|
13 菲茨杰拉德·埃拉的明星之路
DATE=3-11-01
TITLE=PEOPLE IN AMERICA #1812 - ELLA FITZGERALD
BYLINE=NANCY STEINBACH
Anncr:
Now, the voa special english program, people in america. Today, shirley griffith and steve ember tell about jazz singer, ella fitzgerald. She was known as America's first lady of song.
((cut 1: how high the moon))
Voice one:
The year was nineteen-thirty-three. The place was new york city. Ella fitzgerald was sixteen years old. She had entered a (1)competition at the apollo theater in (2)harlem. She was going to dance. But she had just watched two dancers perform. They were better dancers than she.
So, instead of dancing, she sang a song called "judy." people watching the competition urged her to sing another song. She did. She won first prize - twenty-five dollars.
That competition at the apollo theater changed ella fitzgerald's life forever. Band leader chick webb was watching the competition. He hired ella to sing with his band. He taught her about singing in public. He even showed her what kind of clothes to wear. In three years, she had her first hit (3)record, "a-tisket-a-tasket":
((cut 2: a-tisket-a-tasket))
Voice two:
Ella fitzgerald was born in the southern city of newport news, virginia in nineteen-seventeen. Her father left soon after her birth. Her mother took ella and moved to new york city. Ella's mother died when ella was fifteen years old. The next year, ella started singing with chick webb's band. She stayed with chick webb until he died in nineteen-thirty-nine. Ella kept his band together after he died until world war two started. Then most of the band (4)members joined the armed forces. While she was with the band, ella recorded almost one-hundred-fifty songs.
Voice one:
Ella fitzgerald was greatly influenced by the (5)experimental music of charlie (6)parker and (7)dizzy gillespie. It was called be-bop. She used be-bop (8)rhythms in her singing. In nineteen-forty-five, she recorded the song "flying home," using the be-bop method known as 'scat'. In scat, the singer's voice sounds like another (9)instrument in the (10)orchestra. (11)critics say it was the most (12)influential jazz record of the time.
((cut 3: flying home))
Voice two:
In nineteen-forty-nine, jazz musician (13)norman granz invited her to join his band. It was with his band in berlin, germany in nineteen-sixty that ella sang a famous song in a very different way. A man asked her if she knew the song "mack the knife." ella said she had heard it a few times but the band did not have the music for it. She said she would try to sing it anyway. This recording shows how she continued to sing "mack the knife" when she did not remember the words. The people listening loved it.
((cut 4: mack the knife))
Voice one:
Norman granz later became her (14)manager. He started a new recording company just for her. It was his idea for ella to record the now famous (15)series of record albums called the 'songbooks'. On each record, she sang works of a different songwriter. She recorded songbooks of the music of cole porter, irving berlin, duke ellington, jerome kern, johnny mercer and harold arlen. Critics say the best songbook is ella singing the songs of george and ira gershwin. Ira gershwin reportedly said, "i never knew how good our songs were until i heard ella fitzgerald sing them. Here, she sings the gershwin song, "i got rhythm":
((cut 5: i got rhythm))
Voice two:
Ella fitzgerald also appeared in movies and on (16)television. She became popular internationally. She performed in concerts around the world sometimes forty weeks a year. She also recorded for different record companies. In the nineteen-sixties, she began to sing more modern songs such as those written by the (17)beatles and burt bacharach. But she was not very successful with that kind of (18)popular music. She returned to jazz in nineteen-seventy-three, again with norman granz. She also began (19)performing with (20)symphony (21)orchestras.
Voice one:
Ella fitzgerald was married two times. Both marriages ended in divorce. She raised three children who were not her own.
Ella lived quietly in beverly hills, california. Throughout her life she was a very (22)private person. She wanted to be known only for her music. Her friends included members of the duke ellington band, count basie's band, and singers like sarah vaughn and peggy lee.
Ella fitzgerald began to have health problems during the nineteen-seventies. She had the disease (23)diabetes which caused problems with her eyes. She had a heart operation in nineteen-eighty-six. In nineteen-ninety-three, the effects of diabetes led to operations to remove both her legs. She died june fifteenth, nineteen-ninety-six.
Voice two:
People around the world loved ella fitgerald's joyful singing. Critics said she had raised the american popular song to the level of art. She won a great many awards. She received the national medal of the arts and a kennedy center honor for lifetime work. The university of maryland named a performing arts center for her.
Ella fitzgerald's wonderful voice lives on in her two-hundred-fifty (24)albums. Thirteen times she won grammy awards given each year for the best recordings. Her last (25)grammy was for the nineteen-ninety record: "all that jazz":
((cut 6: something from all that jazz))
Anncr:
This special english program was written by nancy steinbach. The announcers were shirley griffith and steve ember. I'm sarah long. Listen again next week for another people in america program on the voice of america.
(1) competition[ kCmpi5tiFEn ]n.竞争, 竞赛
(2) harle[hB:l]n.麻的纤维, 羽上的细毛
(3) record[ 5rekC:d ]n.履历, 档案, 诉状, 最高纪录, 唱片vt.记录, 标明, 将...录音vi.录音,
(4) member[ 5membE ]n.成员, 会员, 议员, (人或动, 植物的)一部分, [语]子句, 成分,
(5) experimental[ eks7peri5mentl ]adj.实验的, 根据实验的
(6) parker停放车辆的人
(7) dizzy[ 5dizi ]adj.(指人)晕眩的, 昏乱的, (指地点, 情况)使人晕眩的
(8) rhythm[ 5riTEm, 5riWEm ]n.节奏, 韵律
(9) instrument[ 5instrumEnt ]n.工具, 手段, 器械, 器具, 手段
(10) orchestra[ 5C:kistrE, -kes- ]n.管弦乐队, 乐队演奏处
(11) critic[ 5kritik ]n.批评家, 评论家, 吹毛求疵者
(12) influential[ 7influ5enFEl ]adj.有影响的, 有势力的
(13) Norman[ 5nC:mEn ]n.法国诺曼第人adj.诺曼第的, 诺曼第人[语]的
(14) manager[ 5mAnidVE ]n.经理, 管理人员, 管理器
(15) series[ 5siEri:z ]n.连续, 系列, 丛书, 级数
(16) [ 5teliviVEn ]n.电视, 电视机, 电机学, 电视广播事业television
(17) Beatles[ 5bi:tlz ]n.披头士(甲壳虫)合唱队
(18) popular[ 5pCpjulE ]adj.通俗的, 流行的, 受欢迎的
(19) perform[ pE5fC:m ]vt.履行, 执行, 表演, 演出v.完成任务
(20) symphony[ 5simfEni ]n.交响乐, 交响曲
(21) orchestra[ 5C:kistrE, -kes- ]n.管弦乐队, 乐队演奏处
(22) private[ 5praivit ]adj.私人的, 私有的, 私营的, 秘密的n.士兵
(23) diabetes[ 7daiE5bi:ti:z, -ti:s ]n.[医] 糖尿病, 多尿症
(24) album[ 5AlbEm ]n.集邮本, 照相簿, 签名纪念册
(25) Grammy[`^rAmI]n.格莱美奖(美国镀金唱片奖，一年一度地奖励录音工业中有特别 成就的奖，如奖给灌制唱片方面成绩卓著者的奖)
|