美语咖啡屋 Lesson 17: Young At Heart Tap Dance Troupe

Y: 大家好，我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: And I'm Jody! Thanks for dropping by the American Cafe!

Y: 哎，Jody， 你踢踏舞练得这么样了？

(Sound of tap dancing)

J: Slowly, Yang Chen. Really slowly.

Y:一定很难吧？

J: Um, I would have to say in a word, simply ... YES! It's really hard.

Y: 就是吗。当初我就劝你学点简单的东西。

J: I know.

Y: 不是我打击你的积极性，你这个年龄学踢踏舞是不是晚了一点儿？

J: What's that supposed to mean? What do you mean 我的这个年龄?! What's wrong with my age!? But, actually the ladies in my tap dance troupe, called Young At Heart, are in their late 50s and early 60s. So, I'm pretty young. And most of them didn't start tap dancing until they hit 50 years old.

Y: 还有这么多人50多岁了才开始学跳踢踏舞。Young At Heart这个名字起得真好。它的意思是说一个人身体变老了，可是心灵和思想永远是年轻的。这和中文里的“童心未泯”的意思很接近。

J: And in English the expression "young at heart" is often used to describe older people who have a zest for life. You know, they have a young way of looking at life. Here's Hazel, one of the founders of Young At Heart.

实录1 Hazel Elbert：My name is Hazel Elbert. And ah, I started tapping in 1989. In 1989 I was 52 years old. I've been with Young at Heart since, oh dear, I guess it's been about five, going on about six years now.

Y: Hazel五十二岁才开始学跳舞。你们都在什么地方表演，我下次一定要去看看。

J: Oh, that'll be fun! Young At Heart travels to many nursing homes and senior centers in the area and tap dances for people who don't get to go out very much any more.

Y: 这里的nursing homes指的就是养老院，那么senior centers指的是老年人中心。哎，你们到这些养老院或老年人中心去为老人们表演，这也应该算是一种慈善活动吧？

J: Here's Hazel again.

实录2 Hazel Elbert：And you get a good feeling because the whole purpose of our organization is to provide entertainment to elderly people, actually. It's the elderly people that are in our nursing homes or senior centers and what have you, and that's the main purpose of our organization.

J: And you know, what's better than music, dancing, singing and laughter? Those are the best medicines for anybody.

Y: 没错，没错。对我自己来说，多听音乐，唱歌跳舞都是有益身体健康的活动。

J: And you know, there's another side to the benefits of Young At Heart.

Y:那是什么呢？

J: Well, many of the women have used tap dance to help recover from serious illnesses.

Y: 真的？跳踢踏舞还可以帮助她们恢复身体健康啊？

J: Definitely, definitely. Here's Hazel.

ACT Hazel Elbert

Jody: Out of all the dance forms why did you choose tap?

实录3 Hazel: Because I needed a diversion from a medical problem I was having. And I thought tap would be challenging and it would keep my mind occupied. It required a lot of thought, coordination and that's kinda of what I needed at the time.

Y: 原来Hazel是用跳舞来分散她的精力。这样她就不会老把自己当成一个病人。这真的是一种好办法。

J: Right, because tap dance, like Hazel said, is not only physical it's also mental. It requires a lot of thought, a lot of coordination. Another women in the dance troupe, a friend of mine, has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.

Y: Chemotherapy就是疗。

J: And she's still tap dancing. Well, here's Emily. She explains how tap dancing saved her from severe shyness.

Y: 害羞？

J: 非常害羞。

Y: 哇，我很好奇，如果她是个害羞的人，那她怎么敢在很多人面前跳舞呢？

J: 我们让她解释。

实录4 Emily：I choose tap dancing because it is something I've always wanted to do since I was yay high but I was too frightened and too scared, and I was a very shy person, oh horribly shy person. But then when I became 52, I said "Uh oh, I think it's time." 52 or not I was going to do this.

Y: Jody, 你知道吗，我听了Emily的话，真的很受鼓舞，因为我也是个很害羞的人，所以我也应该去学跳踢踏舞？

J: What?! You? Shy?! No way! But come on out and dance with us anyway. Young At Heart would love to have you.

Y: 好，各位听众，我们今天的节目就到这里结束。谢谢大家收听，我们下次节目再见。

(Sound of tap dancing)

J: Thanks for tuning into American Cafe! See you next time!