VOA慢速英语2010年-American Mosaic - A Visit to Poet Robe

DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to American Mosaic¹ in VOA Special English.

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I’m Doug Johnson.

Today, music by Sahara Smith.

And we answer a question about the Statue of Liberty.

But first, a visit to the Robert Frost Farm in New Hampshire, where the harvest is poetry.

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Robert Frost Farm

ROBERT FROST: (from “The Road Not Taken”)

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged² in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

DOUG JOHNSON: Robert Frost was one of America’s greatest poets, and most influential³ teachers and thinkers. He won four Pulitzer Prizes, a Congressional Gold Medal and served as the nation’s Poet Laureate.

Robert Frost's farm in Derry, New Hampshire

Many of Frost’s best-loved poems were about the years he spent with his young family on a farm in Derry, New Hampshire. Faith Lapidus takes us there.

FAITH LAPIDUS: You could drive right by the Robert Frost Farm if you were not looking for it. It is a simple, white wooden farm house. It is not unlike other farmhouses⁵ of the same age in the area.

The grounds are still green and flowery at this end of the summer visit. Birds sing loudly; insects buzz. There is a cleared field but trees are what you mostly see. Some of them are the birches Frost wrote about. Here he reads part of the poem, “Birches.”

ROBERT FROST:

When I see birches bend to left and right

Across the lines of straighter darker trees,

I like to think some boy's been swinging them.

But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay

As ice-storms do. Often you must have seen them

Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning

After a rain. They click upon themselves

As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored

As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel⁶.

Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells

Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust--

Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away

You'd think the inner dome⁷ of heaven had fallen.

Robert Frost lived at the Derry farm from nineteen hundred to nineteen eleven. His wife Elinor had persuaded Frost’s grandfather to buy the farm for them. She had hoped a new start in farming would help her husband deal with the tragic⁸ loss of their four-year-old son to the disease cholera⁹.

Randee Rae Martin is a guide at the Robert Frost Farm. She says Frost decided¹⁰ he would raise chickens. He also owned one cow. She said he enjoyed the attempt at farming but was not good at it. The farm was a good place for him to write and find sources for poems, however. The cow was one of them.

“The Cow in Apple Time” is a poem about how the cow decided she liked apples instead of grass. Eating apples caused an effect like people drinking alcohol. The poet says the cow stopped producing milk as a result. A young visitor to the farm reads the end of the poem:

YOUNG VISITOR:

She runs from tree to tree where lie and sweeten.

The windfalls spiked¹¹ with stubble and worm-eaten.

She leaves them bitten when she has to fly.

She bellows¹² on a knoll¹³ against the sky.

Her udder shrivels and the milk goes dry.

Bill Gleed is park manager of the Robert Frost Farm. He explains that “The Cow in Apple Time” is an example of Robert Frost’s poetic¹⁴ fooling. He says Frost’s cow did go dry, but not because of eating apples. He said Frost kept poet’s hours instead of farmer’s hours. He did not get up early to milk the cow. He did not milk her until the middle of the day. And that is really why her milk went dry.

The kitchen where Robert Frost wrote “Storm Fear” and “Tree at My Window

The tour of the farmhouse⁴ provides a sense of how the Frosts lived with no electricity or running water. Visitors can sit in the kitchen where Robert Frost wrote “Storm Fear” and “Tree at My Window.”

The house was carefully refurnished with the help of Frost’s eldest¹⁵ daughter, Lesley Frost Ballantine. She worked to reproduce her childhood home as closely as possible. Many of the books and other objects in the living room belonged to the family.

Robert Frost lived most of his life in Massachusetts. But he said several times the place where he was happiest was the farm in Derry. He wrote in a letter to a friend: “The core of all my writing was probably the five free years I had on the farm…”

Lady Liberty

DOUGH¹⁶ JOHNSON: Our listener question this week comes from Thailand. Nanthachai Tubtimsuwan wants to know about the history of the Statue of Liberty, one of the most famous statues in America.

To many people the statue is known as Lady Liberty. She stands on a small island in New York harbor, near the great city. In her right hand, she holds a torch with a golden flame high above her head. Her left arm holds a tablet with the date July fourth, seventeen seventy-six.

