世界著名口琴演奏家劳瑞·艾德勒的艺术人生

96 世界著名口琴演奏家劳瑞·艾德勒的艺术人生

PEOPLE IN AMERICA - September 16, 2001: Larry AdlerBy Paul Thompson

VOICE ONE:
I'm Doug Johnson.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Bob Doughty¹ with the VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today, we tell about a world famous musician, Larry Adler, who played the (1)harmonica. The harmonica, or mouth (2)organ, is a simple musical instrument. You (3)blow air into it and it produces sound. Most people consider it nothing but a child's (4)toy. Anyone can learn to play a few songs on a harmonica. It is not difficult.
In the hands of Larry Adler, however, the simple harmonica became an important musical (5)instrument.
((CUT ONE: IS TIME GOES BY?)
VOICE ONE:
Lawrence Cecil Adler was born February Tenth, Nineteen-Fourteen in Baltimore, Maryland. Music was always very important to Larry Adler. As a child, he sang (6)Jewish religious² songs in the (7)synagogue. He was (8)admitted to a famous music school in Baltimore to study the piano.
Larry Adler was not a student at the school for long. He was asked to leave because of a song he played at an important school (9)performance. He was (10)supposed to play a classical³ music piece. But the head teacher of the school had made the young Larry Adler angry. So, he played a silly popular song called Yes, We Have No Bananas. The head teacher became extremely⁴ angry. Larry Adler was (11)expelled from the school.
VOICE TWO:
That simple (12)incident tells a lot about Larry Adler. He was a (13)rebel. He did not like to follow orders from anyone. He lived his life the way he thought best. Perhaps that is why he chose a musical instrument that most people considered a toy. In fact, Larry Adler won a music (14)contest in Baltimore playing classical music with the harmonica. He entered the contest and (15)defeated four-hundred other young people by playing music written by Ludwig van Beethoven. The others played mostly simple (16)popular songs.
You must listen to his music to understand how serious an instrument the harmonica was for Larry Adler. Here he plays a (17)popular song called Blues⁵ in the Night.
((CUT TWO: BLUES IN THE NIGHT?)
VOICE ONE:
Larry Adler ran away from home when he was fourteen years old. He already knew he wanted to be a musician. He wanted to play the harmonica.
He arrived in New York City and went to see the popular singer Rudy Vallee. The man listened to him play. Then he said, Save your money because once they hear you, that is it. They will never want to hear you again.
However, Rudy Vallee did help Larry Adler find work. One of his first jobs was playing the harmonica for some of the first Mickey Mouse (18)Cartoons produced by Walt Disney.
VOICE TWO:
As a young man, Larry Adler did not know how to read music. He could listen to a record played a few times and then play the song with his harmonica. He could do this with extremely difficult songs.
Not being able to read music did not seem to harm his (19)career. He was already a famous musician when a friend told him that reading music would increase his understanding of what he was playing. Larry Adler learned⁶ to read music.
VOICE ONE:
Larry Adler met the famous music (20)composer George Gershwin at a party in New York. Mister⁷ Gershwin's famous Rhapsody in Blue,?was very popular. Friends asked the two men to play the famous work.
At first George Gershwin (21)refused. He did not think a harmonica should play his beautiful song. But friends said they should play, so Mister Gershwin agreed. When they were done, George Gershwin (22)praised Larry Adler's playing. He said it sounded almost as if he had written Rhapsody in Blue for Mister Adler and his harmonica.
VOICE TWO:
Several years later, George Gershwin used a (23)special (24)device called a recording⁸ piano to play and record Rhapsody in Blue.? After the famous composer's death, Larry Adler often played the harmonica with the recording piano of George Gershwin playing Rhapsody in Blue.? Mister Gershwin's sister (25)attended one of the performances. Later, she told Mister Adler, I could almost see him sitting there playing the piano.?
Listen as Larry Adler and George Gershwin play one of the most famous pieces of American music, Rhapsody in Blue.
((CUT THREE: RHAPSODY IN BLUE?)
VOICE ONE:
Larry Adler appeared in movies, produced records and performed around the world for many years. In Nineteen-Forty-Nine, he was asked to appear before a congressional (26)committee⁹ that was investigating¹⁰ Americans who were members of the (27)Communist¹¹ Party.
Mister Adler was in Britain at the time. He refused to return to the United¹² States and appear before the committee. He made his home in Britain and did not return to the United States for many years. Larry Adler was not a Communist, but he could not take orders from anyone, or any political¹³ party. The congressional committee had made him angry. He said later that was why he refused to appear.
VOICE TWO:
In recent years, Larry Adler became famous to a new group of young people. He appeared with many famous young musicians. He also (28)introduced the music of George Gershwin to younger (29)audiences.
Larry Adler's musical career began at the age of fourteen in Nineteen-Twenty-Eight. It ended with his death August Seventh, Two-Thousand-One. He was eighty-seven years old.
We leave you with Larry Adler playing another of George Gershwin's famous works¹⁴, I Got Rhythm¹⁵.
((CUT FOUR I GOT RHYTHM?)
VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written and produced by Paul Thompson. I'm Doug Johnson.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.
((CUT FIVE IS TIME GOES BY)

