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VOA慢速英语2013 Asian Americans in LA Share Tea and Tradition, Bobo Style

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Asian Americans in LA Share Tea and Tradition, Bobo Style

 

Welcome to American Mosaic1 from VOA Learning English.  

I’m June Simms. 

On the show today, we play music from Daft Punk.

We also look at a new movement in theater productions.

But first, we visit a California bar that serves up drinks in an East Asian tradition and party atmosphere. But it does not sell alcohol.

Boba Generation

Asian Americans growing up in the United States have a very different experience from those who came before them. There is a growing sense of pride, or self-worth, among Asian Americans. For many of them, it is stylish2 to be Asian in the United States, especially in southern California.

VOA’s Elizabeth Lee visited with some families in the largely Asian areas of east Los Angeles. Karen Leggett has her report.

On any given night, college students and young workers crowd into the Factory Tea Bar. The room is filled with comfortable couches and other seating. The light is low.

The bar serves no alcoholic3 drinks. People come here for sweet tea. It is often served with ice, milk and boba from Taiwan. Boba are large, chewy balls of tapioca.

Tiffany Porter is an American-born Chinese college student. She visits the Factory Tea Bar often.

“The boba place is like unique to Asian people, and so if you want that Asian comfort you come to a boba of place, and so that you can feel at home with a lot of other Asian people.”

Sociologist4 Oliver Wang says Tiffany Porter is part of what he calls the boba generation.

“I think the boba generation, if you will, can span everything from today’s teenagers up through people probably of my generation. I’m in my early 40s now. And so it covers a good 40 years or so.”

Oliver Wang says the current generation of Asian-Americans grew up seeing more Asian faces on television locally and through satellite. He says Asians are no longer stereotypes5. And now they can see how other Asians like to be seen, like in the music video “Boba Life,” created by comedians6 The Fung Brothers. 

David Fung says boba is to the Asian-American community what Coca-Cola is to the rest of America.

“I know boba is even more ubiquitous in Taiwan than here, but they don’t have the same culture built around it.”

Boba cafes are supported by people from throughout Asia who live in southern California. Lina Yaore, an Indonesian-American, likes to socialize at boba cafes with her Indonesian friends.

“We like relaxing. We like chatting and then we like to enjoy the drink.”

Chatchawat Rienkhemaniyom is from Thailand, but he knew boba teas have international appeal. That is why he opened the Factory Tea Bar. He says the business is very healthy and growing.

“Boba has become life, become one of their life, like a part of their life.”

And that way of life is spreading across the United States, says Andrew Fung of the Fung Brothers.

“On every college campus, there’s enough Asian people. There’s enough Chinese people, there’s enough Taiwanese people, where they’re going to have one boba shop no matter how crappy it is, and all the Asians know about it.”

Boba cafes have become a sign of a cultural movement among Americanized Asians who are still connected with their ethnic7 identity, but proud to be Asian American.

Interactive8 Theater Takes New York

Theater is designed to appeal to the heart and the mind. But it is mostly a passive experience, requiring little or no active involvement from theater goers. Now, three shows in New York have created interactive environments for their audiences. Mario Ritter has details.

Rock musician David Byrne started thinking of making a musical about the wife of the former Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos several years ago. As he researched the life of Imelda Marcos he made a surprising discovery.

“When I heard some years ago that Imelda Marcos really loved going to discos and that she had a mirror ball in her New York townhouse and, uh, turned the roof of the palace in Manila into a disco, I thought well, here’s a powerful person who lives in that kind of bubble but also brings her own soundtrack to it.”

David Byrne worked with the British musician Fatboy Slim to make an album about Imelda Marcos. It was released in 2010. Now, the two artists have turned it into a musical play. “Here Lies Love” opened in New York City in April. Recently, the Public Theater extended the hit show’s performances through July.

But how is the show interactive? The theater is set up like a disco club.

Theater goers move around on the dance floor to follow the action. They also dance along with the actors.

Annie-B Parson is the play’s choreographer9. She designed all the dances.

“So, sometimes the audiences are amazing extras and, sometimes, they are taking in a play, but they’re on their feet. So the sense of who the audience is changes throughout the piece.”

She says the audience is partying with former First Lady Imelda Marcos.

“You’re very aware that you shouldn’t be dancing with Imelda, but it’s too much fun to stop. So, I think it works.”

On the other side of the city, another theater has put up a large tent. “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” is based on a part of the famed Russian novel “War and Peace.”

Dave Malloy wrote the musical play, described as a pop opera. He set it in a tent, made to look like a Russian nightclub. The set includes red velvet10 wall hangings and costly11 chandeliers.

Mr. Malloy says he went to Moscow to do research for the play.

“I went to a club called Café Margarita, which was this Russian, you know, bar that was full of people sitting at these crowded tables eating vodka and dumplings and then, in the corner, there was this little pop/classical music trio. And so when I saw that room, I was like, oh, this is the setting for this piece.”

The audience gets champagne12, vodka and a full Russian dinner before the show. The action takes place all around and sometimes in the middle of the audience.

Director Rachel Chavkin describes how this affects the actors.

“They have to be acting13 as if they’re on film, with that sort of level of realism, but the size of the physical gestures has to read across space, to the person on the opposite side of the room.”

Another theater company takes the interactive environment even further. The play “Sleep No More” is based on William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. But its setting is very different.

