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VOA慢速英语2011--The Carter Family: First Family of Count

时间:2011-03-07 01:03:29

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(单词翻译)

STEVE EMBER: I’m Steve Ember.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I’m Shirley Griffith with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today we tell about the Carter Family, the First Family of country music.
STEVE EMBER: It was August second, nineteen twenty-seven. The news had spread fast. A man named Ralph Peer1 was coming to the city of Bristol, on the border between Virginia and Tennessee. He wanted to make recordings2 of local people singing and playing musical instruments. And he said he would pay fifty dollars for each song recorded. That was a lot of money in those days.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Many people came to Bristol that day to play for Mr. Peer. But one group seemed to have just the sound that he was looking for. They were a man named A.P. Carter, his wife, Sara, and her cousin, Maybelle. They had traveled more than one hundred twenty-five kilometers from their home in the mountains of Virginia. They called themselves the Carter family.
(MUSIC: “THE STORMS ARE ON THE OCEAN”)
Autoharp player Janette Carter is the daughter of A.P. and Sara Carter.
STEVE EMBER: Sara sang lead, the loudest and highest notes. A.P. sang bass3, the lowest notes. Maybelle sang harmony, somewhere in between. She also played the guitar in a new and unusual way. It sounded almost like two people were playing at the same time. She played the main part of the songs on the lowest guitar strings4. And then she quickly strummed by playing all the strings at once. This kind of playing became known as the “Carter Scratch.” Guitarists around the world would soon begin to copy her style.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Those first recordings were sent to radio stations throughout the United States. Many listeners were surprised at what they heard. Instead of classical or jazz songs that radio stations usually played, a new sound was born.
The Carter Family sounded different. They did not sound like they had taken music lessons. But it did not matter. The people in poor rural areas thought they sounded just like their neighbors, or the people who sang in their churches.
John Carter Cash with his grandmother Maybelle Carter's Gibson L-5 guitar.
Up until then, they had never heard people like themselves perform on the radio. Soon the Carters were being called country singers, because their music came from rural country areas and not big cities.
STEVE EMBER: The Carters sang songs about living in the mountains of Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. They sang about the love of a young man for a special girl. They sang about the beauty of nature. They sang about dying and sadness. And they sang religious songs that told of hope for a better life after death.
(MUSIC: “CAN THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN”)
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: A.P. Carter sang in the group and also searched for new songs. He often traveled long distances to small towns in the southeastern United States. He wanted to hear the songs that local people sang in their communities. He wrote down the words but kept the music in his memory. When he returned home, he helped Sarah and Maybelle fit them to the Carter Family musical style.
Country music legend Johnny Cash performs with his wife June Carter Cash, a member of the famous Carter Family.
STEVE EMBER: The Carter Family soon became famous. They recorded more songs. They traveled to many cities and towns in the eastern United States to perform. Thousands of people heard them sing and bought their recordings.
Some people estimate that within three years, the Carter Family sold three hundred thousand recordings.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In the early nineteen thirties many Americans were poor. The Great Depression had begun. Many people had no jobs. But somehow they found enough money to buy the recordings of the music they loved. A.P., Sarah, and Maybelle Carter knew that the economy was very bad. They knew what it was like to be poor. So they always tried to sing a few songs to make people feel happy.
(MUSIC: “KEEP ON THE SUNNY SIDE”)
