美语咖啡屋-苏格兰风笛乐队

Scottish Pipe Band

 

J: Hello, I'm Jody!

 

Y: 大家好, 我是杨晨!

 

J: And welcome to American Cafe.

 

Y: 欢迎您到美语咖啡屋.

 

(Enter pipe band music)

 

Y: Jody, 今天的这个音乐, 我怎么觉得这么熟悉啊？

 

J: Today I thought we would introduce Margaret Peng, the Chinese-American woman we met who does something quite uncommon¹. She's a drummer in a Scottish pipe band. Yang Chen, how cool is that!?

 

Y: 你说得没错，我对她的印象特别的深. 这个女孩儿叫Margaret Peng. 她是一位华裔，是华盛顿苏格兰风笛乐队的队员之一。在这种乐队里华人并不多见。那么，作为一个华裔，她是怎么迷上这种音乐的呢？我们来听听她是怎么说的：

 

(ACT 1: Margaret Peng, Drummer in Washington Pipe Band)

 

MP: I'm a tenor² drummer in the pipe band and I started playing in high school. Eh... I had a friend who was in the bagpipe³ band in high school. That what she played. She said: "Come on join it with me, join it." So I did it and I didn't think I'd keep doing it but I am (laughs).

 

J: How many years now?

 

MP:In this band I've been in for 12, 12 years. Right.

 

Y: Margaret刚才说她是在高中就加入了乐队一直到现在她练了十二年了，很长时间。

 

J: 12 years! Wow.

 

Y: 你可以想象嘛。 她加入乐队的原因其实很简单。 她当时她有一个朋友在乐队里吹bagpipe 的, 就问她, 你参加不参加? 她说好啊，就这么参加了，非常简单。

 

J: That's simple. She was in high school and a friend told her to come join the band.

 

Y: 没错，没错。她在乐队里是鼓手。

 

J: Yang Chen, I was so impressed when we saw Margaret Peng twirling her mallets in the air! It's like she was dancing! Really beautiful. She explained to me that the mallets are actually the sticks you use to bang the drum.

 

Y: 对，“mallet”就是敲鼓用的鼓槌，或者小音槌。当时如果你能看到Margaret Peng挥舞小音槌的姿势，你会觉得她非常优美，简直就象跳舞一样。

 

J: The music of the Scottish pipe band is so bizarre, isn't it?

 

Y: Bizarre?

 

J: You know, 奇怪。

 

Y: 我想在这里可能说它奇特更合适吧。

 

J: Oh, 不是奇怪的意思？

 

Y: "Bizarre"当然有奇怪的意思，不过这里说奇特更合适一些，因为这个音乐还是很好听的。

 

J: I don't think anything sounds quite like the music of Scotland. And especially the bagpipes⁴. While the drums are familiar, Yang Chen, to many cultures, I don't think the bagpipes are.

 

(ACT 2: Margaret Peng)

 

MP: It takes a lot of time. It's very difficult. There's a bag that you inflate⁵ with a blowpipe in your mouth. And you inflate the bag and every time you blow then you squeeze after you finish blowing. And you have to keep the pressure constant to keep that drone sounds. And then you have to play and then you have to walk. So there's a lot of things going on at the same time.

 

Y: 说起来这种乐器的名字里面有个“笛”，风笛。其实它比中国笛子或长笛相比要大得多，看上去也很重。

 

J: They have to carry all their instruments as they are marching.

 

Y: Margaret刚才提到吹奏风笛有一种“drone sound”。我想要让听众更好地了解这种声音，还是让他们听一段音乐。

 

J: Of course that's the best way. Let's play a droning bagpipe.

 

(Enter bagpipe music)

 

J: I mean, picture this, Yang Chen. A group of musicians, men and women, dressed in the same very formal Scottish costume with kilt, you know a skirt, and carrying their instruments as they parade around.

 

Y: 大家可以想象一下，一群人带着自豪感，昂首阔步地前进。我还记得Margaret当时给我的印象很深，她很威风，对不对？

 

J: Exactly.

 

Y: 苏格兰男子身上穿的这种花格裙是苏格兰特有的一种服饰。这种裙子的正确说法是"kilt," 而不是"skirt."

 

J: You're right Yang Chen, the word is "kilt." I think Margaret gave a good explanation of the origin of Scottish pipe band music.

 

(ACT 3: Margaret Peng)

 

MP: And bagpipes are the traditional Scottish instruments used in time of war to help signal whether they were going to retreat or whether they were going to attack.

 

Y: 原来在古代的苏格兰，人们用吹奏 bagpipe 来向军队发出信号，告诉他们应该进攻还是撤退。 最后我们来欣赏一段传统的苏格兰音乐。Jody, 你知道吗，这段音乐是我的一个朋友演奏的。

 

J: Oh, that's wonderful. And actually that's the end of our show today. So, thank you for stopping in to American Cafe.

 

Y: 再见！

 

J: See ya!

1 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

2 tenor   

n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意

参考例句：

• The tenor of his speech was that war would come.他讲话的大意是战争将要发生。
• The four parts in singing are soprano,alto,tenor and bass.唱歌的四个声部是女高音、女低音、男高音和男低音。

3 bagpipe   

n.风笛

参考例句：

• The bagpipe is a sweet musical instrument.风笛是一种听起来很悦耳的乐器。
• A wailful bagpipe played out in the night.夜幕中传来悲哭般的风笛声。

4 bagpipes   

n.风笛；风笛( bagpipe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Yes, and I'm also learning to play the bagpipes. 是的，我也想学习吹风笛。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Mr. Vinegar took the bagpipes and the piper led the cow away. 于是醋溜先生拿过了风笛，风笛手牵走了奶牛。 来自互联网

5 inflate   

vt.使膨胀，使骄傲，抬高（物价）

参考例句：

• The buyers bid against each other and often inflate the prices they pay.买主们竞相投标，往往人为地提高价钱。
• Stuart jumped into the sea and inflated the liferaft.斯图尔特跳到海里给救生艇充气。