AMERICAN MOSAIC - Folklife Festival - Silk Road

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ -July 5, 2002: Folklife Festival -Silk Road

03 Jul 2002, 19:07 UTC
(Smithsonian photo -Kimberly
Freeman)
HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC
—
VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

(THEME)

This is Doug Johnson. On our program today we present a special report about a festival now taking place on the
Mall in Washington, D.C. It honors³ the people who lived and worked along the ancient Silk Road between
Europe and Asia.

Silk Road Visit

HOST:

Each year, the Smithsonian Institution holds a Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C.
on the Mall between the Capital building and the Washington Monument. This year
the festival is called “The Silk Road: Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust.
”

Traders in the ancient world used the Silk Road to transport goods across Asia to
Europe. They carried goods from Japan to Italy and to all of the countries in between.

World famous musician Yo-Yo Ma created the Silk Road Project to teach people about the nations and people of
the Silk Road today. He joined with the Smithsonian Institution to honor² the people and the countries of the Silk
Road at the festival in Washington.

Yo-Yo Ma says the ancient Silk Road was very much like the modern computer communications system called
the Internet. It permitted the exchange of ideas, music, food, technology and culture.

During the Silk Road Folklife Festival, visitors are meeting people from many countries and learning⁴ about their
cultures. The countries include Japan, China, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Russia, and the city of Venice,
Italy.

Visitors can hear Chinese storytellers. They can watch men from Mongolia demonstrate⁵ their sport of wrestling.
They can eat Japanese food while listening to music from Afghanistan. They can watch artists make Indian and
Syrian jewelry⁶.

Best of all, they can talk to the people who do this beautiful work -- people like Ahmet Sahin of Kutahya,
Turkey. Mister⁷ Sahin makes ceramic⁸ dishes and wall hangings. He trained with his grandfather, also named
Ahmet Sahin. Grandfather Ahmet Sahin is considered the greatest master of Islamic ceramics⁹ of the twentieth
century. The Sahins traveled to Washington, D.C to take part in the festival. They sell their ceramics and urge
people to visit Turkey.

The Silk Road Folklife Festival celebrates the living traditions of the ancient Silk Road lands. It is presenting
more than three-hundred artists and crafts¹⁰ people, musicians and dancers from more than twenty countries. And,
for the two weeks of the festival, these people of the Silk Road are sharing their many different cultures with one
another and more than one-million visitors.

Food on the Silk Road

HOST:

An important part of the yearly¹¹ Smithsonian Folklife Festival is the food. This is especially true at the Silk Road
festival. Visitors can buy foods from Japan, China, Afghanistan and Italy. And cooks from Azerbaijan,


Afghanistan, Italy, India and Uzbekistan show how to prepare foods from their countries. Mary Tillotson tells us
more about food and the Silk Road.

ANNCR:

People along the trade paths exchanged vegetables, fruits, and spices that would influence the kinds of food they
prepared. Each country on the Silk Road has its own kind of cooking, yet is linked to all the others.

Bread is one example. People eat flat bread in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and much of China. Rice
has become an important part of cooking all over the world. Noodles are also found in many countries. For many
years, people believed that the Italian explorer Marco Polo brought noodles, or pasta, from China to Italy in the
thirteenth century.

But food history experts say that is probably not true. They say that pasta probably was created first in Iran. An
Arab cook book written in the tenth century describes the first food made of pasta, and says it was invented by a
Persian king. Food history experts say the Arabs probably first brought pasta and the wheat needed to make it to
Italy in the ninth century.

No one knows how the Chinese learned¹² to make pasta. But the names of some Chinese foods made of noodles are
similar to those in other countries along the Silk Road. For example, “mantou”
is the Chinese name for a sweet
food similar to bread. In Japan, a steamed bread is called “manzu.
”
In Korea, pasta filled with meat is called
“mandu.
”
In Tibet, people eat stuffed¹³ dumplings and call them “momo.
”
And countries of central Asia
prepare a steamed filled pasta called “manti.
”

Smithsonian experts say that the link among all these foods and their names is a sign of early communication
among the cultures of the Silk Road. In this way, food traditions traveled along the ancient Silk Road and are still
influencing cultures all over the world today.

