VOA慢速英语2011-AMERICAN MOSAIC - For Sale: John Lennon’

I'm Doug Johnson. This week, we play music from electric guitar player Marnie Stern …

And answer a question from China about writer Toni Morrison …

But first, we tell about some special sales of cars and other former possessions of one of the Beatles’ most famous members.

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John Lennon’s Cars

DOUG JOHNSON: “Drive My Car” was a popular songs from the British band the Beatles. The song was first released in Britain in nineteen sixty-five on the Beatles’ album “Rubber Soul.” Earlier that same year, the news media reported that John Lennon passed his driving test. Within hours, many car dealers¹ showed up outside his home. Each hoped to persuade the star that their car was the one for him. Katherine Cole has more about John Lennon’s cars.

This 1965 Ferrari 330 GT Coupe once belonged to John Lennon

KATHERINE COLE: John Lennon decided² on a bright blue nineteen sixty-five Ferrari 330 GT Coupe. On February fifth, Bonhams auction³ house in Paris will put that car up for sale. It’s expected to sell for as much as two hundred sixty thousand dollars.

Officials at Bonhams say John Lennon owned the car for less than a year. It is not clear what happened to it after that. But records suggest that work was done in the nineteen nineties to return the car to its original condition.

While the Ferrari was Lennon’s first car, it was not his most famous. He is probably best known for his multi-colored Rolls Royce Phantom⁴ V limousine⁵. That car is currently on display at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, British Columbia. The staff had to remove the doors from the museum entrance in nineteen eighty-seven in order to bring the car in.

They put the car on display every year for a few months during the winter. They are unable to keep the car on display all year long because of its large size and the large crowds that come to see it.

On New Year’s Day, Braswell Galleries in the American state of Connecticut auctioned⁶ off another one of John Lennon’s cars. It was a nineteen seventy-two green Chrysler station wagon⁷ that once belonged to him and Yoko Ono.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono holding a "bed-in" in Amsterdam on March 25, 1969. They were protesting the US war in Vietnam.

The Braswell Galleries sold the car for only five thousand five hundred dollars. Braswell Galleries also auctioned off the white suit that John Lennon wore on the cover of the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album. That sold for forty-six thousand dollars. And the suit jacket he wore in the film “Imagine” sold for eighteen thousand dollars.

December eighth marked the thirtieth anniversary of John Lennon’s death.

Toni Morrison

DOUG JOHNSON: Our listener question this week comes from China. Jali Liu wants to know about Toni Morrison, one of America’s most famous and respected fiction writers. She has written nine novels, many essays and lectures and several children’s books.

Toni Morrison is among the few American Nobel Laureates for Literature. She won that prize in nineteen ninety-three. She was the first African American to receive the award. The Nobel Committee said the imaginative force and poetic⁸ voice of her writing gave life to an important part of American reality.

The writer was born Chloe Anthony Wofford in nineteen thirty-one in Lorain, Ohio. She took the nickname Toni in college.

Toni Morrison started reading early in life and says it was always a huge pleasure. In nineteen forty-nine, she entered Howard University in Washington, D.C. She studied English literature. She later received a master’s degree in the same subject from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. After college she married Harold Morrison and had two children. Their marriage ended in nineteen sixty-four.

Morrison became an English professor and said she found teaching very satisfying. She once told a reporter that she loved nothing more than to discuss books with students who are new to them. But she said she realized that she needed to write when she discovered there was a book she wanted to read that had not yet been written.

American novelist Toni Morrison after being awarded the Legion of Honor in Paris in November

That book turned out to be “The Bluest Eye,” published in nineteen seventy. Toni Morrison wrote about a little black girl who believes she would be beautiful, loved and happy if she only had the blue eyes of a white girl.

Toni Morrison’s next novel, “Sula,” was published in nineteen seventy-three. It received great critical praise and was nominated for the National Book Award. Her third novel, “Song of Solomon,” won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Many critics think “Beloved” is Toni Morrison’s best work. It was published in nineteen eighty-seven and won a Pulitzer Prize. “Beloved” tells the story of a slave haunted by the horror of killing⁹ her own baby girl to save her from the suffering of slavery.

Toni Morrison says she does not have a favorite among her own books. She says whatever book she is currently working on is the one that interests her most. However, in two thousand eight, she told television host Charlie Rose that there was a book she considered her best. She said she met the goals she set for herself in the novel “Jazz” and that it had the finest writing and ideas.

Toni Morrison is on the editorial board of The Nation magazine. The writer retired¹⁰ from Princeton University in two thousand six.

Marnie Stern

DOUG JOHNSON: Marnie Stern makes music that is energetic, experimental and creative. She is best known for her inventive method of playing the electric guitar. She uses both hands to finger-tap on the flat narrow part of the guitar called the fretboard. Her music is influenced by heavy metal and punk music, styles of music in which female guitarists are rare. Shirley Griffith tells us more.

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SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: That was “Every Single Line Means Something” from Marnie Stern’s first album, “In Advance of the Broken Arm.”

It is a good example of her powerful guitar playing and sharp voice. The drummer Zach Hill adds to the fiery¹¹ sound of her music.

Marnie Stern at Abbey Pub in Chicago, Illinois

Marnie Stern came to music relatively¹² late in her life. She had a few guitar lessons when she was fifteen, but rarely played. Later, she studied journalism¹³ at New York University. In her twenties she decided to pay more attention to guitar playing and making music. She retaught herself to play the guitar and spent several hours a day working on her skills and writing songs. She released her first album in two thousand seven when she was thirty years old.

Marnie Stern’s second album has a strikingly long name: “This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That.” Here is “The Devil’s in the Details” from that album.

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Marnie Stern has said that she only likes to listen to music in which risks are being taken. She says this music pushes her to do new things. Her most recent album is called “Marnie Stern.” We leave you with “Transparency is the New Mystery.”

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DOUG JOHNSON: I’m Doug Johnson. Our program was written by June Simms, Dana Demange and Caty Weaver¹⁴ who also was our producer.

If you have a question about American life, write to [email protected]. We might answer your question on this show. So please include your name and country.

1 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

2 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。

3 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

4 phantom   

n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的

参考例句：

• I found myself staring at her as if she were a phantom.我发现自己瞪大眼睛看着她，好像她是一个幽灵。
• He is only a phantom of a king.他只是有名无实的国王。

5 limousine   

n.豪华轿车

参考例句：

• A chauffeur opened the door of the limousine for the grand lady.司机为这个高贵的女士打开了豪华轿车的车门。
• We arrived in fine style in a hired limousine.我们很气派地乘坐出租的豪华汽车到达那里。

6 auctioned   

v.拍卖( auction的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was sad to see all grandmother's lovely things being auctioned off. 眼看着祖母那些可爱的东西全都被拍卖掉，心里真不好受。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

8 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。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

11 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

12 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

13 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

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。