VOA慢速英语2011-Imaginations at Work: A Saddle Maker and

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Christopher Cruise.

FAITH LAPIDUS: And I’m Faith Lapidus. Some jobs require little or no creativity. Other jobs are all about creativity. This week on our program, we meet two Americans who put their imaginations to work in very different ways. One is a saddle maker¹. The other is a poet.

(MUSIC)

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Nancy Martiny has worked with horses all her life. She learned riding and roping when she grew up on a cattle ranch².

NANCY MARTINY: "From whenever I was a little kid I was always doing what the men did. And then as I got older and rodeoed and into producing rodeos, I’ve always worked with men."

Ms. Martiny started making western saddles for fun as a hobby. Now, she has a waiting list. People have to wait up to three years to buy one of her saddles.

NANCY MARTINY: "I’ve had people ask me that they think you have to be big and strong and tough to build saddles, and you don’t. You have to have a sharp knife."

Carving⁴ patterns into the leather is a skill saddle maker Nancy Martiny first learned as a teenager, while watching her father tool leather.

FAITH LAPIDUS: A sharp knife is just a tool. A good saddle maker also has to have an artistic⁵ sense for carving and shaping designs into leather.

NANCY MARTINY: "Like here, at the start, I’ll hit it pretty hard and then I want that to look like there's some contour to that petal⁶."

She cuts the leather into complex patterns of flowers and leaves. This is a skill she first learned as a teenager. She watched her father tool leather.

NANCY MARTINY: “So when I was fifteen, I talked him into helping⁷ me get started tooling. And then I kind of took his tools and made myself a belt and of course my friends at school they had to have a western belt and it kind of started just like that.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: She began by making things like belts and purses. Then she met one of the best saddle makers⁸ around, Dale Harwood. He made her a saddle tree. A tree is the form for a saddle that all the leather gets attached to.

Nancy Martiny builds her saddles from the ground up

Nancy Martiny had tooled saddles before. But she had never made one herself. She worked on the leather design at home. Then she would go to Dale Harwood’s shop for advice.

NANCY MARTINY:“He’d walk me through things and I’d make little notes, and then I had my little notebook after I got through this first saddle.”

That notebook became her best tool.

NANCY MARTINY: "I got my nerve up and I started on a kid’s saddle and [I would] look at my notebook. And when I’d get in a real wreck⁹ I’d call Dale, and when he had time he’d help me and I’d get through. Well, I got them saddles built, and then somebody would say 'Hey, why don’t you build me a saddle?'"

FAITH LAPIDUS: That was how Nancy Martiny got into the saddle making business twenty years ago. People usually learn about her from others. She does not have a shop. She lives and works in the Pahsimeroi Valley near May, Idaho. She lives on a ranch that has been in her husband’s family for one hundred twenty years.

The ranch has a barn where she keeps her own saddle and the ones she has made for her family. She says most of her customers are ranchers and cowboys and cowgirls who live in the area.

NANCY MARTINY: "I guess that's probably part of my success as a saddle maker, and why men don’t hesitate to order a saddle from me. Because a lot of the people that order saddles from me know me, or they know of me, enough to know that I can rope a little bit, you know. And when we’re talking about horns, I know what you’re talking about, and fitting your horse.”

Many of Nancy Martiny's saddles are simple. Others, such as the one in this picture, have complex flower designs.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Some of her saddles have silver and detailed¹⁰ flower designs. But many others are more simple.

NANCY MARTINY: "I want a plain saddle to be considered beautiful as well as a full-flowered saddle, so if someone says, 'Oh, your work is beautiful,' I want that to mean all of the work. I hope that's what it means. That's what would be my goal."

Nancy Martiny also makes other leather goods, including purses. She may work with cowboys, but she says that does not mean she cannot make something more feminine once in a while.

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS: Robert Pinsky was born in nineteen forty. He grew up in New Jersey¹¹, in the working-class town of Long Branch near the Atlantic coast. He found happiness playing jazz in the high school band. That experience also led him to find happiness in poetry.

ROBERT PINSKY: “When I was a teenager, just about the only thing I could do right was play music. In my high school graduating class, I certainly was not voted most literary boy. I was voted most musical boy. And the one thing led to the other.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Mr. Pinsky says jazz and poetry are similar.

