VOA慢速英语2003年-Golden Globe Awards

 

Broadcast: January 10, 2003
By Shelley Gollust, Nancy Steinbach and Paul Thompson

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC¹--VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:

We play some American rock and roll music ...

Answer a question about show business awards ...

And tell about a new book that claims to solve an old murder mystery.

Jack² The Ripper Book

HOST:

A murderer walked the nighttime streets of London, England, in eighteen-eighty-eight. He killed at least five women. Newspapers called him Jack the Ripper. He was never caught. And he wrote letters to the London newspapers and police in which he laughed at their efforts to catch him.

Many people have tried to discover who Jack the Ripper was. They have written books about the murders, and offered many ideas about the killer³. But no one has been able to prove their claims. Now, an American writer has used modern methods to investigate1 the crimes. Shep O'Neal has more.

ANNCR:

Patricia Cornwell writes best-selling mystery books. She has also worked with scientists who investigate evidence from real crimes. Mizz Cornwell says she has found the evidence to prove who Jack the Ripper was.

Patricia Cornwell spent several million dollars of her own money in the effort to discover who committed the murders claimed by Jack the Ripper. She hired scientists, hand-writing experts, art experts, history experts and criminal2 investigators⁵. She scientifically examined the letters Jack the Ripper sent to newspapers and police. And, she examined hundreds of letters written by the man she claims to have been Jack the Ripper.

Patricia Cornwell says she is one-hundred percent sure that Jack the Ripper was a famous British artist named Walter Sickert. She claims to have found enough evidence to prove it. She has detailed⁶ all of this evidence in a new book, "Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed."

The book tells the life story of Walter Sickert, and shows why he could have been Jack the Ripper. A top investigator⁴ for Britain's Scotland Yard police organization said Mizz Cornwell's evidence would be good enough to try Mister Sickert for the murders if he were still alive.

Critics have commented on her work. Some say it is possible that she has discovered the real Jack the Ripper. Others disagree. They say the evidence is still not complete. They say her work only places Walter Sickert among a group of suspects.

Experts say the question may never really be answered to satisfy everyone interested in the Jack the Ripper murders. But they also say Patricia Cornwell's new book creates more interesting questions about a very old mystery.

Golden Globe Awards

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from China. Joseph asks about the Golden Globe Awards that are given to the best movies and television programs.

The members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association present the Golden Globe Awards every year. The Foreign Press Association is a group of international reporters who work in Hollywood, California. They broadcast and write about American entertainment for their home countries.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association presented the first Golden Globes in nineteen-forty-four. The group decided⁷ to give the awards every year before the Academy Awards ceremony so the awards would not be influenced by the Academy winners.

The Golden Globe award is a statue of a golden world circled by a piece of motion picture film. At first, the association gave awards for best motion picture, leading actor, leading actress, supporting actor, supporting actress and director. Later, it added other awards, such as best screenplay, best music and best foreign language film. It also increased the number of awards by giving separate ones for dramatic3 movies and for comedies4 or musicals.

In nineteen-fifty-five, the Golden Globes expanded to include awards for television. They honored best television drama shows, comedy shows, actors, actresses, and directors. American television began broadcasting the Golden Globe awards ceremony in nineteen-sixty-two.

Today, about ninety members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association vote to decide the Golden Globe winners. Show business experts say the Golden Globe awards influence the motion picture Academy Awards each year. The Academy Award nominations⁸ are announced after the Golden Globe winners have been chosen.

The Golden Globe Award nominees⁹ were announced last month. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in Los Angeles on January nineteenth. The ceremony will be broadcast on television in one-hundred-twenty-five countries.

Standing¹⁰ In The Shadows of Motown

HOST:

You probably have never heard of a group of musicians called the Funk Brothers. Yet they played on more hit records than the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys and Elvis Presley combined. Mary Tillotson tells us about them.

ANNCR:

The Funk Brothers were the musicians who played rhythm and blues¹¹ music of the nineteen-sixties that was called Motown. They played on hundreds of recordings¹² by singers like Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Supremes, the Four Tops and Stevie Wonder.

A new movie tells about the Funk Brothers. It is called "Standing in the Shadows of Motown." The group has also released an album of music from the movie. The Funk Brothers play while young singers perform several famous Motown songs, like this one, "Heat Wave," by Joan Osborne.

(MUSIC)

Six of the Funk Brothers have died. But in the movie, seven remaining musicians tell about their lives and how they created the famous Motown sounds. Ben Harper sings this famous Motown song, "I Heard it Through the Grapevine."

(MUSIC)

We leave you know with another song from "Standing in the Shadows of Motown." Here is Chaka Khan and Montell Jordan singing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."

(MUSIC)

HOST:

This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And I hope you will join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC--VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Shelley Gollust, Nancy Steinbach and Paul Thompson. Our studio engineer was Glen Matlock. And our producer was Paul Thompson.
1. investigate [In5vesti^eIt] v. 调查, 研究
2. criminal [5krImInl] adj. 犯罪的, 犯法的, 罪恶的
3. dramatic [drE5mAtIk] adj. 戏剧性的, 生动的
4. comedy [5kCmIdI] n. 喜剧, 喜剧性的事情

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 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

4 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

5 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

7 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。

8 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

9 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

10 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。

11 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。

12 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