋基快船，乔·迪马乔本人出演”20世纪50年代末，芭比娃娃和一个叫做呼啦圈的彩色塑料大圆管问世。人们必须学会像夏威夷的草裙舞演员那样，以圆周运动的方式移动臀部，使这个大圆管绕着身体旋转。呼啦圈在美国变得非常流行。
同样受欢迎的还有贵宾犬发型——不是给狗做，而是做给想看起来时髦的女人。她们把头发扎成许多小卷发，像贵宾犬的毛发。女演员玛丽·马丁在音乐剧《南太平洋》中使贵宾犬发型出名，该剧于1949年在纽约百老汇开演。在好莱坞，50年代最伟大的电影明星之一是玛丽莲·梦露。她在1953年主演了《绅士偏爱金发女郎》等电影，她的白金金发发型也在美国女性中流行起来。“我今天早上醒来，阳光明媚。感觉很好，还有其他的东西。第一件事，我看到你，我说，孩子，这将是伟大的一天……”另一位著名的演员是詹姆斯·迪恩，他因1955年的电影《无因的反抗》而闻名。同年，他在一场车祸中丧生，享年24岁。在文学届，一些作家和诗人被称为垮掉的一代，其中包括杰克·凯鲁亚克、格雷戈里·科索和艾伦·金斯伯格。对他们来说，20世纪50年代的美国生活，大部分是空虚和毫无意义的。
画家杰克逊·波洛克代表了一种艺术上的反叛精神，波洛克会把颜料滴在画布上。他作品的含义是什么？人们不得不自己决定。在音乐领域，反叛者是摇滚之王——猫王。猫王普雷斯利第一次在电视上唱歌时，是一位21岁的卡车司机。一些家长和宗教领袖认为，他带来的是一种负面影响。他们认为，他随音乐中摇摆身体的方式充满太多的暗示。但是，年轻人尖叫着想要听更多他的音乐。他们在唱片、收音机和电视节目“美国音乐台”上听猫王的音乐 “美国乐队”成为美国最受欢迎的舞蹈晚会。年轻人每周在电视镜头前，随着最新的歌曲跳舞。但是，它播放的并不全是摇滚乐。无论是在电台类型的电视节目中，还是在当地的“播放唱片的地方”，或是在家里，美国年轻人和他们的父母都会伴随着浪漫的民谣，贴面起舞。20世纪50年代的电视节目，包括直播式的电视剧。还有智力竞赛节目、游戏节目和喜剧节目。
如果猫王是摇滚之王，露西尔·鲍尔就是喜剧女王。在20世纪50年代，数以百万计的美国人观看《我爱露西》，由露西尔·鲍尔和丈夫德西·阿纳兹主演，扮演露西和利·卡多先生。利是纽约的古巴乐队指挥，露西是个家庭主妇，她希望自己能像丈夫一样出名。“我该怎么办？”“你得让我重新上电视节目。”“怎么弄？” “我不知道怎么弄，但如果你不这样做，我会……”“我会的，利，我会让你重回舞台。你甚至都不要想，如果我不这么做，你该怎么办。”露西尔·鲍尔和《我爱露西》对一代又一代的艺人和电视喜剧制作人都产生了很大的影响。综艺节目中提供了多种娱乐活动，美国人观看由米尔顿·伯尔、杰基·格里森和希德·凯撒等滑稽演员主持的节目。埃德·沙利文不是喜剧演员，但多年来，他的节目每周日晚都会给美国家庭带来新的表演。电视节目都是黑白色的，但是在1953年的一个晚上，美国人在自己的时间机器上看到了电视节目的未来。这件事发生在希德·凯撒的《你的表演》中。
“我是华盛顿的理查德·哈克内斯。本周将被载入电视年鉴，因为12月17日星期四，联邦通信委员会批准了兼容性彩色电视。”这意味着电视机的拥有者仍然能观看黑白电视节目，而不必购买新电视机。彩电的普及迅速增长，其价格也随之下降，这意味着美国家庭中的彩电越来越多，彩色的电视节目也越来越多。 “以下节目是NBC为您带来的现场版彩色节目。”在20世纪50年代，大多数出现在电视上的人都是白人。如果黑人演员出现，他们通常是为白人工作。但在现实生活中，一场民权运动开始积聚力量。为了结束种族隔离，特别是在公立学校内，人们进行了法律斗争。1954年，美国最高法院作出了一项历史性裁决。这起案件被称为布朗诉教育委员会案。法院裁定，在一些州，学校中出现种族隔离是违宪的。法院驳回了黑人学生的学校，可以与白人学生就读的学校“分开但享有平等地位”的观点。到20世纪60年代，民权运动将动摇美国社会。德怀特·艾森豪威尔在20世纪50年代出任总统，他面临共产主义、核威胁和种族紧张的问题。“艾克”面对公众说话时表现的很冷静，许多美国人认为他是一位慈父般的总统。他们认为，即使在一个黑暗又危险的世界里，一切都会好起来。他们是否正确？我们会在以后的节目中尝试回答这个问题。
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