VOA慢速英语20060130b

THIS IS AMERICA - Ride 'em, Cowboys and Cowgirls! Rodeos Keep Old West Spirit AliveBy Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Monday, January 30, 2006

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. The spirit of the old American West can still be found at rodeos. Modern-day cowboys compete to stay on wild, jumping horses, or struggle to ride bulls² that weigh up to a ton. Cowgirls also compete in rodeos.


Matt Austin rides a bull¹ at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December

VOICE ONE:

Rodeos used to be found mainly in small towns out in the country. But today Americans in big cities also get the chance to shout ride 'em, cowboy!

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VOICE TWO:

The first major open-air rodeo of the season is called La Fiesta de los Vaqueros -- Spanish for the Celebration of the Cowboys. And the cowboys will be celebrating February eighteenth to the twenty-sixth in Tucson, Arizona.

Current and former world champions of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association will take part. In all, about seven hundred competitors will demonstrate their skills.

And if that is not enough, there is also the Tucson Rodeo Parade on February twenty-third. Organizers call it the world's longest non-motorized parade. Who needs a motor when four legs and a horse will do?

VOICE ONE:

La Fiesta de los Vaqueros is one of hundreds of professional rodeos in the United States.

Rodeos have long been a tradition in the West. But the sport is also popular in major cities in the Midwest like Chicago, Illinois, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. In fact, rodeos can be found from coast to coast. Georgia and North Carolina are two Eastern states with rodeo programs for high school students.

Some rodeos are held in big sports centers. And some are shown on television. A rodeo might also have related events. In December, the Minneapolis Invitational held parties to celebrate the New Year.

Rodeos have gone from small, local events to big business. For example, the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo took place in January in Denver, Colorado. It gave away five hundred thousand dollars in prize money.

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VOICE TWO:

American rodeos developed long ago from the skills that cowboys needed to work with cattle in the West.

Cowboys had to know how to train wild horses. They had to be excellent riders. And they had to know how to use a rope to catch and tie a runaway⁴ cow.

By eighteen fifty, cowboys were competing in roping and riding in New Mexico. But Pecos, Texas, is called the Home of the World's First Rodeo. The event was held in eighteen eighty-three. It took place on July fourth, America's birthday. Other early rodeos took place in Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona.

In nineteen twelve, some wealthy businessmen in Canada agreed to pay for a rodeo in the town of Calgary, in Alberta Province. That rodeo was called the Calgary Stampede. If offered cowboys prize money up to a thousand dollars.

VOICE ONE:

Today, rodeos include events like bull riding, calf⁵ and steer⁶ roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding and bareback bronc riding.

Bronc is short for bronco. A bronco is a wild horse, or a horse that still acts like one. A steer is a young male cow that has been neutered.

Steer wrestling and bareback bronc riding developed as rodeo sports in the twentieth century.

Saddle bronc riding, however, was a traditional cowboy skill. It developed because of the need to train a wild horse to accept a saddle and rider.

The rider gets on a saddle bronc in a narrow space. But a good saddle bronc hates to be ridden. The horse will buck⁷. It will jump up and down and kick its back legs high in the air. The horse wants to throw its rider.

The door is raised, and the animal and rider burst out in front of the crowd. The cowboy rides the horse as if he is riding an earthquake. He is supposed to stay on the bucking⁸ bronco for eight seconds. He also must show good form.

Professional rodeo judges rate each rider. Half the rating³ depends on how violently the animal bucks⁹. So cowboys hope they get a really lively one.

VOICE TWO:

Cowboys also compete to see who can ride a bull the longest. And they compete to see who can bring a cow under control the fastest.

In one event, the cowboy throws a rope around the neck of a calf, and then has to tie three of the legs of the young cow. In another event, the cowboy jumps off his moving horse to take a full-grown cow by the head. The cowboy has to pull the animal to the ground.

Cowgirls also compete in professional rodeos, but not to the extent they did a long time ago. In fact, men and women used to compete together in the same events.


Liz Pinkston competes in barrel racing¹⁰ at the National Finals Rodeo

Now at mixed rodeos the women take part in timed events in barrel racing. Barrels are big round containers. The cowgirls have to make sharp turns on their horses to race around three barrels. It takes a lot of skill.

There are all-women rodeos. And these are getting more popular. All-women rodeos include the same events that cowboys excite the crowds with.

VOICE ONE:

Not everyone likes rodeos. In fact, some people hate the idea. Animal activists¹¹ say rodeos are cruel to the animals. Rodeo defenders¹² disagree with that.