Music of the Silk Road

HOST:

Music is an important part of the cultures of people who live along the ancient trading paths that went from East
Asia to Europe. It also is an important part of the Silk Road Folklife Festival. Shep O’Neal tells about some of
the kinds of traditional music being played at the Festival.

ANNCR:

Music is often said to be a bridge between cultures. This is a strong belief of the organizers of this year’s Silk
Road Folklife Festival. So during the festival visitors can enjoy live performances of unusual music from many
areas of the world. There are throat singers from Khakasia, Russia. The Beijing Opera. Music from the Pamir

Mountains in Tajikistan. Venetian folk music from Italy.

To continue this musical exchange, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings¹⁴ has produced a two-CD set called “The
Silk Road: a Musical Caravan¹⁵.
”
It contains examples of the different kinds of music being performed at the
Festival. It gives a taste of the rich musical life that exists today in the lands of the Silk Road. And it shows how
musical instruments and sounds were exchanged.

This Armenian song is played on a kind of clarinet called a duduk and a kind of drum called a dhol. The song is
called “Dance of Tamir Agha.
”

((CUT ONE: Dance of Tamir Agha))

The Khakas live in the republic of Khakasia in southern Siberia. Their rich musical traditional includes throat
singing called Khai. Here, a Khaka sings a Khai while playing a stringed instrument.

((CUT TWO: Khai))

We leave the Silk Road now with a traditional piece from the Uyghurs of Xinjiang, China. It shows the influence
of Chinese, Middle Eastern, Indian, Arab and Persian music.


((CUT THREE: Chabbiyat Tazi Marghul)
)
HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And I hope you will join us again next week for

AMERICAN MOSAIC
—
VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Marilyn Christiano, Nancy Steinbach and Paul Thompson.
Our studio engineer was Al Allerby. And our producer was Paul Thompson.

 

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1 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

2 honor   

n.光荣；敬意；荣幸；vt.给…以荣誉；尊敬

参考例句：

• I take your visit as a great honor.您的来访是我莫大的光荣。
• It is a great honor to receive that prize.能拿到那个奖是无上的光荣。

3 honors   

n.礼仪；荣典；礼节； 大学荣誉学位；大学优等成绩；尊敬( honor的名词复数 )；敬意；荣誉；光荣

参考例句：

• He aims at honors. 他力求名誉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We did the last honors to his remains. 我们向他的遗体告别。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

5 demonstrate   

vt.论证，证明；示范；显示；vi.示威游行

参考例句：

• Let me demonstrate to you how this machine works.我给你演示一下这台机器的运转情况。
• How can I demonstrate to you that my story is true?我怎样才能向你证明我的话是真实的呢？

6 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

7 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

8 ceramic   

n.制陶业，陶器，陶瓷工艺

参考例句：

• The order for ceramic tiles has been booked in.瓷砖的订单已登记下来了。
• Some ceramic works of art are shown in this exhibition.这次展览会上展出了一些陶瓷艺术品。

9 ceramics   

n.制陶业；陶器

参考例句：

• an exhibition of ceramics by Picasso 毕加索陶瓷作品展
• The ceramics bore the imprint of Luca della Robbia. 陶器上印有卢卡·德拉·罗比亚的字样。

10 crafts   

n.工艺( craft的名词复数 )；行业；飞机；飞行器

参考例句：

• traditional crafts like basket-weaving 像编篮子之类的传统工艺
• an arts and crafts emporium 工艺品商店

11 yearly   

adj.每年的，一年一度的；adv.一年一次地

参考例句：

• The flower show is a yearly event in our town.我们镇上的花展一年举行一次。
• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。

12 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

13 stuffed   

adj.充满的；饱的v.塞住( stuff的过去式和过去分词 )；把…装进；把…装满；（使）吃撑

参考例句：

• stuffed animals in glass cases 玻璃柜里的动物标本
• I was stuffed to the gills with chocolate cake. 我嘴里塞满了巧克力蛋糕。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 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

15 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。