VOA慢速英语-AMERICAN MOSAIC - Remembering the Man Who Gave Rock

Also: The Library of Congress adds to its National Recording¹ Registry. And a listener in Iran wants to know more about the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Transcript² of radio broadcast:
05 June 2008

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC³ in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I’m Doug Johnson.

Today we tell about the new additions to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry ...

Answer a question about the Massachusetts Institute of Technology …

And remember musician Bo Diddley who died this week.

(MUSIC)

National Recording Registry

HOST:

The United States Library of Congress has added twenty-five more sounds to its National Recording Registry. They include the best selling pop music album of all time, the first broadcast across the Atlantic Ocean and some noise from Earth that was sent into space. Faith Lapidus has our report.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

The National Recording Registry began its work in two thousand. Its goal is to protect the “sound” history of the nation. It currently holds about two hundred fifty recordings⁴.
　

Fiorello LaGuardia

The latest additions include a former Mayor of New York, Fiorello LaGuardia. Listen as he does his part to help the city during a newspaper delivery strike in nineteen forty-five. The mayor read the newspaper comic strips over the radio to New York City children.

FIORELLO LAGUARDIA: “Now children, I know you’re all disappointed today that you didn’t get the funnies, so gather around. Here’s ‘Dick Tracy.’ Let’s see what ‘Dick Tracy’ is doing…”

The nineteen seventy-three jazz album, “Head Hunters,” by pianist and composer Herbie Hancock also made the registry. Here is some of the title track.

(MUSIC)

The Library of Congress also added Michael Jackson’s huge hit album, “Thriller.”

(MUSIC)

Released in nineteen eighty-two, “Thriller” remains⁵ the top selling album of all time.

KURT WALDHEIM: “I send greetings on behalf of the people of our planet.”

That was former United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim on a recording called “Sounds of the Earth.” A NASA spacecraft took the recording on a trip to the outer planets and beyond in nineteen seventy-seven. The recording included sounds of nature, wildlife, and human culture as well as messages in fifty-five languages.
　

Elizabeth Cotton

Roy Orbison is also on the registry with his song “Oh, Pretty Woman” from nineteen sixty-four.

(MUSIC)

The National Recording Registry also includes the first trans-Atlantic radio broadcast in nineteen twenty-five. Radio broadcasts from Ronald Reagan in the nineteen seventies shortly before he became president of the United States. And this nineteen fifty-nine recording written and sung by Elizabeth Cotten. It is a North Carolina folk song called “Freight Train.”

(MUSIC)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Mohamad Firouzi in Iran. He would like to know more about the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT. This famous university in Cambridge is best known for producing top scientists, architects, and engineers.

In the mid⁶ nineteenth century, the scientist and educator William Barton Rogers began working to establish a university that would teach the sciences as well as provide education about the arts. He received official permission from state lawmakers to create the school in eighteen sixty-one. MIT first began holding classes four years later. This school was one of the first to include laboratory experiments in the classroom. This way, students could learn by working on real experiments rather than just by listening to a teacher talk about theory.
　

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology

In nineteen sixteen, MIT moved across the Charles River from Boston to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Today, MIT has about four thousand undergraduate students and about six thousand graduate students. Among them are about four hundred undergraduates and about two thousand five hundred graduate students from more than one hundred foreign countries.

To attend this school, students pay about thirty-four thousand dollars an academic year. MIT is one of the most selective schools in the United States. Last year, only about twelve percent of those who applied⁷ as first year students were offered admission.

Most people may think MIT only offers science and engineering programs. MIT researchers are often noted⁹ for new studies, discoveries and experiments. And, over twenty-five former students at MIT have won Nobel prizes for work in science and economics and even peace.

However, MIT also has schools of architecture, management, and humanities, arts and social sciences. And, there is also a college of health sciences and technology. Undergraduate students in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences can get degrees in anthropology¹⁰, comparative media studies or literature.

Bo Diddley

HOST:

One of America's first rock and rollers died this week. Celebrated¹¹ guitarist, singer and songwriter Bo Diddley was seventy-nine. Katherine Cole tells about him and plays some of his music.

(MUSIC: “Who Do You Love”)

KATHERINE COLE:
　

Bo Diddley

That was “Who Do You Love” from the musician’s first album, “Bo Diddley.” It came out in nineteen fifty-eight. Bo Diddley was one of the most influential¹² musicians of the nineteen fifties and sixties. The guitarist combined rhythm and blues¹³ with Latin and African musical influences and created a new sound all his own -- the “Bo Diddley beat.” Many performers copied this sound, including the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and the Who.

Here is Bo Diddley performing “I’m a Man,” one of his early hits.

(MUSIC)

Bo Diddley was born Otha Ellas Bates in the state of Mississippi in nineteen twenty-eight. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois. By age seven he could play the violin. He taught himself to play guitar when he was a teenager. He said blues musician John Lee Hooker was a major musical influence.

As a young man, he changed his name to Bo Diddley and started playing music on the streets of Chicago. He formed a band and started playing in clubs. He signed a recording contract with Chess Records in nineteen fifty-five.

Bo Diddley made hit records throughout the nineteen sixties. Many British rock bands recorded versions of his songs that also became popular.

Bo Diddley was admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in nineteen eighty-seven. He received a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California. And he was honored with a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in nineteen ninety-eight.

Bo Diddley kept performing live shows until last year. He stopped performing after suffering a stroke at a concert in Iowa. He died of heart failure June second at his home in Archer⁸, Florida.

We leave you with Bo Diddley performing “Pretty Thing.”

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.

It was written by Caty Weaver¹⁴ and Dana Demange, who also was the producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

1 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。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 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。

4 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

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

7 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

8 archer   

n.射手，弓箭手

参考例句：

• The archer strung his bow and aimed an arrow at the target.弓箭手拉紧弓弦将箭瞄准靶子。
• The archer's shot was a perfect bull's-eye.射手的那一箭正中靶心。

9 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。

10 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

11 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。

12 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

13 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

14 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。