The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor

That is the day the United States declared its independence. On her head is a crown of seven points that represent the seven continents and the seven seas. Around her feet is a broken chain that represents oppression.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from the people of France. Its official name was “Liberty Enlightening the World.” Frederic Auguste Bartholdi built the statue in several parts. These were shipped to New York and then put together on a base, or pedestal. The statue was dedicated¹⁷ in a ceremony on October twenty-eighth, eighteen eighty-six.

The statue itself stands about forty-six meters tall. The distance from the ground to the top of the golden torch is about ninety-three meters. The statue can be seen from far away. For the many millions of immigrants who came to America on ships, the Statue of Liberty was the first thing they saw.

In eighteen eighty-three, American poet Emma Lazarus wrote a poem as if Lady Liberty were speaking. In part it says: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled¹⁸ masses yearning¹⁹ to breathe free … I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

Today, more than three million people visit the Statue of Liberty each year. Most come by a ferryboat from New York. Some visitors go inside the statue and climb as high as the crown to look down on the harbor. Others stay on the ground, take photographs, read Emma Lazarus’ poem and enjoy being close to Lady Liberty.

Sahara Smith

DOUG JOHNSON: Sahara Smith writes and sings poetic songs influenced by country and folk music. The twenty-one year old musician from Texas started writing songs at the age of nine. She recently released her first album “Myth of the Heart”. Mario Ritter tells us more.

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MARIO RITTER: That was “Train Man.” Like many songs on the album, this one expresses a deep sense of longing²⁰ and heartbreak that is surprising for such a young performer.

Sahara Smith

Sahara Smith grew up in Wimberly, Texas. Her father showed her how to play a guitar at the age of eight, and she soon began writing her own songs. At the age of twelve, she began performing in local restaurants. She gained wider attention three years later when she performed during a contest for young musicians on the National Public Radio program “A Prairie Home Companion.”

Here is Sahara Smith performing the dreamy song “Mermaid.”

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Sahara Smith says her songs are influenced by singers including Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. But she says many of her songs come from her own feelings of sadness and heartache. She says she can release these emotions by making music.

We leave you with “The Real Thing.” It tells about driving all night and the possibility of love.

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DOUG JOHNSON: I'm Doug Johnson. Our program was written by Jim Tedder²¹, Dana Demange and Caty Weaver²², who also was the producer. 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 diverged   

分开( diverge的过去式和过去分词 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳

参考例句：

• Who knows when we'll meet again? 不知几时咱们能再见面！
• At what time do you get up? 你几时起床？

3 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。

4 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

5 farmhouses   

n.农舍，农场的主要住房( farmhouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Then perhaps she is staying at one of cottages or farmhouses? 那么也许她现在住在某个农舍或哪个农场的房子里吧？ 来自辞典例句
• The countryside was sprinkled with farmhouses. 乡间到处可见农家的房舍。 来自辞典例句

6 enamel   

n.珐琅，搪瓷，瓷釉；(牙齿的)珐琅质

参考例句：

• I chipped the enamel on my front tooth when I fell over.我跌倒时门牙的珐琅质碰碎了。
• He collected coloured enamel bowls from Yugoslavia.他藏有来自南斯拉夫的彩色搪瓷碗。

7 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

8 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

9 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

10 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。

11 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

12 bellows   

n.风箱；发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的名词复数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的第三人称单数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫

参考例句：

• His job is to blow the bellows for the blacksmith. 他的工作是给铁匠拉风箱。 来自辞典例句
• You could, I suppose, compare me to a blacksmith's bellows. 我想，你可能把我比作铁匠的风箱。 来自辞典例句

13 knoll   

n.小山，小丘

参考例句：

• Silver had terrible hard work getting up the knoll.对于希尔弗来说，爬上那小山丘真不是件容易事。
• He crawled up a small knoll and surveyed the prospect.他慢腾腾地登上一个小丘，看了看周围的地形。

14 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

15 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

16 dough   

n.生面团；钱，现款

参考例句：

• She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
• The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。

17 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

18 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

19 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

20 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

21 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

22 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。