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VOA慢速英语2010-THIS IS AMERICA - Celebrating National Po

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FAITH LAPIDUS: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.

STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember. April is National Poetry Month in the United States. This year is the fifteenth celebration of the event. We tell about how America will be celebrating poetry this month.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Poets, schools, publishers, booksellers and libraries will hold readings, competitions, book displays, educational events and other activities in honor of National Poetry Month. They will celebrate poetry and its important place in American culture.

Kay Ryan

The Academy of American Poets created National Poetry Month based on the success of Black History Month. The Academy’s goals are to bring attention to the great work of poets in the past and today. The Academy also wants Americans to know the pleasure of reading poetry. And it wants poetry to be a more important part of school educational programs. It also hopes to persuade the public to buy more poetry books and donors2 to help support poetry organizations.

STEVE EMBER: The United States Library of Congress appoints an official poet, called the Poet Laureate, every one to two years. Many of them have created new ways to celebrate National Poetry Month.

Robert Pinsky

For example, in April of nineteen ninety-eight, Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky launched the Favorite Poem Project. He asked Americans to send in their favorite poems. Thousands of men, women and children did. The Favorite Poem Project collected video of Americans from all backgrounds, ages and places reading their favorite poems and talking about them.

Seph Rodney, a photographer in California, was one of them. Here he reads part of Sylvia’s Plath’s poem, “Nick and the Candlestick.”

FAITH LAPIDUS: Mister Rodney says he had never considered poetry a very real way of using language. He thought of it as high-minded or self-important.

But, then, he says he came home one night feeling lonely and upset. He had been on an unsuccessful date with a girl he really liked. He picked up a book of Plath’s poems and began to read.

SEPH RODNEY: “It was powerful. It was rough. It was bitter. It was caustic3. It was, at the same time, really urgent about a need for love.”

Mister Rodney says he was surprised that this poet who came, in his words, from a very well-heeled New England existence, could move him, a Jamaican immigrant man.

SEPH RODNEY:“You could hardly get two people in the world more distant in terms of social, economic, intellectual, and religious realities. But she spoke4 to me…she spoke to me. She spoke, it seems, directly to my life.”

FAITH LAPIDUS: Mister Rodney said that Sylvia Plath helped open up the wider world of poetry to him.

The Favorite Poem Project produced two books of poems, as well as a DVD. You can see more Americans reading and talking about poetry on the Web site, www.favoritepoem.org. The Favorite Poem Project also has teaching materials.

STEVE EMBER: Poet Laureate Ted1 Kooser also had ideas about expanding the reach of poetry. He served as Poet Laureate from two thousand four to two thousand six. Mister Kooser has family in the news business. So his poetry project was connected to the media. Ted Kooser started a weekly poetry column he provided free to newspapers and online media. He uses poems by current poets. Most of the poems are short and not complex.

Mister Kooser’s project is called American Life in Poetry. He launched it in two thousand five with support from the Poetry Foundation. He said he wanted to show average Americans that there is something in poetry for them.

Ted Kooser says there was a time when poetry was a usual feature in newspapers. People would cut out poems they liked and save them.

In a recent American Life in Poetry column, he writes about the poem “Betrayal” by Andrea Hollander Budy. He says the poet shows a married couple suffering from things done and undone5. Here is part of the poem.

(READER)

FAITH LAPIDUS: The current Poet Laureate, Kay Ryan, opened this year’s National Poetry Month April first with a videoconference call to four American community colleges. The event was broadcast live on the Internet. April first is National Community College Poetry Day.

Miz Ryan has been teaching English in community colleges for thirty years. She made community colleges the centerpiece of her poetry project. She calls it Poetry for the Mind’s Joy. It includes an online poetry page. Miz Ryan also helped organize a poetry writing competition among community college students.

Kay Ryan said she wanted to celebrate the fact that all over America, community colleges save lives and minds. And, she says, they do it with very little financial support.

She says she cannot think of a more efficient, hopeful or fair machine, except maybe the bicycle.

STEVE EMBER: The Community College Humanities Association teamed with Miz Ryan and the Library of Congress for Poetry for the Mind’s Joy. David Berry is executive director of the association. He also teaches history at Essex County College in Newark, New Jersey6. Mister Berry says at least one hundred ten community colleges across the nation took part in the poetry competition. A winning poem was chosen from each school.

One of the winners is nineteen year old Nicholas Godfrey from Rome, Georgia. He has been studying for two years at Georgia Highlands Community College. Next, he will attend the University of Georgia to continue writing and graduate with a degree in English.

NICHOLAS GODFREY: “Writing’s something I’ve always done. My imagination kind of turned into words, and I’d start putting those words on a page.”

Here Nicholas Godfrey reads his winning poem “When Simplicity7 Dies.”

FATIH LAPIDUS: Lena Reyna is a student in Stockton, California. She will graduate from the two-year college, San Joaquin Delta8, in May. San Francisco State University has already accepted Miz Reyna for the fall. But she is waiting to hear from two other schools, including her first choice, the University of California at Berkeley. Lena Reyna says her parents introduced her to poetry at a young age.

LENA REYNA: “I had an Edgar Allan Poe coloring book [laughs] when I was like five. And, as well as Shakespeare and theater in the community.”

This is Lena Reyna reading part of her winning poem, “The Weight of Words in Reverse.”

(LENA REYNA)

FAITH LAPIDUS: The Library of Congress is planning to post the winning poems as an online collection on its Poetry for the Mind’s Joy Web site. Perhaps a future Poet Laureate is among the student writers.

LENA RENYA: “I want to continue putting poetry out there. I think it’s a very powerful form of expression. There was a time when poetry was really cool…and I want to bring that back again.”

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: This program was written and produced by Caty Weaver9. Brianna Blake was our reader. I’m Steve Ember.

FAITH LAPIDUS: And I’m Faith Lapidus. You can find a link to the Library of Congress’ poetry site at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also comment on our programs. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
 


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 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。
2 donors 89b49c2bd44d6d6906d17dca7315044b     
n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 );献血者;捐血者;器官捐献者
参考例句:
  • Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去,请给我们发电子邮件。
  • About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 caustic 9rGzb     
adj.刻薄的,腐蚀性的
参考例句:
  • He opened his mouth to make a caustic retort.他张嘴开始进行刻薄的反击。
  • He enjoys making caustic remarks about other people.他喜欢挖苦别人。
4 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
5 undone JfJz6l     
a.未做完的,未完成的
参考例句:
  • He left nothing undone that needed attention.所有需要注意的事他都注意到了。
6 jersey Lp5zzo     
n.运动衫
参考例句:
  • He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
  • They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致,都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。
7 simplicity Vryyv     
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯
参考例句:
  • She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
  • The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。
8 delta gxvxZ     
n.(流的)角洲
参考例句:
  • He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
  • The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔,形成了一个三角洲。
9 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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