ROBERT PINSKY: "Jazz and poetry both involve a structure that may be familiar and to some extent predictable. And then you try to create as much surprise and spontaneity and feeling and variation while also respecting that structure.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: For Robert Pinsky, poetry is not just an emotional experience but also a physical one. He moves back and forth¹³ as he reads one of his poems, called "The Want Bone." The bone is a shark jaw¹⁴ that he found on a beach. Here is part of that poem:

ROBERT PINSKY:

The bone tasted of nothing and smelled of nothing,

A scalded toothless harp³, uncrushed, unstrung.

The joined arcs made the shape of birth and craving¹⁵

And the welded-open shape kept mouthing O.

The beach scrubbed and etched and pickled it clean.

But O I love you it sings, my little my country

My food my parent my child I want you my own

My flower my fin¹² my life my lightness my O…

FAITH LAPIDUS: Robert Pinksy says poetry is also like dance -- an art form where the medium is the human body itself.

ROBERT PINSKY: “And that makes it very intimate on that human scale. It’s my advice for people who have, alas¹⁶, somehow learned that poetry is difficult or think they’ve learned that they don’t have a taste for it, say it aloud. You feel what it’s like to say it with your breath and your tongue and your voice box. And, all that. And along with that intimacy¹⁷, there is something social about it.

“I try to make works of art out of something everybody uses all day: dollar bills and quarters and credit cards. We use words all day long. 'Is that your car? I think it’s blocking mine.' 'I love you but not that way,' or, 'How good is the soup of the day today?' You’re using words!”

FAITH LAPIDUS: Mr. Pinsky has a doctorate¹⁸ from Stanford University. He taught at Wellesley College and the University of California, Berkeley, before coming to Boston University. He is a professor in the creative writing program.

His books include poetry collections, criticism and translations. His honors include awards for his nineteen ninety-four translation of Dante's "Inferno¹⁹" from Italian.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: In nineteen ninety-seven, the librarian of Congress named Robert Pinsky as poet laureate of the United States. Mr. Pinsky is the only laureate to have been reappointed twice. He served as the nation's official poet until the year two thousand.

The position at the Library of Congress has existed under different names since the nineteen thirties. The current poet laureate is W.S. Merwin.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Robert Pinsky is proud that something he started called the Favorite Poem Project is still popular. That project invites everyday people to introduce a poem that is meaningful to them, and then read it on video.

The videos can be found online at favoritepoem.org.

In one video, a United States Marine²⁰ officer named Steve Conteaguero reads a poem. He reads "Politics" by William Butler Yeats, who died in nineteen thirty-nine.

STEVE CONTEAGUERO:

How can I, that girl standing²¹ there,
My attention fix
On Roman or on Russian
Or on Spanish politics?
Yet here’s a travelled man that knows
What he talks about.
And there’s a politician
That has read and thought.
And maybe what they say is true
Of war and war’s alarms.
But O that I were young again
And held her in my arms!

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: A new collection of selected poems by Robert Pinsky will be published in April. Here he is reading part of a poem first published in nineteen ninety-nine. The poem is called "Samurai Song."

ROBERT PINSKY:

When I had no roof I made
Audacity²² my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.

When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.

When I had no father I made
Care my father. When I had
No mother I embraced order.

When I had no friend I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy I opposed my body.

When I had no temple I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir…

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS: Our program was written and produced by Brianna Blake, with reporting by Sadie Babits and Adam Phillips. I’m Faith Lapidus.

1 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

2 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

3 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。

4 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

5 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

6 petal   

n.花瓣

参考例句：

• Each white petal had a stripe of red.每一片白色的花瓣上都有一条红色的条纹。
• A petal fluttered to the ground.一片花瓣飘落到地上。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

10 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

11 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

12 fin   

n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼

参考例句：

• They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
• The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。

13 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

14 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

15 craving   

n.渴望,热望

参考例句：

• a craving for chocolate 非常想吃巧克力
• She skipped normal meals to satisfy her craving for chocolate and crisps. 她不吃正餐，以便满足自己吃巧克力和炸薯片的渴望。

16 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

17 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

18 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

19 inferno   

n.火海；地狱般的场所

参考例句：

• Rescue workers fought to get to victims inside the inferno.救援人员奋力营救大火中的受害者。
• The burning building became an inferno.燃烧着的大楼成了地狱般的地方。

20 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

21 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

22 audacity   

n.大胆，卤莽，无礼

参考例句：

• He had the audacity to ask for an increase in salary.他竟然厚着脸皮要求增加薪水。
• He had the audacity to pick pockets in broad daylight.他竟敢在光天化日之下掏包。