STEVE EMBER: The Carter Family continued to make recordings and perform their music live for several years. In nineteen thirty-eight, they traveled to Texas. A very powerful radio station was a short distance across the border in Mexico. It could broadcast much farther than any radio station in the United States. The Carters performed on the station twice each day. Now people from all over America and in some foreign countries could hear them.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: As a musical group, the Carter Family was a great success. But there were problems that the public did not know about. For years, A.P. and Sarah had not been happy with each other. Finally, their marriage ended in divorce. Three years later, Sarah married A.P.’s cousin. The group continued to perform together, but it was not easy. And then, in nineteen forty-three, it all came to an end. Sarah and her second husband moved to California. A.P. Carter also stopped performing, and moved back home to Clinch5 Mountain to live out the rest of his life.
(MUSIC: “MY CLINCH MOUNTAIN HOME”)
STEVE EMBER: So now the Carter Family was down to one. Maybelle Carter was the only one left to perform. She decided6 it was not yet time to retire to her “Old Clinch Mountain Home.” She continued to play her guitar and sing. She also played the autoharp. She appeared many times on the live radio program “The Grand Ole Opry” in Nashville, Tennessee. She became known as Mother Maybelle, the mother of American country music.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In the nineteen fifties and sixties, her daughters performed and made recordings with Mother Maybelle. They appeared many times with the famous country music singer Johnny Cash. June Carter, one of Maybelle’s daughters, married Johnny Cash in nineteen sixty-eight. They all sang together until Mother Maybelle’s death in nineteen seventy-eight.
Janette Carter, daughter of A.P. and Sara Carter, speaks at the 12th Annual Bluegrass Music Awards.
STEVE EMBER: The Carter Family is remembered today as the First Family of American country music. Their most famous song is still played today. It is about love that did not last. It is called “Wildwood Flower.”
(MUSIC: “WILDWOOD FLOWER”)
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:
He told me he loved me and called me his flower
That blossomed7 for him all the brighter each hour
Though my heart is now breaking, he shall never know
That his name makes me tremble, my pale cheeks to glow
I’ll sing and I’ll dance and my laugh shall be gay
I’ll charm8 every heart and the crowd I will away
I’ll live you to see him regret the dark hour
When he won and neglected this frail9 wildwood flower
STEVE EMBER: This program was written by Jim Tedder10 and produced by Dana Demange. I’m Steve Ember.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I’m Shirley Griffith. Our programs are online with transcripts11 and MP3 files at voanews.cn. And you can find us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 peer mLExX     
n.同辈,同等地位的人,伙伴,贵族;vi.仔细看,费力地看
参考例句:
  • Children are easily influenced by their peer.孩子很容易受同辈影响。
  • He is a peer.他是一个贵族。
2 recordings 22f9946cd05973582e73e4e3c0239bb7     
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
3 bass APUyY     
n.男低音(歌手);低音乐器;低音大提琴
参考例句:
  • He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
  • The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。
4 strings nh0zBe     
n.弦
参考例句:
  • He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上,随意地拨着吉他的弦。
  • She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
5 clinch 4q5zc     
v.敲弯,钉牢;确定;扭住对方 [参]clench
参考例句:
  • Clinch the boards together.用钉子把木板钉牢在一起。
  • We don't accept us dollars,please Swiss francs to clinch a deal business.我方不收美元,请最好用瑞士法郎来成交生意。
6 decided lvqzZd     
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。
7 blossomed 42105975b5d3bd4746a1100769ccada8     
v.(植物)开花( blossom的过去式和过去分词 );发展;长成;变得更加健康(或自信、成功)
参考例句:
  • He has really blossomed out since he came to live here. 自从他住到这里来以后他确实变得快活了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • That lonely, remote settlement blossomed into a charming little city. 那个寂寞而偏僻的开拓地变成了一个可爱的小城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 charm prVzK     
vt.使着迷,使陶醉;n.招人喜欢之处,魅力
参考例句:
  • With all imperfections the short play has a real charm.尽管有不少缺欠,这出小戏仍颇具魅力。
  • He could resist her charm no longer.他再也抗拒不住她的魅力。
9 frail yz3yD     
adj.身体虚弱的;易损坏的
参考例句:
  • Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了,身体虚弱,不便独居。
  • She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上,看上去特别虚弱。
10 tedder 2833afc4f8252d8dc9f8cd73b24db55d     
n.(干草)翻晒者,翻晒机
参考例句:
  • Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆?特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
  • Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆?泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网
11 transcripts 525c0b10bb61e5ddfdd47d7faa92db26     
n.抄本( transcript的名词复数 );转写本;文字本;副本
参考例句:
  • Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样,都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
  • You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书,你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

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