PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Gunther Gebel-Williams

PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Gunther Gebel-Williams
By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Sunday, May 23, 2004

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Today, we tell about the famous circus performer, Gunther Gebel-Williams. He was known for his gentle ways of training wild animals.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The lights of the circus shone brightly on Gunther Gebel-Williams as he stood in the center ring. Big tigers surrounded him. He spoke¹ quietly to the animals. Then he said a few more words to horses that waited in a line nearby.

Thousands of people watched as the wild tigers climbed onto the horses' backs to take a ride. It did not seem like anything that either a tiger or a horse would want to do. But they paraded under the shining lights. Some of the animals even looked pleased with themselves. The crowd under the circus tent in Boston, Massachusetts, shouted its approval².

Mister³ Gebel-Williams gave the tigers little pieces of meat and offered other food to the horses. "Thank you," he told them.

VOICE TWO:

Many people said the world had lost its greatest animal trainer when Mister Gebel-Williams died. He was sixty-six years old when he died of brain cancer in July of Two-Thousand-One.

Gunther Gebel-Williams and his animals traveled across the United States with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus for more than twenty years. He was the most famous circus performer in the nation.

Gunther Gebel-Williams started working with animals as a child in Germany. He became famous as a circus performer and animal trainer in Europe. Mister Williams came to the United States in Nineteen-Sixty-Eight. He became an American citizen in Nineteen-Seventy-Six.

VOICE ONE:

Gunther Gebel-Williams was wounded sometimes by his animals. But he gave about twelve-thousand performances without missing⁴ a show for injury or sickness. He retired⁵ from performing in Nineteen-Ninety. At the time he was working with about thirty-eight horses, twenty-two tigers and twenty-one elephants. Four zebras, three camels and a llama or two also took part in his performances. After leaving the show he remained with the circus as a trainer, officer and part owner.

Gunther Gebel-Williams never made a secret of how he got animals to do what he wanted. He said he built a special world around them. In this world he was the father. The lions, tigers and other animals were his children. His methods changed the way Americans train and treat performing animals.

(MUSIC/SOUNDS)

VOICE TWO:

The future circus star had a difficult childhood. Gunther Gebel was born in the eastern German village of Schweidnitz on September Twelfth, Nineteen-Thirty-Four. Gunther's father was a carpenter who built things out of wood. Later he became a technical director for a theater company.

The father's Socialist⁶ beliefs got him into trouble with Germany's Nazi⁷ government during the war. The Army sent him to Russia. He and thousands of other German soldiers who were captured⁸ there were never heard from again.

VOICE ONE:

During the final months of the war, Gunther, his mother and sister fled from their home in eastern Germany west to Cologne. Germany had lost the war, and the victorious⁹ Russians were moving in to take control.

After the fighting ended Missus Gebel found work with Circus Williams. A well known horse trainer, Harry¹⁰ Williams, owned it. Missus Gebel made and repaired clothes for this circus. She also got Gunther a job at the circus. He was about twelve or thirteen years old at the time. The boy had been in school for only a few years.

After a short time Missus Gebel left the circus. She left Gunther there. Gunther said later that he felt his mother gave him away. Harry Williams, however, was very glad to have the boy working for him. He immediately recognized that Gunther had unusual natural ability with animals.

VOICE TWO:

Mister Williams began helping¹² Gunther develop an act in which the boy did tricks while riding horses. Before long Gunther was getting all kinds of animals to do what he wanted. He especially loved the tigers. He praised their beauty, wildness and intelligence.

In Nineteen-Fifty-One, Harry Williams died after an accident in the circus. Harry's wife asked Gunther to help her operate the circus. She also urged him to become a star performer. Gunther was seventeen years old at the time.

He began his new responsibilities by adding the Williams family name to his own name. Gunther Gebel became Gunther Gebel-Williams. He wanted to demonstrate¹³ that Harry Williams and his circus had been a family to him. In Nineteen-Sixty, Mister Gebel-Williams married one of the Williams daughters.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Gunther Gebel-Williams and his big tigers, elephants and other animals became famous all over Europe. He won three major awards for his performances. In Nineteen-Sixty-Eight, an owner of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus in the United States bought Circus Williams. The owner, Irvin Feld, did this mainly to get Gunther Gebel-Williams as a performer.

Mister Gebel-Williams was an immediate¹¹ success in the United States as he travelled with the circus. His leopards¹⁴ jumped through circles held by tigers in their teeth. His elephants walked calmly and carefully down busy streets. People in cities across the country praised his bravery in his acts with the animals. His performances were different from anything that had been seen in circuses before.

VOICE TWO:

For many years Clyde Beatty had been the most famous animal trainer in the United States. Mister Beatty was an American circus performer known for his "fighting act." In this act he controlled forty lions and tigers. Mister Beatty also performed with dangerous mixes of tigers, lions, leopards, pumas¹⁵, hyenas¹⁶ and bears. His act demonstrated¹⁷ how fierce the animals really were. He used chairs and whips¹⁸ to get the animals to obey his commands. Sometimes he even used guns.

Mister Gebel-Williams had high praise for Clyde Beatty's bravery and skill. But Mister Gebel-Williams made his own animals perform by being friendly to them. He said he wanted to work with happy animals. He did not believe in making them fear him.

VOICE ONE:

Training by Gunther Gebel-Williams began and ended with kindness. He never had an animal operated on to make it safer for him. All his big cats kept their hard, sharp claws on their feet. He spoke to animals in the same soft voice each time he worked with them. When they performed well he gave them special foods. When they failed to obey he expressed mild displeasure. He never used chairs or whips or guns.

