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Memories from the Woodstock Music Festival, 50 Years Later

时间:2019-08-18 10:07:00

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(单词翻译)

 

Many Americans are remembering the Woodstock music festival, which took place 50 years ago this week.

Hundreds of thousands of people traveled to New York’s farm country for the event. Some of those attending drove there by car and then walked on foot. Others arrived by helicopter.

The attendees danced at sunrise on a wet hillside and tried hard to avoid heavy rainfall. They slept little, called their parents to tell them they were safe and stood in wonder at the total number of festival goers.

By the show’s end, the attendees left behind wet clothes, bedding and other belongings1. But they also gained a sense of community from having been part of one of the most famous events in American music history.

Woodstock took place about 130 kilometers northwest of New York City on land owned by farmer Max Yasgur. Some of the most popular and influential2 musicians of that period performed for the crowd. But the lasting3 story of Woodstock is that over 400,000 people came to the farm and lived there for four days without causing a disaster.

Fifty years later, memories of the wild weekend remain strong among people who were there to watch and those who came to perform.

One of the more common memories attendees share is how difficult it was to get to the festival.

Ilene Marder was 18-years-old in the summer of 1969. She traveled to the show from her home in New York City. She told the Associated Press that people were leaving their cars in the middle of the road and walking to the festival. Many just refused to wait in line.

“There was an immediate5 sense that something was happening that never happened before,” she said.

Singer Nancy Nevin’s band, Sweetwater, was supposed to be the opening act at Woodstock, but got caught in traffic. Luckily, the group was able to find someone working the event who provided6 a faster method of transportation: a helicopter.

Nevin remembers the first time she saw the crowd from above.

“It didn’t even look like a crowd, she said. “It didn’t even look like people, it was a big spread, multi-colored as far as you can see.”

Kevin Rheden was also 18 at the time, but lived in the Hudson River Valley. He said that everywhere people were smiling, and everything felt peaceful.

“I can’t describe it except to say that the hillside was just like a waterfall of love,” Rheden said. “It’s like I’m not alone. There are other people out there that think like me, dress like me, look like me and live like me.”

David Crosby of the musical group Crosby, Stills & Nash remembers the behavior of individuals he saw when he was not performing. He says the sight of people sharing food gave him hope. This was especially important, he said, because it was just a year after the assassinations7 of Senator8 Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy’s brother, had been killed six years earlier. In addition, the United States was also several years into the Vietnam War.

“There is the significant9 thing,” said Crosby, remembering Woodstock. “For a minute, we were hopeful. … For a minute, we were behaving like decent10 human beings.”

Even with the peaceful nature of the festival, little went as planned. At first, it was meant to be an event that people had to pay to attend. But fences came down and the show became free. The concert ran later than expected. Food was hard to find. And it rained.

Lighting11 director Chip Monck was told by Woodstock organizer Michael Lang that he had an extra job: hosting the show. The organizers had forgotten to pay someone to do so.

“Michael just … said, ‘Oh, by the way, … you’re it because you don’t have anything to do in the daytime,’” Monck remembered.

Jorma Kaukonen and his band Jefferson Airplane arrived Saturday and were to perform that night. They ended up playing on Sunday.

Ted4 Neumann, then a college student, said: “It was just one (act) after another. Just talking to each other in the field and saying, ‘Well, it can’t get any better than that.’ And then the next thing seemed even better.

More than 30 acts performed, and a few had career-defining events. But as the concert ran into Monday morning, many missed what would become widely considered one of guitar player Jimi Hendrix’s best performances ever.

Photographer Henry Diltz remembers it well.

“I woke up Monday morning to ... “Ladies and gentlemen, Jimi Hendrix,” he said. “When he played ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ ... I remember my first thought was, ‘Why is he playing that? That’s the song of the government that we hate for trying to send us off to war ... That’s their song. No, wait a minute. That’s our song. He’s reclaiming12 it for us.’ ... It went out from these huge speakers and it echoed13 against the … hillside because many people had left. … Everyone was standing14 there with their mouths open.”

The people who left behind a dirty, worn hillside knew they had been part of a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Max Yasgur, the farmer who owned the land where Woodstock took place, died in 1973. Mary Miller15 is one of his relatives. She says the festival changed him in many ways.

“He became more reflective and because he became more known, people would reach out to him ... to reunite families, kids that had run away, things like that, she said. “He spent his last years doing a lot of that.”

Kevin Rheden says he found a sense of meaning at the festival.

