词汇大师(Wordmaster)--'Presidential Voices'

Broadcast on COAST TO COAST: September 16, 2004

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: the voice of American presidents.

RS: Allan Metcalf of the American Dialect Society has just written a timely book. It's called "Presidential Voices: Speaking Styles from George Washington to George W. Bush."

AA: He listened to recordings¹, where he could. He got a sense of how the early presidents sounded by what people had to say about their speeches.

Allan Metcalf says in the late 1700s, George Washington 鈥?America鈥檚 first president 鈥?had an especially formal style.

ALLAN METCALF: "He wanted to prove that an ordinary citizen, an ordinary citizen of the enlightenment of a free country, would be as worthy² and dignified³ as any of the crowned heads of Europe. For example, his inaugural⁴ address begins with, 'Among the vicissitudes⁵ incident to life no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the fourteenth day of the present month.' And he goes on in that vein⁶, and he was such an influence that most presidents since him have needed to be somewhat dignified and elevated.

"And even in the nineteenth century, the first six presidents were all rather aristocratic themselves. But then along came Andrew Jackson and then a number of other presidents who boasted of having been born in log cabins, common men, but nevertheless they, too, followed along in Washington's example."

RS: "What would it have been like to have listened to Washington?"

ALLAN METCALF: "Well, for one thing, you wouldn't have had to spend too much time. His false teeth were so painful that he rarely spoke⁷ for longer than ten minutes at a time. And they were painful because they had springs in them to keep his mouth open. So he had to exert pressure to keep his mouth closed."

RS: "Allan, have any words or phrases come into American English because of the president's speeches?"

ALLAN METCALF: "Some have. President Jefferson was noted⁸ for his innovations in vocabulary. He had words like Anglomania, electioneering, belittle⁹ -- he seems to be among the first to use that. I think the most impressive, though, the most creative of all the presidents, was Teddy Roosevelt. He was able to come up with terms like muckraker and even lunatic fringe. And bully¹⁰ pulpit -- he called the presidency¹¹ a bully pulpit, meaning it was a wonderful place to give speeches and be listened to. He used the term bully all the time as a term of enthusiasm."

RS: "Say we wanted to run for president. What kind of advice would you give us in order to write a good speech."

ALLAN METCALF: "Well, all you have to do is go back to George Washington and then you go back to the other presidents who followed in Washington's footsteps, or mouthsteps or whatever, using the phrases that they used. And you'll find as you look at the different inaugural addresses that they are almost interchangeable. So in my book I came up with an all-purpose presidential inaugural address that you or anyone can use when you become president. And it begins with:

"'Fellow citizens' (which George Washington and his successors said) conscious of 'the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which my country called me' (that's Washington) but knowing that 'the will of the people is the source, and the happiness of the people the end, of all legitimate¹² government upon earth' (that's John Quincy Adams) I pledge my 'attachment¹³ to the Constitution of the United States, and a conscientious¹⁴ determination to support it' (that's John Adams).

"'The business of our nation goes forward' (said Ronald Reagan, and that's suitable in all occasions). 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself' (said Franklin Roosevelt). 'Much time has passed since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration¹⁵ ... But the themes of this day he would know: our nation's grand story of courage and its simple dream of dignity' (said George W. Bush). So 'God bless you and may God bless America" (said Ronald Reagan and his successors).'"

RS: "That was Ronald Reagan?"

ALLAN METCALF: "Yes, he was the innovator¹⁶ for the 'God bless you, and may God bless America.'"

AA: "So before that, how did presidents end their speeches?"

ALLAN METCALF: "Oh that's a good question. I'll have to look it up. [laughter]"

RS: "It sounds like you had a lot of fun writing this book. Any surprises along the way?"

ALLAN METCALF: "The chief surprise was that the presidents didn't speak that well. But I also was surprised at how shy some of our presidents were about public speaking. Thomas Jefferson, such a great writer, declined to speak in public when the Declaration of Independence was being debated, the thing that he had written. He didn't say a word.

"I was surprised at how unimpressive Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address was. His second was tremendous and his Gettysburg Address was great. But his first inaugural attempted to give a lawyer's argument against secession, which totally failed.

"And I was surprised that George W. Bush, who makes blunders, not only isn't bothered but in fact relishes¹⁷ them, and shortly after he was elected president, he gave a talk where he read aloud from the 'Book of Bushisms,' laughing at them just as much as anybody else."

AA: Allan Metcalf is executive secretary of the American Dialect Society and an English professor at MacMurray College in Illinois. His newest book is called "Presidential Voices: Speaking Styles from George Washington to George W. Bush."

RS: And that's all for this week。。。。。。is our e-mail address. And our Web site is voanews.com/wordmaster. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

 

1 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

2 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

3 dignified   

a.可敬的，高贵的

参考例句：

• Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中，他始终沉默以保持尊严。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

4 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。

5 vicissitudes   

n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废

参考例句：

• He experienced several great social vicissitudes in his life. 他一生中经历了几次大的社会变迁。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected. 饱经沧桑，不易沮丧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 vein   

n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络

参考例句：

• The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
• The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 belittle   

v.轻视，小看，贬低

参考例句：

• Do not belittle what he has achieved.不能小看他取得的成绩。
• When you belittle others,you are actually the one who appears small.当你轻视他人时， 真正渺小的其实是你自己。

10 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

11 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

12 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

13 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

14 conscientious   

adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的

参考例句：

• He is a conscientious man and knows his job.他很认真负责，也很懂行。
• He is very conscientious in the performance of his duties.他非常认真地履行职责。

15 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

16 innovator   

n.改革者；创新者

参考例句：

• The young technical innovator didn't lose heart though the new system was not yet brought into a workable condition. 尽管这种新方法尚未达到切实可行的状况，这位青年技术革新者也没有泄气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Caesar planned vast projects and emerged as a great innovator. 恺撒制定了庞大的革新计划。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史

17 relishes   

n.滋味( relish的名词复数 )；乐趣；（大量的）享受；快乐v.欣赏( relish的第三人称单数 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望

参考例句：

• The meat relishes of pork. 这肉有猪肉味。 来自辞典例句
• The biography relishes too much of romance. 这篇传记中传奇色彩太浓。 来自辞典例句