PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Louisa May Alcott

PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Louisa May Alcott
By Shelley Gollust

Broadcast: Sunday, May 08, 2005

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English program, People in America. Every week we tell about a person important in the history of the United States. Today we tell about Louisa May Alcott. She wrote one of America's best loved children's books.

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VOICE ONE:

In eighteen sixty-eight, an American publisher asked a struggling young writer to write a book for girls. At first, the writer, Louisa May Alcott, was not sure she wanted to do it. She said she never liked girls. And she never knew many, except her sisters. She thought her family's activities and experiences might be interesting to others. But, she said, probably not.

VOICE TWO:

Alcott decided¹ to write the book anyway. She told about her experiences growing up in the northeastern United States during the middle of the nineteenth century. Her book proved to be more than interesting. "Little Women" became one of the most popular children's books in American literature. It has been published in more than fifty languages.

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VOICE ONE:

Louisa May Alcott was born in Pennsylvania in eighteen thirty-two. She was the second of four daughters. She had one older sister, Anna. And two younger sisters, Elizabeth, called Beth, and May. Her parents were Bronson and Abigail Alcott. Her father was an educator and social reformer.

 
 
The Alcotts later settled in concord², Massachusetts. Several great American writers were friends of the family. They included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau. Mister Alcott provided the girls' education. He taught them many subjects. He also made them write about their personal thoughts and experiences.

VOICE TWO:

The Alcotts did not have much money. Louisa worked to help support her family. She tried teaching, sewing, and taking care of children. She did not like any of these Jobs.

Louisa thought of herself as a writer. At the age of sixteen, she wrote her first book. It was called "Flower Fables³." She decided to sell what she wrote. She wrote many kinds of poems, stories, and plays. Her stories were exciting, but unrealistic. She sold them to newspapers and magazines for small amounts of money.

VOICE ONE:

In eighteen sixty-two, during the American Civil War, Louisa May Alcott went to Washington, D.C. She served as a nurse in a military hospital. She cared for sick and wounded soldiers. She wrote letters to her family about her experiences. She included these letters in a book that was published the next year. Critics praised it but it did not bring her much money. And, working in the hospital damaged her health.

VOICE TWO:

In eighteen sixty-five she visited Europe as a helper to an older woman. Alcott hoped to re-gain her health. She spent a long time away from her family. Her health did not improve. But she thought about her writing. When she returned, she agreed to her publisher's request that she write a book for girls based on the life she knew.

"Little Women" was published in eighteen sixty-eight. The book was immediately popular with people of all ages. It brought Alcott fame and a lot of money. She continued writing other popular books for young people. These included "An Old-Fashioned Girl," "Little Men, and "Eight Cousins."

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VOICE ONE:

Louisa May Alcott wrote books for adults, as well as children. She published these under another name -- A. M. Barnard. These books were published before "Little Women" made her famous. They were very different from her children's stories. They were about love, power, and unhappiness. They have been published again in the United States.

One book is called "Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers⁴ of Louisa May Alcott." The book includes four mystery stories. Another is called "The Lost Stories of Louisa May Alcott." These stories are about love, betrayal⁵, and illegal drugs.

VOICE TWO:

Alcott wrote a story called "A Long Fatal Love Chase." It is about an independent young woman. She marries an older man who already has a wife. She flees from him. He follows her throughout Europe. The book tells of insanity⁶, violence, and death. Louisa May Alcott tried to get the book published in eighteen sixty-six. The publisher rejected it. He said it was too shocking.

A man who collected Alcott materials found the unpublished story in a bookstore in New York City. He bought it for about fifty thousand dollars a few years ago. He reportedly sold it to a maJor American publisher for about one million dollars.

VOICE ONE:

Louisa May Alcott wrote many exciting stories about love. Yet she never married. She continued to support her family during the last years of her life. In fact, she cared for the young daughter of her sister, May, who died in eighteen seventy-nine.

Alcott was involved in the movements to end slavery and to gain voting rights for women. She wrote that "I . . . take more pride in the very small help we Alcotts could give than in all the books I ever wrote. " Louisa May Alcott died in eighteen eighty-eight.

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VOICE TWO:

Louisa May Alcott's most famous book, "Little Women", tells the story of the March family of Concord, Massachusetts. The story begins during the American Civil War in the eighteen sixties. Mister March is away from home. He is with the troops of the Union Army. He is a religious worker. Missus March is raising her four daughters by herself.

The March family is very close. They do many things together. They do not have much money. They suffer shortages⁷ caused by the war. Yet they share what they have with people who are in need.

VOICE ONE:

The four daughters are Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. They are strong, brave, and loving. Jo is the most important person in the book. She is smart. She has a good imagination. She writes stories. And she creates plays that the sisters perform together.