“I knew everything was gonna be all right no matter what I did or where I was going to go,” he said. “It wasn’t just my long hair or the clothes that I wore. It was something in my soul that I connected with other people. It’s a memory that I have and the older I get, things fade. But that feeling inside me has not left me.”

I’m Pete Musto.

and I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

Words in This Story

dress – v. to put on or wear a given type or style of clothes

assassination(s) – n. the act of killing16 someone, such as a famous or important person, usually for political reasons

decent – adj. having or showing respect for other people, considered right and good, and honest

host(ing) – v. act as the leader and representative of an event

photographer – n. a person who takes pictures using a camera as their job

reclaim(ing) – v. to get back something that was lost or taken away

echo(ed) – v. to fill a space or area with sounds

reflective – adj. thinking carefully about something

soul – n. a person’s deeply felt moral17 and emotional18 nature

fade – v. to become weaker


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 belongings oy6zMv     
n.私人物品,私人财物
参考例句:
  • I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
  • Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。
2 influential l7oxK     
adj.有影响的,有权势的
参考例句:
  • He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
  • He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。
3 lasting IpCz02     
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持
参考例句:
  • The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
  • We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。
4 ted 9gazhs     
vt.翻晒,撒,撒开
参考例句:
  • The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
  • She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。
5 immediate aapxh     
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
参考例句:
  • His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
  • We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
6 provided PkNzng     
conj.假如,若是;adj.预备好的,由...供给的
参考例句:
  • Provided it's fine we will have a pleasant holiday.如果天气良好,我们的假日将过得非常愉快。
  • I will come provided that it's not raining tomorrow.如果明天不下雨,我就来。
7 assassinations 66ad8b4a9ceb5b662b6302d786f9a24d     
n.暗杀( assassination的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Most anarchist assassinations were bungled because of haste or spontaneity, in his view. 在他看来,无政府主义者搞的许多刺杀都没成功就是因为匆忙和自发行动。 来自辞典例句
  • Assassinations by Israelis of alleged terrorists habitually kill nearby women and children. 在以色列,自称恐怖分子的炸弹自杀者杀害靠近自己的以色列妇女和儿童。 来自互联网
8 senator UzJwm     
n.参议员,评议员
参考例句:
  • The senator urged against the adoption of the measure.那参议员极力反对采取这项措施。
  • The senator's speech hit at government spending.参议员的讲话批评了政府的开支。
9 significant lyhwH     
adj.相当数量的;意义重大的;意味深长的
参考例句:
  • Your success today may be significant for your whole future.你今天的成功对你的整个未来可能是重要的。
  • She cast him a significant smile.她向他投去意味深长的一笑。
10 decent mx6xr     
adj.象样的,不错的,体面的,正派的,恰当的
参考例句:
  • We want to raise our children to be decent men and women.我们盼望把孩子们培养成优秀人才。
  • There isn't even a decent table in this room.这屋里连张像样的桌子也没有。
11 lighting CpszPL     
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光
参考例句:
  • The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
  • The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。
12 reclaiming 4b89b3418ec2ab3c547e204ac2c4a68e     
v.开拓( reclaim的现在分词 );要求收回;从废料中回收(有用的材料);挽救
参考例句:
  • People here are reclaiming land from the sea. 这儿的人们正在填海拓地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • How could such a man need reclaiming? 这么一个了不起的人怎么还需要别人拯救呢? 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
13 echoed b98e2ddefe638c4665b15b4df9c5e432     
重复,随声附和( echo的过去式和过去分词 ); 类似; 发射(声音等); 发出回声
参考例句:
  • Their shouts re-echoed through the darkness. 他们的喊声回荡在黑暗中。
  • Their footsteps echoed in the silence. 他们的脚步声在一片寂静中回荡着。
14 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
15 miller ZD6xf     
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。
16 killing kpBziQ     
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
参考例句:
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
17 moral 36oz9     
adj.道德(上)的,有道德的;n.品行,寓意,道德
参考例句:
  • Moral beauty ought to be ranked above all other beauty.品德之美应列于其他美之上。
  • He deceived us into believing that he could give us moral support.他骗得我们相信他能给我们道义上的支持。
18 emotional 3pDxl     
adj.令人动情的;易动感情的;感情(上)的
参考例句:
  • Emotional people don't stop to calculate.感情容易冲动的人做事往往不加考虑。
  • This is an emotional scene in the play.这是剧中动人的一幕。

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