The play is performed in a seven-floor warehouse14. Audience members are guided around the building, to watch the play take place on different levels. They must cover up their eyes as they travel. They are also told they must not speak.

Producer Jonathan Hochwald says “Sleep No More” is the most interactive of interactive theater experiences.

“As an audience member, you can get lost in the woods or in a hospital ward15 or in a train station and really experience something unique.”                               

Choreographer Annie-B Parson says the audiences at all three of these productions share one thing.

“That energy of being in the middle of a piece, is a real thing. And so, it’s a very different experience than sitting in your chair, you know, ten, twenty, thirty feet away from a play, where you’re squinting16 your eyes to see if the person’s laughing or crying.”

Daft Punk "Random17 Access Memories"

The two-man French group, Daft Punk, is on top of the American record charts this week with the album, “Random Access Memories.” The sound is similar to disco music of the 1970s and 80s.

Daft Punk is Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. The two have been playing under the name Daft Punk for 20 years. But “Random Access Memories” is only their fourth album.

The record is number one on Billboard18 magazine’s Top 200 Albums chart. It has already sold about 500,000 copies in the United States.

“Random Access Memories” probably could have reached  similar success if it had been released 30 years ago. Many songs on the album have that disco sound, like this one: “Give Life Back to Music.”

Daft Punk invited several musicians to perform on their latest record. One of the most surprising additions was Paul Williams. The 72-year-old singer-songwriter had many hit singles in the 1970s. He also created very popular songs for movies.

Paul Williams helped write two songs for “Random Access Memories” -- “Beyond” and “Touch,” on which he also sings.

The artist and record producer Pharrell Williams also performs on the album in the hit single, “Get Lucky.” Some critics say radio listeners will be hearing that song all summer long.

I’m June Simms. Our program was written and produced by Caty Weaver19.  Elizabeth Lee and Jeff Lunden provided additional reporting.

Join us again next week for music and more on American Mosaic in VOA Special English.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 mosaic CEExS     
n./adj.镶嵌细工的,镶嵌工艺品的,嵌花式的
参考例句:
  • The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
  • The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。
2 stylish 7tNwG     
adj.流行的,时髦的;漂亮的,气派的
参考例句:
  • He's a stylish dresser.他是个穿着很有格调的人。
  • What stylish women are wearing in Paris will be worn by women all over the world.巴黎女性时装往往会引导世界时装潮流。
3 alcoholic rx7zC     
adj.(含)酒精的,由酒精引起的;n.酗酒者
参考例句:
  • The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
  • Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。
4 sociologist 2wSwo     
n.研究社会学的人,社会学家
参考例句:
  • His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家,研究社会主义。
  • Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。
5 stereotypes 1ff39410e7d7a101c62ac42c17e0df24     
n.老套,模式化的见解,有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化,使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
  • It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调,我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
6 comedians efcac24154f4452751c4385767145187     
n.喜剧演员,丑角( comedian的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严,俨然是哈佛出身的气派,就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
  • He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句
7 ethnic jiAz3     
adj.人种的,种族的,异教徒的
参考例句:
  • This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏,这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
  • The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。
8 interactive KqZzFY     
adj.相互作用的,互相影响的,(电脑)交互的
参考例句:
  • The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
  • This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。
9 choreographer LVvyn     
n.编舞者
参考例句:
  • She is a leading professional belly dancer, choreographer, and teacher. 她既是杰出的专业肚皮舞演员,也是舞蹈设计者和老师。 来自辞典例句
  • It'stands aside, my choreographer of grace, and blesses each finger and toe. 它站在一旁,我优雅的舞蹈指导,并祝福每个指尖与脚尖。 来自互联网
10 velvet 5gqyO     
n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的
参考例句:
  • This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
  • The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。
11 costly 7zXxh     
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的
参考例句:
  • It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
  • This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用,左不过贵了些。
12 champagne iwBzh3     
n.香槟酒;微黄色
参考例句:
  • There were two glasses of champagne on the tray.托盘里有两杯香槟酒。
  • They sat there swilling champagne.他们坐在那里大喝香槟酒。
13 acting czRzoc     
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
参考例句:
  • Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她,她只是假装的。
  • During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。
14 warehouse 6h7wZ     
n.仓库;vt.存入仓库
参考例句:
  • We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
  • The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。
15 ward LhbwY     
n.守卫,监护,病房,行政区,由监护人或法院保护的人(尤指儿童);vt.守护,躲开
参考例句:
  • The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
  • During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时,我要点根火把,抵挡蚊虫。
16 squinting e26a97f9ad01e6beee241ce6dd6633a2     
斜视( squint的现在分词 ); 眯着眼睛; 瞟; 从小孔或缝隙里看
参考例句:
  • "More company," he said, squinting in the sun. "那边来人了,"他在阳光中眨巴着眼睛说。
  • Squinting against the morning sun, Faulcon examined the boy carefully. 对着早晨的太阳斜起眼睛,富尔康仔细地打量着那个年轻人。
17 random HT9xd     
adj.随机的;任意的;n.偶然的(或随便的)行动
参考例句:
  • The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
  • On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查,发现肉变质了。
18 billboard Ttrzj     
n.布告板,揭示栏,广告牌
参考例句:
  • He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
  • Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。
19 weaver LgWwd     
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。

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