One of the most unusual things about Mister Gebel-Williams was the way he got animals to perform well together. For example, elephants and horses naturally fear tigers. He would take as long as two years to get the elephants and horses to let tigers ride on them. Traditional enemies like leopards and zebras also performed together in his acts.

VOICE TWO:

Mister Gebel-Williams especially liked working with a panther named Kenny. This big cat weighed more than thirty-four kilograms. Kenny enjoyed sitting on the neck and shoulders of his trainer. People liked to say the animal was probably thinking great thoughts as he rested on Mister Gebel-Williams.

But Gunther Gebel-Williams never forgot the danger involved in his work. He could not have forgotten it if he wanted to. From time to time an animal would become wild for no apparent¹⁹ reason. Mister Gebel-Williams' face was covered with old healed²⁰ wounds that sometimes made it difficult for him to talk.

VOICE ONE:

Even when animals attacked, Gunther Gebel Williams did not become angry. After Kenny died, Mister Gebel-Williams was performing one day with a panther named Zorro. Zorro weighed two times as much as Kenny. Suddenly Zorro started making a threatening noise. Then he bit his trainer deeply in the neck. But Mister Gebel-Williams would not go to the hospital until he calmed the animal and got it back in its cage.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The marriage of Mister Gebel-Williams and his first wife ended. His second wife, Sigrid Neubauer, became a circus performer. They had been married thirty-three years when Mister Gebel-Williams died. They raised a daughter and a son. The son, Mark Oliver, now serves as a star trainer of tigers with a Ringling circus company.

Friends say Mister Gebel-Williams was a loving husband and father. Yet they add that his deepest relationships probably were with his animals. He called animals dependable and honest although he sometimes suffered from their attacks. Gunther Gebel-Williams once said he liked animals more than most human beings.

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver²¹. Our studio engineer was Keith Holmes. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 approval   

n.赞成，同意；批准，认可

参考例句：

• The audience has expressed its approval.观众已经认可。
• The teacher signed his approval.老师做了手势表示同意。

3 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

4 missing   

adj.遗失的，缺少的，失踪的

参考例句：

• Check the tools and see if anything is missing.检点一下工具，看有无丢失。
• All the others are here;he's the only one missing.别人都来了，就短他一个。

5 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

6 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

7 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

8 captured   

俘获( capture的过去式和过去分词 )； 夺取； 夺得； 引起（注意、想像、兴趣）

参考例句：

• Allied troops captured over 300 enemy soldiers. 盟军俘虏了300多名敌方士兵。
• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。

9 victorious   

adj.胜利的，得胜的

参考例句：

• We are certain to be victorious.我们定会胜利。
• The victorious army returned in triumph.获胜的部队凯旋而归。

10 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

11 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

12 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。

13 demonstrate   

vt.论证，证明；示范；显示；vi.示威游行

参考例句：

• Let me demonstrate to you how this machine works.我给你演示一下这台机器的运转情况。
• How can I demonstrate to you that my story is true?我怎样才能向你证明我的话是真实的呢？

14 leopards   

n.豹( leopard的名词复数 )；本性难移

参考例句：

• Lions, tigers and leopards are all cats. 狮、虎和豹都是猫科动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• For example, airlines never ship leopards and canaries on the same flight. 例如，飞机上从来不会同时运送豹和金丝雀。 来自英语晨读30分（初三）

15 pumas   

n.美洲狮( puma的名词复数 )；彪马；于1948年成立于德国荷索金劳勒(Herzogenaurach)的国际运动品牌；创始人：鲁道夫及达斯勒。

参考例句：

• Pumas are large, cat-like animals which are found in America. 美洲狮是一种体形似猫的大动物，产于美洲。 来自新概念英语第三册
• But forget that for the pumas and lynx at the Queens Zoo. 而皇后动物园的美洲狮和猞猁却完全不吃这一套。 来自互联网

16 hyenas   

n.鬣狗( hyena的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These animals were the prey of hyenas. 这些动物是鬣狗的猎物。 来自辞典例句
• We detest with horror the duplicity and villainy of the murderous hyenas of Bukharinite wreckers. 我们非常憎恨布哈林那帮两面三刀、杀人破坏，干尽坏事的豺狼。 来自辞典例句

17 demonstrated   

举行示威游行（或集会）( demonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )； 示范。展示； 显示； 论证

参考例句：

• All of those demonstrated the correctness of his analysis. 这一切都证明了他分析的正确性。
• The fireman demonstrated great courage in saving the child. 那位消防队员在抢救孩子的过程中，表现了极大的勇气。

18 whips   

鞭子( whip的名词复数 )； 组织秘书，政党纪律委员（英国和美国的政党中负责确保本党党员出席政府重大辩论并投票的官员）

参考例句：

• The solution that the Volvo engineers came up with was WHIPS (Whiplash Protection System). Volvo工程师所提出的解决方案是whips（头颈部保护系统）。
• Examples on passive safety systems include safety belts, airbags, and WHIPS whiplash protection system. 被动安全系统组成包括安全带、安全气囊，和whips头颈部保护系统。

19 apparent   

adj.表面上的，貌似真实的，显然的，明明白白的

参考例句：

• The apparent truth was really a lie.表面上看似实话，实际上是个谎言。
• His guilt is apparent to all.他的罪恶尽人皆知。

20 healed   

v.（使）愈合( heal的过去式和过去分词 )；治愈；（使）结束；较容易忍受

参考例句：

• The surgeon healed the soldier's bullet wound in the leg. 医生治好了那位士兵腿部的枪伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The doctor applied an unguent to the wound,which speedily healed it. 医生给伤口涂了些油膏，伤口很快就愈合了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 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。