VOA标准英语2011--Tony Nominations Honor Plays about Love

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - Tony Nominations³ Honor Plays about Love Past, Present and Distant

DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
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I'm Doug Johnson. On our program this week, we play new music from Dengue Fever…
We also tell about the anniversary of an important event in America’s civil rights movement.
But, first, a report on four Broadway shows nominated for top honors…
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Tony Nominated Plays
DOUG JOHNSON: This week, actors Matthew Broderick and Anika Noni Rose announced nominations for the twenty-eleven Tony Awards. The Tonys are the highest honors for Broadway shows. The American Theater Wing and The Broadway League will present the awards at ceremonies on June twelfth in New York City.
Faith Lapidus tells about the nominees⁴ for Best Play.
FAITH LAPIDUS: “Good People” takes place in the Boston, Massachusetts neighborhood known as Southie. It is home to many working class Irish-Americans. Frances McDormand stars as Margie Walsh in “Good People.” She has been struggling to survive after losing her low-paying job. She is hoping for changes when she visits with an old boyfriend, Mike. He has made money, moved out of Southie and married.
Artistic⁵ Director Lynne Meadows says “Good People” is a play about class in America. Writer David Lindsay-Abaire says he wanted to write respectfully about Southie. He says it was important that he had a strong opinion about the place he was writing about.
Frances McDormand was also nominated for a Best Actress Tony for her performance in “Good People.”
Briton Nick Stafford is the playwrite of “War Horse,” another Tony nominated play. It is based on a book by British writer Michael Morpurgo. The play was first produced in London.
“War Horse” is the story of a boy during World War One. He loses a horse he loves very much to the British armed forces, which needs it for the war effort. The boy searches Europe to find the animal.
The production of “War Horse” includes beautiful puppets of horses. These life-size objects are strong enough to carry actors in the play. The Handspring Puppet Company is receiving a special Tony Award for its creations in the play.
Another Tony nomination² for Best Play went to “Jerusalem,” by Jez Butterworth. The play also received five other nominations, including two for acting⁶.
Like “Warhorse,” “Jerusalem” was also performed in London before its New York production. The play takes place in the English countryside. Tony nominated actor Mark Rylance plays Johnny Byron, also known as the Rooster. He sells drugs to teenagers, drinks too much alcohol and does not pay enough to attention to his young son. But he is also a lively story-teller with many qualities people find likable. His neighbors, however, want him to leave the area.
Jez Butterworth says he was surprised when British critics called “Jerusalem,” a “state of the nation” play. He said he wanted to write about the passing of time, and about how people move on.
The fourth production nominated for Best Play this year is, “The Motherf**ker With the Hat.” It is the seventh work by playwright⁷ Stephen Adley Guirgis.
Veronica and Jackie are each in their late twenties and living together in New York’s Times Square area. Jackie recently stopped taking illegal drugs with the help of a twelve-step program. However, the play opens with Veronica using cocaine⁸. As theater goers will learn, she is also involved with another man -- a person central to Jackie’s recovery.
“The Motherf**ker with the Hat” was nominated for six Tony Awards in all. The New Yorker magazine praised the play as funny and sharp. The magazine noted⁹ the mix of desire and dishonesty between Jackie and Veronica. It said the quality made them one of the most beautifully drawn¹⁰ couples to appear together in a Broadway production in years.
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Freedom Rides
DOUG JOHNSON: Americans are marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Freedom Rides. They were an effort to protest racial segregation¹¹ on public transportation in southern states. Thirteen civil rights activists¹² became the first Freedom Riders on May fourth, nineteen sixty-one. In the months that followed, more than four hundred men and women, blacks and whites, rode buses, trains and airplanes to support the Freedom Ride movement.
A group called the Congress of Racial Equality organized the Freedom Rides. It wanted to force state governments to honor a ruling of the United States Supreme¹³ Court. The court had declared that racial separation in bus and train stations was unconstitutional. But southern states were not enforcing the ruling. Public restrooms and restaurants at bus stations still had signs that read “Whites Only.”
Fifty years ago this week, the first Freedom Riders left Washington DC. Seven blacks and six whites rode on two buses. They were supposed to travel through the southern United States on their way to New Orleans. However, neither bus completed the trip.
One bus was firebombed in Alabama. The attackers blocked the doors to prevent the Freedom Riders from escaping. When the civil rights activists finally did get out, they were beaten. 
An hour later, men carrying baseball bats, pipes and chains attacked the second bus. The Freedom Riders on this bus were severely¹⁴ beaten. Some were taken to doctors. But no one died.
The Congress of Racial Equality refused to let violence end the trip. The group found another group of riders to continue on. These Freedom Rides continued throughout the year. News of the violence spread throughout the country and the world. It also got the attention of President John F. Kennedy and his administration.
Soon the Interstate Commerce Commission announced rules banning racial segregation at all public transportation centers. The rules took effect on November first, nineteen sixty-one.
The Freedom Riders had taken their civil rights campaign on the road and won. Many suffered beatings, threats and even imprisonment¹⁵.
This month Americans are remembering these brave men and women for their influence on American history. A film about the Freedom Riders will be broadcast on May sixteenth.
There are also several celebrations planned. More than one hundred Freedom Riders and their families are expected to travel to Mississippi for a special reunion on May twenty-fourth.
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Dengue Fever
DOUG JOHNSON: Music from Southeast Asia has strongly influenced the California based band Dengue Fever. The band started out playing Cambodian pop music from the nineteen sixties and early nineteen seventies. This music, in turn, was influenced by American surfer music of the same period.
Brothers Ethan and Zac Holtzman formed Dengue Fever ten years ago after Ethan’s travels in Cambodia. The band recently released its fifth album: “Cannibal Courtship.” Barbara Klein has more.
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BARBARA KLEIN: That was “Cannibal Courtship,” performed by Dengue Fever’s lead singer, Chhom Nimol. The Holtzman brothers first heard her perform years ago while they were searching for a singer for the band. Ms. Nimol had recently moved to the United States from Cambodia. She came from a well known family of Cambodian musicians. Ethan and Zac Holtzman knew she had the just the voice to help Dengue Fever remain true to the spirit of Cambodia’s pop music tradition.
Listen to Chhom Nimol singing “Sister in the Radio.”
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The name for the band Dengue Fever came to Ethan Holtzman during his travels in Cambodia in the late nineteen nineties. At one point, he says, he was in the back of a truck travelling to the capital, Phnom Penh. The driver was playing Cambodian pop music from the sixties. Ethan’s friend was sick with dengue fever. Ethan loved the music and later bought many recordings¹⁶.
He says Dengue Fever’s music has an important message. Many Cambodians who made this music popular disappeared or were killed when the Khmer Rouge¹⁷ ruled the country in the nineteen seventies. Ethan Holtzman says his band attempts to shine a light on this fact to help make sure such a situation never happens again.
We leave you with “Family Business.”
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DOUG JOHNSON: I’m Doug Johnson. Our program was written by June Simms, Dana Demange and Caty Weaver¹⁸, who was also the producer.
Join us again next week for music and more on AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA 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 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

3 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

4 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

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 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

7 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。

8 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

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 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

11 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

12 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

14 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

15 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

16 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

17 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

18 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。