(1) harmonica[ hB:5mCnikE ]n.口琴, 玻璃或金属片的敲打乐器
(2) organ[ 5C:^En ]n.[机]元件, 机构, 机关, 机关报[乐]风琴, 管风琴, 嗓音[生物]
(3) blow[ blEu ]n.殴打, 突然的打击v.风吹, 吹气于, 叫, 喘气
(4) toy[ tCi ]n.玩具
(5) instrument[ 5instrumEnt ]n.工具, 手段, 器械, 器具, 手段
(6) Jewish[ 5dVu(:)iF ]adj.犹太人的, 犹太族的
(7) synagogue[ 5sinE^C^ ]n.犹太人集会, 犹太教会堂, 犹太教
(8) admit[ Ed5mit ]v.容许, 承认, 接纳
(9) performance[ pE5fC:mEns ]n.履行, 执行, 成绩, 性能, 表演, 演奏
(10) suppose[ sE5pEuz ]vt.推想, 假设, 猜想vi.料想conj.假使...结果会怎样
(11) expel[ iks5pel ]v.驱逐, 开除, 排出, 发射
(12) incident[ 5insidEnt ]n.事件, 事变adj.附带的, 易于发生的
(13) rebel[ 5rebEl ]n.造反者, 叛逆者, 反抗者, 叛乱者adj.造反的, 叛逆的, 反抗的v.
(14) contest[ 5kCntest ]n.论争, 竞赛v.,争论, 争辩, 竞赛, 争夺
(15) defeat[ di5fi:t ]n.击败, 战胜, 失败vt.击败, 战胜, 使失败, 挫折v.击败
(16) popular[ 5pCpjulE ]adj.通俗的, 流行的, 受欢迎的
(17) popular[ 5pCpjulE ]adj.通俗的, 流行的, 受欢迎的
(18) cartoon[ kB:5tu:n ]n.(报刊上的)政治性漫画, 讽刺画, 卡通画, 漫画
(19) career[ kE5riE ]n.(原意：道路, 轨道)事业, 生涯, 速度
(20) composer[ kCm5pEuzE ]n.作家, 作曲家, 设计者, 著作者
(21) refuse[ ri5fju:z ]vt.拒绝, 谢绝n.废物, 垃圾
(22) praise[ preiz ]vt.赞扬, 歌颂, 称赞n.赞扬, 赞美的话, 赞美, 荣耀, 称赞
(23) special[ 5speFEl ]n.特派员, 专车, 专刊adj.特别的, 特殊的, 专门的, 专用的
(24) device[ di5vais ]n.装置, 设计, 图案, 策略, 发明物, 设备
(25) attend[ E5tend ]vt.出席, 参加, 照顾, 护理, 注意vi.专心, 留意
(26) committee[ kE5miti ]n.委员会
(27) communist[ 5kCmjunist ]n.共产主义者, 共产党员adj.共产主义者的
(28) introduce[ 7intrE5dju:s ]vt.介绍, 传入, 引进, 提出
(29) audience[ 5C:djEns ]n.听众, 观众, 接见, 拜见

 

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 religious   

adj.宗教性的，虔诚的，宗教上的；n.修道士，出家人

参考例句：

• She is very religious person who goes to church every Sunday.她十分虔诚，每个星期天都上教堂。
• It is hard for me to reject religious beliefs.要我抛弃自己的宗教信仰是困难的。

3 classical   

adj.古典的；古典文学的；正统派的；古典主义的

参考例句：

• This classical poem is hard to understand.这首古诗很费解。
• She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。

4 extremely   

adv.极其，非常，极度

参考例句：

• The film is extremely good,I just cannot miss it.这部电影太精彩了，我非看不可。
• The old man was extremely difficult to get along with.这个老人极难相与。

5 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

6 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

7 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

8 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

9 committee   

n.委员会，全体委员

参考例句：

• We referred the matter back to the Finance Committee.我们把这事转回给财政委员会处理。
• I am going to speak out against the committee's decision.我打算直言反对委员会的决定。

10 investigating   

v.调查( investigate的现在分词 )；审查；侦查；研究

参考例句：

• Police are investigating the theft of computers from the company's offices. 警方正在调查这家公司办公室里的计算机失窃案。
• The police are investigating fraudulent claims for fire damage. 警方正在调查伪造的火灾索赔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 communist   

n.共产主义者，共产党员；adj.共产主义的，共产党员的

参考例句：

• In the following year he joined the Communist Party.第二年他入了共产党。
• The People's Daily is the organ of the Chinese Communist Party.《人民日报》是中国共产党的党报。

12 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

13 political   

adj.政治上的，政党的，政略性的，政治的

参考例句：

• He was forced to leave his homeland for political reasons.因为政治原因他被迫离开自己的祖国。
• In ideas those two political parties are worlds apart.那两个政党在思想上有巨大分歧。

14 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

15 rhythm   

n.韵律；节奏

参考例句：

• He has an ear for the rhythm of Irish speech.他对爱尔兰语的节奏很敏感。
• His poem has a pleasing rhythm.他的诗有和谐的韵律。