VOA慢速英语2013 Billy Joel, Jill Scott and Others Star at the New Orleans Jazz Fest

 

Billy Joel, Jill Scott and Others Star at the New Orleans Jazz Fest

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ in VOA Special English.

I’m June Simms.

On today’s program, we tell all about the famed New Orleans Jazz and Heritage² Festival, which opens a few hours from now. Then we play music from some the artists performing at the event this year.

But first we tell about the newest presidential library in America.

President Obama and the four living former presidents were in Dallas, Texas this week for the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. Every president who served over the past 80 years has a library in his name. These buildings hold presidential records and other documents for researchers to study. They also educate people about the presidents and the issues they faced. Kelly Jean Kelly has more.

A life-like robot of former President Lyndon Johnson welcomes visitors to his library in Austin, Texas.

“It’s pretty cool, a little disconcerting, but pretty cool. It’s very life-like.”

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library has spent ten million dollars to make the library more interactive³. Visitors can listen to some of the more than 640 hours of telephone calls that President Johnson recorded -- like this one with Senator⁴ Everett Dirksen.

“Then I'll call you back in a little bit on this."

“You never talked that way when you were sitting in that front seat.”

“Well I did, I did if my country is involved -- I voted for Ike one time...”                                       

Mark Updegrove is director of the Johnson library. It, like other presidential libraries, is under the control of the National Archives, not the former presidents. Mr. Updegrove says that means the libraries do not tell only good things about presidents. He says they instead tell the full story of their time in office.

“It is not up to us to direct history and tell people what to think, but we do want them to know what he did and how it impacts your life.  What you think about that is your own decision.”

Presidential libraries make available documents for historical research. Some of the documents were once secret. Mr. Updegrove says this shows the openness of a democratic society.

“Those records belong to the people, they don’t belong to that president.”

A short drive from Austin, the Texas capital, is the presidential library of George Herbert Walker Bush. Warren Finch⁵ is the library’s director.

“We feel like that’s one of our key missions in our museums and our education programs is to talk about civics -- how the US constitution works, how the government works in practice.”

Because of improving technology, libraries now have large collections of images and audio recordings⁶. Mr. Finch says organizing all of that information is not easy. He says the library has about a million photographs and tens of thousands of videos.

Now we head to New Orleans, Louisiana, the city many consider the birthplace of jazz. It also holds one of the most famous cultural celebrations in America: The New Orleans Music and Heritage Festival.

The ten-day event opens April 26th this year. It is the 44th festival. New Orleans city officials and business leaders talked about organizing such an event for several years. They reached out to George Wein. He is a music lover as well as a musician, himself.  At the time, Mr. Wein was also the producer of the Newport Jazz Fest, in Rhode Island.

The first New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival took place in the spring of 1970. About 350 people attended the five day celebration. When George Wein announced the festival he said it “could only be held in New Orleans, because here and here alone is the richest musical tradition in America.”  Acts at the first festival included singing great Mahalia Jackson and Duke Ellington.

Five years later, an estimated 80,000 people attended the festival. Now attendance⁷ is measured in hundreds of thousands.

Music is performed on twelve different stages at the Fair Grounds Race Course. And jazz is just one of the many musical styles included. The New Orleans festival also celebrates rock, blues⁸, soul, zydeco, Cajun, and world music.

So what artists are appearing at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival this year? Jim Tedder⁹ tells us about a few of them, and plays some of their music.

One of the many stars performing at the festival is the “piano man,” Billy Joel. He also appeared at the event five years ago, when some people in the crowd danced in the rain.

Fleetwood Mac will be performing at the jazz fest for the first time. The group just launched an international concert series. Fleetwood Mac was at the height of its popularity¹⁰ in the 1970s. Here is “The Chain” from the band’s 1977 record album “Rumours.”

Grammy-winning singer and actress Jill Scott is set to perform during the first weekend of the jazz fest. Her most recent album was released in 2011. Here is “So In Love.”

New Orleans native Frank Ocean will appear at the jazz fest. He remembers attending the event when he was growing up. His first studio album, “Channel Orange,” came out less than a year ago. Critics praised it wildly. The album has now sold than more a half million copies.

Blues veteran B.B. King and his guitar Lucille will play the jazz fest once again.

We leave you with music from the Preservation¹¹ Hall Jazz Band. This New Orleans-based band performs around the world in an effort to teach about the art of jazz. It is always among the performers at the Jazz and Heritage Festival.

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 heritage   

n.传统，遗产，继承物

参考例句：

• The ancient buildings are part of the national heritage.这些古建筑是民族遗产的一部分。
• We Chinese have a great cultural heritage.我们中国人有伟大的文化遗产。

3 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

4 senator   

n.参议员，评议员

参考例句：

• The senator urged against the adoption of the measure.那参议员极力反对采取这项措施。
• The senator's speech hit at government spending.参议员的讲话批评了政府的开支。

5 finch   

n.雀科鸣禽(如燕雀，金丝雀等)

参考例句：

• This behaviour is commonly observed among several species of finch.这种行为常常可以在几种雀科鸣禽中看到。
• In Australia,it is predominantly called the Gouldian Finch.在澳大利亚，它主要还是被称之为胡锦雀。

6 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

7 attendance   

n.出席，出席人数，护理，照料

参考例句：

• The attendance of this class never dropped off.这个班的出席人数从未下降。
• The young man danced attendance on his rich aunt.这个年轻人小心侍候他有钱的姑妈。

8 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

9 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

10 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

11 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。