2007年VOA标准英语-Jacob Miller Ponders 'Who We Are' on Debut Albu

By Mary Morningstar
Washington
29 May 2007

Singer-songwriter Jacob Miller¹, 22, recently appeared on the Voice of America's live music show "Border Crossings" to talk about his debut² album, "Who We Are." VOA's Mary Morningstar has this report.

Jacob Miller wrote "Luck Of The Draw" after seeing 2002 news reports about more than 200 Haitians whose boat ran aground near the Florida coast. The Haitians swam to shore and ran onto a major highway leading to Miami, where they hoped to immigrate³.

Jacob grew up in Miami surrounded by music. His parents' home had a room with a piano, guitar, harmonica, and other instruments that fascinated him at an early age. After graduating from Miami's New World School of the Arts, Jacob studied at the prestigious⁴ Berklee School of Music in Boston.

Miller's songs are inspired by world events, as well as his own personal relationships and experiences. Jacob says his debut album, Who We Are, contains songs with universal themes that connect people.

"It didn't have a concept when we went into it [the album]. But I think because a writer's work is sort of a culmination⁵ of their experiences, their style comes from that. It sort of took a shape, and had an underlying⁶ theme, which was the human condition and just people, because that's just what I'm looking at currently, and what I'm trying to be aware of."

Who We Are

Jacob wrote all 12 songs on Who We Are.  When asked if he prefers performing or writing songs, Jacob says:

"People have asked me do I consider myself more of a musician or more of a writer? I've always felt that musicians obsess⁷ about music and writers obsess about writing," he said. "I sort of just think of myself as a romantic because I just obsess about ideals. Songwriting, singing, music is just an avenue for me to obsess about ideals."

Jacob says Miami's cultural diversity influenced his sound, which combines elements of pop, rock, reggae and Latin music. His biggest musical influences include Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Miles Davis and Leonard Cohen.

Jacob has performed in several European countries and hopes to take his music to more parts of the world.

"I'm definitely a travel junkie," he said. "I love seeing new things, seeing the differences but also seeing the similarities. You go to a foreign place that you had this idea of what it was going to be like, then you realize that it's actually real people. It's actually reality over there. It's not just some concept that you dreamed about."

1 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

2 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

3 immigrate   

v.（从外国）移来，移居入境

参考例句：

• 10,000 people are expected to immigrate in the next two years.接下来的两年里预计有10，000人会移民至此。
• Only few plants can immigrate to the island.只有很少的植物能够移植到这座岛上。

4 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

5 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

6 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

7 obsess   

vt.使着迷，使心神不定，（恶魔）困扰

参考例句：

• I must admit that maps obsess me.我得承认我对地图十分着迷。
• A string of scandals is obsessing America.美国正被一系列丑闻所困扰。