Jo also is independent. She chooses a non-traditional life. She goes to New York to become a writer. There she meets an older man, a professor. She returns home to care for her parents. She writes stories that become very popular. Later, Jo marries the professor. Together, they establish a school.

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VOICE TWO:

The March family in "Little Women" is very much like Louisa May Alcott's family. Her sisters are like the sisters in the book. And the leading person, Jo, is like Louisa. Jo must work to support her family, just as Louisa had to do. One of Jo's Jobs is to help a family member, an old woman called Aunt March. Jo does not really like Aunt March. But she loves the old woman's house, especially the large library with hundreds of books. This is how Alcott writes about this place:

VOICE ONE:

"The dim, dusty room. . . the cozy⁸ chairs, the globes, and, best of all, the wilderness⁹ of books in which she could wander where she liked, made the library a region of bliss¹⁰ to her. The moment Aunt March took her nap, or was busy with company, Jo hurried to this quiet space, and, curling herself up in the easy chair, devoured¹¹ poetry, romance¹², history, travels, and pictures, like a regular bookworm. "

All of these wonderful books put great ideas into Jo's head. Jo wanted to do something very wonderful, Alcott writes: "What it was she had no idea as yet, but left it for time to tell her. "

VOICE TWO:

Jo's beloved sister Beth dies young, as Alcott's own sister Beth did. Jo is very unhappy. Her mother tells her to write because that always made her happy. Jo writes a story "that went straight to the hearts of those who read it. " Jo cannot understand how her simple little story became so popular.

Her father explains, "There is truth in it, Jo, that's the secret; . . . You have found your style at last. You wrote with no thought of fame or money, and put your heart into it. . . ; You have had the bitter, now comes the sweet. "

VOICE ONE:

Louisa May Alcott's book, "Little Women", is still extremely popular. Women who read the book when they were young often give it to their daughters. Some famous American women even claim they decided to become writers after reading how Jo March became a writer in "Little Women".

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VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Paul Thompson. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE ONE:

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

1 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。

2 concord   

n.和谐；协调

参考例句：

• These states had lived in concord for centuries.这些国家几个世纪以来一直和睦相处。
• His speech did nothing for racial concord.他的讲话对种族和谐没有作用。

3 fables   

n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说

参考例句：

• Some of Aesop's Fables are satires. 《伊索寓言》中有一些是讽刺作品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Little Mexican boys also breathe the American fables. 墨西哥族的小孩子对美国神话也都耳濡目染。 来自辞典例句

4 thrillers   

n.紧张刺激的故事( thriller的名词复数 )；戏剧；令人感到兴奋的事；（电影）惊悚片

参考例句：

• He has written seven thrillers, and clearly enjoys intellectual pursuits. 他已经写了7本惊悚小说，显然很喜欢这样的智力活动。 来自辞典例句
• Most Americans prefer to read fast-moving adventure stories that we call "thrillers". 大部分美国人喜欢看我们称之为"惊险小说"的情节多变的冒险故事。 来自辞典例句

5 betrayal   

n.背叛，暴露

参考例句：

• Any deviation from the party's faith is seen as betrayal.任何对党的信仰的偏离被视作背叛。
• His defection to the other side was the ultimate betrayal.他变节投向另一方是最终的背叛。

6 insanity   

n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐

参考例句：

• In his defense he alleged temporary insanity.他伪称一时精神错乱，为自己辩解。
• He remained in his cell,and this visit only increased the belief in his insanity.他依旧还是住在他的地牢里，这次视察只是更加使人相信他是个疯子了。

7 shortages   

n.不足( shortage的名词复数 )；缺少；缺少量；不足额

参考例句：

• Food shortages often occur in time of war. 在战争期间常常发生粮食短缺的情形。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• At the same time, worldwide food and fuel shortages eased. 同时，世界性粮食和石油短缺的现象终止了。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

8 cozy   

adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的

参考例句：

• I like blankets because they are cozy.我喜欢毛毯，因为他们是舒适的。
• We spent a cozy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。

9 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

10 bliss   

n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福

参考例句：

• It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
• He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

11 devoured   

吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• She devoured everything she could lay her hands on: books, magazines and newspapers. 无论是书、杂志，还是报纸，只要能弄得到，她都看得津津有味。
• The lions devoured a zebra in a short time. 狮子一会儿就吃掉了一匹斑马。

12 romance   

n.恋爱关系，浪漫气氛，爱情小说，传奇

参考例句：

• She wrote a romance about an artist's life in Tokyo.她写了一个关于一位艺术家在东京生活的浪漫故事。
• They tried to rekindle the flames of romance.他们试图重燃爱火。