英语听力—环球英语 546 Dancing with Disability

　　Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight¹. I'm Liz Waid.
Voice 2
And I'm Adam Navis. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
Two long, red pieces cloth hang down the center of the performance area. Two people dance together between them. They climb and move on the cloth. They turn and hang in the air. This dance takes place both on the ground and in the air. But there is something different about the female² dancer. She does not look like most other dancers. She has no legs!
Voice 2
Today's Spotlight is on The GIMP Project. The GIMP Project is a group of people who would not normally³ be considered dancers. They are missing⁴ legs, or an arm, or have nerve⁵ diseases⁶. They would not have a place in any other dance group. But as part of The GIMP Project, they have found a way to accept who they are and make something beautiful.
Voice 1
The word "gimp" was chosen as a name because it has several meanings. It can mean a long piece of cloth. It can mean to have a fighting spirit. It can also be a term for a person who cannot walk correctly. Usually it is unkind⁷ to call a person a "gimp". But part of what The GIMP Project is trying to do is to question what people think it means to be different.
Voice 2
Heidi Latsky watches her dancers go through their dances. She started The GIMP Project. She stops the dance and offers a new idea. She joins the dancers to show what she is trying to say. Heidi Latsky has been a professional dancer for many years. She has both designed dances and taught dancing to other people. She is respected in the New York dance community. With GIMP, she wanted to try something different. She says:
Voice 3
"People go to dance events to see what they cannot do themselves. Dancers are often seen as limitless. Disabled persons are often seen as basically⁸ unable. Bringing these two groups together in GIMP questions normal ideas of dance, performance, and body image. GIMP's special mix of arms and legs offers an uncommon⁹ beauty. It examines the ways we are often identified or defined¹⁰ by our bodies."
Voice 2
A performance by GIMP is not like any other kind of dance show. The people watching cannot forget that the dancers are different. But GIMP is still a real dance show. It is still a performance. Heidi Latsky explains how this can be true:
Voice 3
"GIMP is about beauty. Not an easy and common beauty, but a more unexpected¹¹ one. It is a beauty that comes from taking a risk. We show each person's special beauty. In GIMP, both watchers and performers know they are being watched. This leads to a change in thinking. It leads to a deep sense that the way we see the world has changed."
Voice 1
But who would want to do what these dancers do? A disabled person often has people look and point at him. Why then, would they want to get up in front of people and dance? Why would anyone want to be watched like this? Well, it is exactly because they are watched by people they do not know that makes them want to dance. One dancer from GIMP is Lawrence Carter-Long. He has cerebral¹² palsy, a condition that makes it difficult for him to walk normally. He says:
Voice 4
"Disability in our culture is permitted to encourage people. We are permitted to be heroes. We are sometimes permitted to be weak and useless. What we are not permitted to be is creative."
Voice 1
The dancers of GIMP are trying to break down the idea of what limits them. They are trying to show that the limits most people put on them are not real limits. Through GIMP they show that they can dance. If someone without legs can dance, it raises a question. What else can disabled people do that able-bodied people think they cannot? Again, here is Lawrence Carter-Long:
Voice 4
"This is no safe, controlled mix of dance and disability. It is a collision¹³. This is two worlds come crashing together that are not supposed to exist together."
Voice 2
Katherine Long is a GIMP dancer from England. She was born with no upper leg joints¹⁴, no knee caps and no left arm. She talks about dancing in front of people:
Voice 5
"When I put myself out there, I am inviting¹⁵ people to look at me. I am controlling the looking. But when I am on the street I am not inviting people to look at me. But they look anyway. Dancing puts me into a bit more of a controlled situation. I try to encourage people to think about the way they look at different bodies and their own body. They do not know how to react. They do not know what to say. I think they are so surprised that they often need time to process it. They need time for their brains to take in what they have seen - what they have been a part of as an audience."
Voice 2
GIMP is trying to give people the space to look and to ask questions. GIMP wants them to understand that just because people look different, that does not mean that they cannot make something beautiful and wonderful. Heidi Latsky says:
Voice 3
"The goal of GIMP is to honour each person's particular way of moving. To make a dance that speaks to who they are, to their weaknesses and to their strengths and their personalities¹⁶. Like Lawrence who has a very particular way of walking. I cannot change the way he walks. There is so much movement in the way he walks that is almost like music. It has added something that I could never do. He just does it naturally.
Voice 2
All people have limits. For the dancers of GIMP, their limits are clear and easy to see. But every person is limited by something. It could be fear, or intelligence, or for some, the situation of their life. Some people deny their limits. Other people fight against them. But some people, like the dancers of GIMP, accept who they are and decide to make something beautiful.
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 female   

adj.雌的，女(性)的；n.雌性的动物，女子

参考例句：

• We only employ female workers.我们只雇用女工。
• The animal in the picture was a female elephant.照片上的动物是头母象。

3 normally   

adv.正常地，通常地

参考例句：

• I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
• My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。

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 nerve   

n.神经；勇气，胆量，沉着，果断

参考例句：

• Did he have the nerve to say that?他竟有脸说这话吗？
• He never got up enough nerve to meet me.他从没有足够的胆量来见我。

6 diseases   

n.疾病( disease的名词复数 )；弊端；恶疾；痼疾

参考例句：

• Smoking is a causative factor in several major diseases. 抽烟是引起几种严重疾病的病因。
• The illness frequently coexists with other chronic diseases. 这种病往往与其他慢性病同时存在。

7 unkind   

adj.不仁慈的，不和善的

参考例句：

• He was never unkind to her.他从未亏待过她。
• Unkindness often reacts on the unkind person.恶人有恶报。

8 basically   

adv.基本上，从根本上说

参考例句：

• His heart is basically sound.他的心脏基本上健康。
• Basically I agree with your plan.我基本上同意你的计划。

9 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

10 defined   

adj 定义的; 清晰的

参考例句：

• These categories are not well defined. 这些类别划分得不太明确。
• The powers of a judge are defined by law. 法官的权限是由法律规定的。

11 unexpected   

adj.想不到的，意外的

参考例句：

• I always keep some good wine in for unexpected guests.我总保存些好酒，用来招待不速之客。
• His promotion was unexpected.他的升迁出人意料。

12 cerebral   

adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的

参考例句：

• Your left cerebral hemisphere controls the right-hand side of your body.你的左半脑控制身体的右半身。
• He is a precise,methodical,cerebral man who carefully chooses his words.他是一个一丝不苟、有条理和理智的人，措辞谨慎。

13 collision   

n.碰撞；(利益，意见等的)冲突，抵触

参考例句：

• The car was wrecked by its collision with a big lorry.这辆小轿车是由于和大卡车相撞而碰毁的。
• This collision had a very unusual cause.这次冲突有着非同寻常的原因。

14 joints   

接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。

15 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

16 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。