There is no question that rodeos can be dangerous for the humans involved. A top competitor can earn thousands of dollars for eight seconds of work. But those seconds are hard on the body. And rodeo performers do not earn the millions of dollars that some athletes do in other sports.

Cowboys can suffer many injuries. Often, though, they simply get up and dust themselves off.

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VOICE TWO:

Now, meet some top rodeo stars. Ryan Jarrett wears the gold belt buckle¹³ of the all-around world champion of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. The champion has to win at least one hundred thousand dollars in a season.

Last year, at the age of twenty-one, Ryan Jarrett became the second youngest person ever to earn that title. And he did it in only his second year of championship competition. The youngest was Ty Murray. He was twenty the first time he became all-around champion in nineteen eighty-nine.

Trevor Brazile gave Ryan Jarrett strong competition for the title. Brazile is a three-time national champion. He often appears on television. He also helps advertise a number of products including cowboy hats.

Ryan Jarrett is known for tie-down roping. He won more than eighty thousand dollars in one event. When he is not competing, he helps his father operate a farm in northwestern Georgia.

VOICE ONE:

Among professional cowgirls, Kelly Kaminski holds the current world title in barrel racing. Her horse is named Rocky. As they make the turns, trying to avoid the barrels, Rocky leans far to the side. He is so low to the ground, he looks almost like he is lying down.

Kelly Kaminski, the two thousand five champion, also won the gold buckle the year before. She formerly¹⁴ taught young children to read.

Some rodeo people lead two working lives. When Kappy Allen is not competing, she is a full-time¹⁵ lawyer in Austin, Texas. Kappy Allen won the world title of the Women's Professional Rodeo Association in two thousand.

Perhaps the best-known cowgirl in America is Charmayne James. She won ten world championships, nineteen eighty-four through nineteen ninety-three. The first time, she was just fourteen years old.

Charmayne James won an eleventh world championship in two thousand two. The following year, she announced her retirement¹⁶.

VOICE TWO:

Now Charmayne James is raising and training barrel horses. She has taught barrel racing in the United States and internationally.

Her horse Scamper¹⁷ has an interesting story. No one thought he could be ridden until Charmayne James came along.

Scamper was named to the Professional Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in nineteen ninety-six. That made him the only barrel racing horse ever to win that honor.

VOICE ONE:

Another place to learn about rodeo's colorful past is the National Cowboy and Western Heritage¹⁸ Museum. Visitors do even not have to travel all the way to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to see it. Internet visitors just have to go to nationalcowboymuseum -- all one word -- dot o-r-g.

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VOICE TWO:

Ours program was written by Jerilyn Watson. Caty Weaver¹⁹ was our producer. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Read and listen to our programs at www.unsv.com. And join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 bull   

n.公牛，买进证券投机图利者，看涨的人

参考例句：

• It's only a hair off a bull's back to them.这对他们来说，不过九牛一毛。
• Many dogs closed around the bull.很多狗渐渐地把那只牛围了起来。

2 bulls   

n.公牛( bull的名词复数 )；法令；力大如牛的人；（象、鲸等动物的）雄兽

参考例句：

• Riding bulls is always an exciting event at a rodeo. 骑公牛总是放牧人竞技会上激动人心的表演。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Two white bulls were sacrificed and a feast was held. 献祭了两头白牛，并举行了盛宴。 来自辞典例句

3 rating   

n.级别，等级，额定值，责骂，收视率

参考例句：

• It is a ship with a rating of 500,000 tons.这是一艘五十万吨级的船。
• The opinion polls gave the president a high rating.民意测验显示人民对总统的支持率很高。

4 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

5 calf   

n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮

参考例句：

• The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
• The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。

6 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

7 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

8 bucking   

v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的现在分词 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• a bucking bronco in the rodeo 牛仔竞技表演中一匹弓背跳跃的野马
• That means we'll be bucking grain bags, bustin's gut. 那就是说咱们要背这一袋袋的谷子，得把五脏都累坏。 来自辞典例句

9 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

11 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 buckle   

n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲

参考例句：

• The two ends buckle at the back.带子两端在背后扣起来。
• She found it hard to buckle down.她很难专心做一件事情。

14 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

15 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

16 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

17 scamper   

v.奔跑，快跑

参考例句：

• She loves to scamper through the woods of the forest.她喜欢在森林里的树林中穿梭嬉戏。
• The flash sent the foxes scampering away.闪光惊得狐狸四处逃窜。

18 heritage   

n.传统，遗产，继承物

参考例句：

• The ancient buildings are part of the national heritage.这些古建筑是民族遗产的一部分。
• We Chinese have a great cultural heritage.我们中国人有伟大的文化遗产。

19 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。