VOA文化艺术2024--Remembering Chita Rivera

Remembering Chita Rivera

　　Groundbreaking American performer Chita Rivera died on January 30 in New York. She was 91 years old.

　　The famed dancer, singer and actor won many awards and honors in her long career on Broadway and beyond. Her work also broke through ethnic¹ and racial barriers in American entertainment, helping² to shape a path for Latin performers.

　　Her daughter, Lisa Mordente, announced her mother's death. She said Rivera died after a brief sickness.

　　Rivera first gained wide notice in 1957 as Anita in the original production of the musical play West Side Story. She was still dancing on New York's Broadway stages a half-century later in 2015's The Visit.

　　"I wouldn't know what to do if I wasn't moving or telling a story to you or singing a song," she told the Associated Press at the time. "That's the spirit of my life, and I'm really so lucky to be able to do what I love, even at this time in my life."

　　Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero was born January 23, 1933, in Washington, D.C. Her Puerto Rican father, Pedro del Rivero, was a musician who played in the United States Navy Band. He died when Chita was seven. Her mother Katherine was of Scottish and Italian ancestry³.

　　Chita studied dance as a young girl and was accepted to a highly respected school for ballet. She was 17 when she won her first part in a musical.

　　"She was a true Broadway legend," playwright⁴ Paul Rudnick said on social media service X. "She always delivered and audiences adored⁵ her. The moment she stepped onstage, the world became more exciting and glorious."

　　Rivera rose from chorus⁶ line performer to star. Along the way, she worked with many of Broadway's other greatest playmakers, including Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Bob Fosse, and Harold Prince.

　　She won two Tonys, the highest award for live theater in the United States. Her first came in 1984 with the production The Rink. She won again in 1993 for the play Kiss of the Spider Woman. An Associated Press theater critic wrote at the time that Rivera was "more than a musical theater star. She's a force of nature...."

　　The second Tony was an especially sweet victory for the star. Just five years earlier, Rivera had been in a serious car accident that crushed her right leg. It could have ended her career. After months of physical therapy to regain⁷ her dancing skills, she returned to the stage singing and dancing as energetically as ever.

　　She told the AP: "It never entered my mind that I wouldn't dance again. Never. I can't explain to you why. It's hard work getting back but that's what I'm doing."

　　When accepting a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018, Rivera said "I wouldn't trade my life in the theater for anything, because theater is life."

　　In August 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama honored Rivera with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian⁸ award of the United States. At the presentation of the medal, Rivera put her hand over her heart and shook her head in wonderment.

　　Rivera was married to dancer Tony Mordente from 1957 until 1966. Their daughter Lisa also became a performer and has appeared on Broadway.

　　Words in This Story

　　original – n. not copied or imitated from something else; the first

　　legend – n. a person or thing that inspires legends; someone widely respected and praised for certain skills or successes

　　deliver – v. to produce the promised, desired, or expected results

　　glorious – adj. extremely good; wonderful

　　chorus line – n. a group of dancers and singers supporting the featured players in a musical comedy or revue

　　therapy – n. medical treatment of impairment, injury, disease, or disorder

1 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

2 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。

3 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

4 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。

5 adored   

爱慕，崇拜( adore的过去式和过去分词 )； 非常喜欢

参考例句：

• For all her faults, Tallulah's friends tolerated and even adored her. 尽管塔卢拉有缺点，她的朋友们却宽容她，甚至崇拜她。
• They adored her as a living goddess. 他们把她当作活女神崇拜。

6 chorus   

n.合唱，合唱队，齐声

参考例句：

• Never before have I heard this song sung in chorus.我从来没有听过这首歌的合唱。
• The children repeated the words after her in chorus.孩子们跟她齐声朗读单词。

7 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

8 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。