VOA慢速英语20060106b

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - R.C. Gorman: Remembering the 'Picasso of American Painters'By Shelley Gollust and Caty Weaver²

Broadcast: Friday, January 06, 2006

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HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:

We hear music by a jazz group 鈥?nswer a question about Pepsi-Cola 鈥?nd tell about a Native American artist.

R. C. Gorman

The painter R.C. Gorman was once called the Picasso of American Painters. His beautiful representations³ of Native American women in traditional clothing made him famous. The artist died recently. Faith Lapidus tells about his life and work.


R.C. Gorman

FAITH LAPIDUS: Rudolph Carl Gorman was born on Navajo tribal⁴ land in Chinle, Arizona. He was called R.C. from birth in either nineteen thirty-two or thirty-three. The artist said he was never sure exactly how old he was.

R.C.'s father, Carl Gorman, was also a painter. But he was more famous for his work as a code talker during World War Two. He was one of about thirty Navajo who developed a secret communication system with their native language. It permitted commanders to pass battle plans and other information by radio without knowledge by the enemy.

R.C. helped work with the family's farm animals as a young boy in Canyon⁵ de Chelley [pronounced shay]. He said he would draw on rocks and in the dirt. He served in the United States Navy before college. Then he studied art and literature at Northern Arizona University and in Mexico. He was greatly influenced by the artists of that country, including Diego Rivera.

Gorman first became successful after some art shows in the late nineteen fifties. He was living in San Francisco, California at the time. He moved a few years later to Taos, New Mexico. He opened an art gallery there in nineteen sixty-eight. He was the first American Indian to own one.

R.C. Gorman was most famous for his pictures of Native women. His representations came from clean lines and large blocks of color. There were few details in most paintings. One of his paintings would show a moon, a mountain and a woman sitting beneath them. Or a beautiful brown face and neck behind a large bouquet⁶ of bright yellow flowers.


Moon Flower

R.C. Gorman was not only a painter. He also was a sculptor⁷. And he wrote books about art and cooking. He died in November in Albuquerque, New Mexico. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson called Gorman a giant in the arts. He said the painter was a great spokesman⁸ for the Navajo Nation and for artists around the world.

Pepsi-Cola

HOST: Our question this week comes from a listener in Burma. Ko maw gyi wants to know the history of the soft drink Pepsi-Cola.


pepsi logo 150 eng 7aug03.jpg

Pepsi Cola started in a drug store in New Bern, North Carolina in eighteen ninety-six. At the time, most drug stores included a long, high, narrow table where people could gather socially. They could order sweet drinks called sodas¹⁰.

Caleb Bradham was the pharmacist at the drug store in New Bern. He prepared medicines for patients. He also was well known for his special drinks. Mister Bradham wanted to make a drink that tasted good, could increase a person's energy and help the body process food.

The pharmacist created a mixture of bubbly water, sugar, vanilla¹¹, oils and kola nuts and tried it out on the New Bern community. The drink became very popular. For a while, it was known simply as Brad's Drink.

Mister Bradham re-named it Pepsi-Cola in eighteen ninety-eight. Demand for the drink grew. Drugstores in nearby towns began to order large amounts of the syrup¹² used to make the drink. Mister Bradham realized it was time to build a whole company around the drink.

In nineteen-oh-three, the pharmacist received legal ownership of the name Pepsi-Cola from the United States government. He moved the soft drink production to a large building in New Bern. In his first year as Pepsi-Cola owner, Mister Bradham sold more than thirty thousand liters of syrup.

The former pharmacist did well in business for many years. By nineteen fifteen Pepsi-Cola was worth more than one million dollars in sales and property.

But World War One affected¹³ the soda⁹ industry. When the war ended, the price of sugar increased. Mister Bradham bought huge amounts of sugar because he thought the price would go higher. But then the price of sugar fell to almost nothing. This resulted in huge losses for the Pepsi-Cola Company. Caleb Bradham lost his company in nineteen twenty-three.

Pepsi-Cola has had several owners since that time. Today, it is part of a larger group of companies called PepsiCo. Last month, PepsiCo made history. For the first time since its creation¹⁴, the value of the company's stock was worth more than that of its main competitor, the Coca-Cola company.

The Brad Mehldau Trio

HOST: The Brad Mehldau Trio is a jazz music group. Last September, the production company Nonesuch released a collection of the group's recordings¹⁵. The collection, or album, is called Day is Done. The album has been popular in the United States. Pat Bodnar tells us more.


Brad Mehldau Trio

PAT BODNAR: Brad Mehldau plays piano. Larry Grenadier plays bass¹⁶ and Jeff Ballard plays drums. Critics say Day is Done is filled with music that represents changing color, emotion and meaning. Several of the pieces are cover songs. They are jazz versions of famous songs written and performed by other artists. These include songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Burt Bacharach and the British group Radiohead.

Here is an example. Brad Mehldau plays his version of the Beatles' song, Martha My Dear.

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Brad Mehldau has recorded ten albums in the past ten years. He performs by himself or with the two other members of his group. He also wrote two songs for Day is Done. This one is called Turtle Town.

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The Brad Mehldau Trio has performed several times in Europe during the past three months. It will also perform soon in the United States and Canada. We leave you with the group's version of a song written by Red Evans and David Mann and first recorded in the nineteen fifties. The song is called No Moon at All.

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HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program this week.

Our show was written by Shelley Gollust and Caty Weaver, who was also our producer.

Send your questions about American life to [email protected]. Please include your full name and mailing address. Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

1 mosaic   

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 weaver   

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。

3 representations   

n.陈述，投诉，抗议；表现( representation的名词复数 )；陈述；表现…的事物；有代理人

参考例句：

• Naturally, we tend to use old representations in our new environments. 同样很自然的，在新的环境里，我们习惯于采用旧的表达方式。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• They made representations to the college cook about the bad food. 他们向学校厨师抗议伙食太差。 来自辞典例句

4 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

5 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

6 bouquet   

n.花束，酒香

参考例句：

• This wine has a rich bouquet.这种葡萄酒有浓郁的香气。
• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。

7 sculptor   

n.雕刻家，雕刻家

参考例句：

• A sculptor forms her material.雕塑家把材料塑造成雕塑品。
• The sculptor rounded the clay into a sphere.那位雕塑家把黏土做成了一个球状。

8 spokesman   

n.发言人，代言人

参考例句：

• The government spokesman gave a quick briefing to the reporters.政府发言人向记者们作了情况简介。
• They drew lots to decide who should be their spokesman.他们抽签决定谁是他们的发言人。

9 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

10 sodas   

n.苏打( soda的名词复数 )；碱；苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• There are plenty of sodas in the refrigerator. 冰箱里有很多碳酸饮料。 来自辞典例句
• Two whisky and sodas, please. 请来两杯威士忌苏打。 来自辞典例句

11 vanilla   

n.香子兰，香草

参考例句：

• He used to love milk flavoured with vanilla.他过去常爱喝带香草味的牛奶。
• I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.我在馅饼里加了一块香草冰激凌。

12 syrup   

n.糖浆，糖水

参考例句：

• I skimmed the foam from the boiling syrup.我撇去了煮沸糖浆上的泡沫。
• Tinned fruit usually has a lot of syrup with it.罐头水果通常都有许多糖浆。

13 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

14 creation   

n.创造，创造的作品，产物，宇宙，天地万物

参考例句：

• Language is the most important mental creation of man.语言是人类头脑最重要的产物。
• The creation of new playgrounds will benefit the local children.新游戏场的建立将有益于当地的儿童。

15 recordings   

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

16 bass   

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。