VOA慢速英语2009年-AMERICAN MOSAIC - Jean Shin Makes Art from

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ in VOA Special English.

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I'm Doug Johnson.

On today's program, we tell about an artist who uses everyday objects to make sculptures …

Answer a question about the store Wal-Mart …

And hear banjo music by Steve Martin.

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HOST:

Jean Shin makes sculptures that change everyday objects into thoughtful and beautiful works of art. Shin makes art from broken umbrellas, old clothing or computer parts. Her show "Common Threads" is currently at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Barbara Klein tells us more.

BARBARA KLEIN:

One of the first works in the "Common Threads" exhibit looks like glowing orange cave formations coming out of the floor and ceiling. If you move closer to the sculptures, you realize they are made up of thousands of carefully stacked small plastic bottles for storing medicines.
　
"Chemical Balance" by Jean Shin

Jean Shin made this work, "Chemical Balance," by gathering² the bottles from friends, family and retirement³ communities. She has said the work is like a group portrait that maps a society's chemical use. Like much of Shin's art, this work is both about individuals and large groups of people. Each personal object once belonged to an individual. But it takes a large community of such individuals to make Shin's art possible.

"Chance City" is made up of more than thirty-two thousand dollars worth of old lottery⁴ tickets. People buy the tickets in hopes of winning large amounts of money. Shin collected the tickets in New York City and Washington, D.C. over a period of three years. The small pieces of paper are carefully stacked to create buildings. The sculptures were made using no supports, so they could fall over at any time. The work makes a statement about the unsure nature of money and chance.

Jean Shin was born in nineteen seventy-one in South Korea. Her parents moved to the United States when she was six years old. Shin studied art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She has chosen to make art that takes a long time to create. She says this is because her parents taught her about the value of hard work.
　
"Everyday Monuments" by Jean Shin

Other works in "Common Threads" include "TEXTile." It is a piece of flowing fabric⁵ covered with thousands of old computer keys. Visitors can add to the work by typing their own message.

Shin's latest work is called "Everyday Monuments." It is made of almost two thousand sports awards called trophies⁶. The trophies showed people doing sports like baseball, tennis or bowling⁷. The people who received the trophies donated them to the artist. Shin changed the human forms on every trophy⁸ so that each is doing an everyday act like cleaning, driving or carrying shopping bags. The sculpture was influenced by the many large monuments in Washington which honor important heroes. Jean Shin's smaller monument celebrates the heroism⁹ of people in their everyday actions.

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HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Burma. Ko Maw Gyi is an English language teacher who wants to know about the store Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is a group of large stores known for selling goods at a very low cost. The company sells many products including food, clothing, electronics and objects for the home. Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart in nineteen sixty-two in Rogers, Arkansas.

Today, the company Wal-Mart Stores, Incorporated is the largest group of stores in the world. The company operates about eight thousand stores in fifteen countries. It employs over two million people. Wal-Mart made over three hundred billion dollars in sales last year.

It recently opened its first store in India, a joint¹⁰ project with the Bharti group, in Amritsar.
　
A Wal-Mart in Loudi, in China

There are about four thousand Wal-Mart stores in the United States. This number includes about six hundred Sam's Club stores. Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in America.

Because of its size and influence with suppliers and buyers, Wal-Mart's policies often receive wide public attention. For example, Wal-Mart has received criticism over the years for its labor¹¹ policies and lack of environmentally friendly efforts. Many critics say Wal-Mart fails to pay its workers fairly or provide them with enough health insurance.

In two thousand one, a group of women took legal action against the company for sex discrimination. They accused Wal-Mart of paying women less money than men and giving women fewer chances to get better jobs. The case later grew to include over one and a half million women who were current and former Wal-Mart workers.

In a separate case, Wal-Mart agreed last year to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to workers who claimed they had been cheated of their hourly wages.

Wal-Mart has worked to improve its public image by becoming a more "green" company. It has decided¹² to support selling more energy saving products such as low-energy light bulbs.

It says it will work with manufacturers of high-energy products to try to improve energy use. The company has also started reusing materials and reducing the fuel use of its trucks. These efforts are good for the environment and also save the company millions of dollars.

New Wal-Mart stores have had a big effect on small communities in the United States. Some communities protest the arrival of a Wal-Mart store because they say it endangers smaller local businesses. But others say that Wal-Mart brings jobs and helps people save money.

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HOST:

Funny man Steve Martin has a new album, but this time he is not joking. The banjo that he used in his comedy performances has now become his main act. June Simms has more.

JUNE SIMMS:

Steve Martin is well known for many things, but music is not one of them. Well, it looks like that is about to change. The award-winning actor and comedian¹³ has released his first full-length music CD. It is called "The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo." It has already been to the top of Billboard¹⁴ Magazine's Bluegrass Albums chart. Steve Martin wrote all of the fifteen songs on the album, including this one with country superstars Dolly Parton and Vince Gill. Here is "Pretty Flowers."

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Steve Martin

Steve Martin is one of the most popular comedians¹⁵ in the United States. He has won Grammy Awards for two of his comedy albums and for best country instrumental performance. He has also won a Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy. His movies have been very successful. He is also a best-selling author and talented playwright¹⁶. Add to the list his skill on the banjo. He has been playing for forty-five years. Here is "Wally on the Run."

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Two years ago, banjo player Tony Trischka asked Martin to perform his song "The Crow" on Trischka's album, "Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular." The song is also on Steve Martin's new CD. We leave you with "The Crow."

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HOST:

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

It was written by June Simms and Dana Demange who was also the producer. For transcripts¹⁷, MP3s and podcasts of our programs, go to voaspecialenglish.com. You can also write comments about our programs.

Do you have a question about American people, places or things? Send your questions about American life to [email protected].

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

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 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

3 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。

4 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

5 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

6 trophies   

n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖

参考例句：

• His football trophies were prominently displayed in the kitchen. 他的足球奖杯陈列在厨房里显眼的位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hunter kept the lion's skin and head as trophies. 这猎人保存狮子的皮和头作为纪念品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 bowling   

n.保龄球运动

参考例句：

• Bowling is a popular sport with young and old.保龄球是老少都爱的运动。
• Which sport do you 1ike most,golf or bowling?你最喜欢什么运动，高尔夫还是保龄球？

8 trophy   

n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品

参考例句：

• The cup is a cherished trophy of the company.那只奖杯是该公司很珍惜的奖品。
• He hung the lion's head as a trophy.他把那狮子头挂起来作为狩猎纪念品。

9 heroism   

n.大无畏精神，英勇

参考例句：

• He received a medal for his heroism.他由于英勇而获得一枚奖章。
• Stories of his heroism resounded through the country.他的英雄故事传遍全国。

10 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

11 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

12 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。

13 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

14 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

15 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句

16 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。

17 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句