AMERICAN MOSAIC - Our New Theme Music / Question About a Boo

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ -July 26, 2002: Our New Theme Music / Question About a Book on American Indians,
'Hanta Yo' / A Celebration of American Theater

HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC
—
VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play a song we have chosen to be our new theme music ..
.
Answer a listener’s question about the book “Hanta Yo”
..
.
And report about a celebration of American theater.

Contemporary American Theater Festival

HOST:

Shepherdstown is the oldest town in the state of West Virginia. Every summer, it presents several of the newest
American plays during the Contemporary American Theater Festival. Mary Tillotson tells us more.

ANNCR:

Shepherdstown, West Virginia, is on a hill near the Potomac River. American Indians
lived in the area long before the first Europeans arrived in the early seventeen-
hundreds. Many of the first settlers were German. The main street in Shepherdstown is
still called German Street.

Shepherd College was established in eighteen-seventy-one to teach students languages
and science. Every summer since nineteen-ninety-one the Contemporary American

Theater Festival has taken place at the college.

Ed Herendeen started the theater festival and continues as its director. During three
weeks each summer, the festival presents new American plays. Some plays were
written by famous writers. Some were written by those who are not well known. Four
plays are being presented this summer.

One is called “The Late Henry Moss².
”
The famous playwright³ Sam Shepard wrote
it. It takes place in the American West. Two brothers deal with their violent past, the death of their father and
family secrets.

The Contemporary American Theater Festival is also presenting “Thief River”
by award-winning playwright
Lee Blessing⁴. It is about the love between two men from a farming community in the state of Minnesota. The
play tells about their relationships with each other and their families from the nineteen-fifties to the present time.
Another new play is called “Orange Flower Water”
by Craig Wright. It also takes place in a small town in
Minnesota. It tells the story of a man and woman whose love for each other hurts their families.

The fourth play is called “Silence of God”
by Catherine Filloux. It is about a woman whose friend is a survivor⁵
of the killings⁶ by the Khmer Rouge⁷ in Cambodia during the nineteen-seventies. The woman becomes a reporter
to find out why evil exists in the world. She meets with former Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. Yet the meeting

raises more questions than it provides answers.

Many people from the Washington, D-C, area travel to Shepherdstown for the yearly theater festival. They want


Sioux Indian
warrior⁸
to be among the first people to see some new American plays.

Hanta Yo

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Nigeria. Emmanuel Komolafe asks about an American book
called “Hanta Yo.
”

The full title of the book is “Hanta Yo: An American Saga⁹.
”
It was published in nineteen-seventy-nine and
was very popular. It sold many copies. It stayed on the New York Times best-seller list for nine months.

“Hanta Yo”
was written by Ruth Beebe Hill. It is the story of native American Indians at a time before white
people arrived on their land. It describes the activities of two families of the Sioux Indian tribe¹⁰ from the
seventeen-hundreds to the eighteen-thirties. The book describes the values of the Lakota or Sioux Indian culture

by showing their effects on a man called Ahbleza. The book is about his life and the people in his group, the
Mahto.

People who have read “Hanta Yo
”
say the book describes many activities of the Indians’
lives. These include working, hunting and caring for children. However, not all the Indians
are shown as good people. Some of them are violent and full of hate. Women are shown as
severely¹¹ oppressed¹² with little or no decision -making power. Children and animals are treated
poorly.

Ruth Beebe Hill described all this as an Indian would, using Lakota words and judgements.
She also linked the real world and the spiritual world in which the Sioux lived. Both were
important to the Sioux.

Ruth Beebe Hill studied the Sioux Indian culture for many years before writing “Hanta
Yo.
”
She was very careful about the language she used. She translated the book from
English to the Sioux language. Then she translated it back into English. She said this kept her from using any
words that were not part of the Lakota language.

She also did not use words or ideas that were not part of the Sioux culture. For example, the Lakota language has
no word that means “forgive.
”
The word and the idea did not exist in their culture.

Many people think “Hanta Yo
”
is an excellent book. However, it is becoming more difficult to find. It can still
be found in libraries and used bookstores. The book is still celebrated¹³ as a true picture of a Native American
culture that has disappeared.

New Mosaic Theme

((MUSIC FROM "LOVER’S LEAP"))

HOST:

Each week we play music on American Mosaic. We only play part of each song because our program is only
fifteen minutes long. We try to give our listeners a good idea of what the song is like. Sometimes this is difficult.
The music we want to play today is a good example. The song is a little more than six minutes long so we can ’t
play all of it. However, we want to play as much as possible because we think it is not only good, but different.
We like it so much that we have decided¹⁴ to make it the new theme for American Mosaic. Shep O’Neal tells us
more.

ANNCR:

Many of you may know the name Bela Fleck¹⁵. He has played here at VOA and we have played his music on
American Mosaic. Bela Fleck plays jazz on the banjo. He and his band, The Flecktones, often experiment with
different sounds. Our recording¹⁶ today shows this.


The song is called “Lover’s Leap”. It is on his record called “Live at the Quick.
”

“Lover’s Leap”
is unusual because Bela Fleck has brought together instruments that
are usually not heard in combination. These include the electric banjo, French horn, oboe,
bass¹⁷ guitar, electric drums, clarinet and a musical instrument usually found in the islands
of the Caribbean. It is called a steel pan. Steel pans or steel drums usually play music of
the West Indies. Together, these instruments make a very unusual sound. We think you
will like it as much as we do. So, we leave you now with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
playing “Lover’s Leap.
”

((CUT 1: "LOVER’S LEAP"))

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 Shelley Gollust, Nancy Steinbach and Paul Thompson. Our
studio engineer was Curtis Bynum. 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 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

3 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

4 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

5 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

6 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

7 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

8 warrior   

n.勇士，武士，斗士

参考例句：

• The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
• A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。

9 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

10 tribe   

n.部落，种族，一伙人

参考例句：

• This is a subject tribe.这是个受他人统治的部落。
• Many of the tribe's customs and rituals are as old as the hills.这部落的许多风俗、仪式都极其古老。

11 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

12 oppressed   

adj. 被压迫的，郁闷的 动词oppress的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• It'seemed that the realisation of his life's dream oppressed him with overjoy. 夙愿得偿似乎使他欣喜若狂。
• The bad eggs wielded power, while the good people were oppressed. 坏人当道，好人受气

13 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

15 fleck   

n.斑点，微粒 vt.使有斑点，使成斑驳

参考例句：

• The garlic moss has no the yellow fleck and other virus. 蒜苔无黄斑点及其它病毒。
• His coat is blue with a grey fleck.他的上衣是蓝色的，上面带有灰色的斑点。

16 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

17 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。