VOA慢速英语20060821b

THIS IS AMERICA - MTV at 25: How 'Music Television' Changed Its Tune¹ With the TimesBy Sarah Randle and produced by Caty Weaver²

Broadcast: Monday, August 21, 2006

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:


MTV

And I'm Steve Ember. Some people love it. Some think it ruins young minds. And some remember the days when it was all music. This week our subject is twenty-five years of Music Television -- better known as MTV.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

MTV arrived in the early morning hours of August first, nineteen eighty-one. At one minute after twelve it played Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles.

MTV was one of the first specialized³ channels on American television. People could watch artists perform popular songs in videos. The network played music videos all day long.

But at first only a few thousand people could watch MTV. It was offered on cable television only in New Jersey⁴. Even the people who worked at MTV had to go to New Jersey if they wanted to see it on television.

VOICE TWO:


MTV News

In its early years, MTV was a lot like radio with pictures. Radio stations had DJs, disk jockeys; MTV had VJs, video jockeys. The VJs spoke⁵ to the audience between videos.

Twenty-five years ago, the music industry did not produce a great many videos. Some people got tired of seeing MTV play the same ones over and over again.

Also, some people criticized MTV in its early years because it rarely showed videos by black artists. The network said there were very few choices. In any case, the situation began to change with help from an unusual video. It appeared for the first time in December of nineteen eighty-three.

VOICE ONE:

Most videos showed rock bands singing and playing instruments. But this one was made to look like a scary movie, complete with zombies risen from the dead.

A young man leads the zombies in dance as he sings -- and becomes one of the undead himself.

The young man was Michael Jackson. And this was the video for the title song of his album Thriller⁶. It was fourteen minutes long, more like a short film than a video.

Hollywood movie director John Landis helped create it. The costly⁷ effort showed that videos were becoming an important part of the music industry. The video helped make Thriller one of the top-selling albums of all time.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Some musical artists were less than thrilled with the video success of performers like Michael Jackson and Madonna. They thought MTV made the music industry too centered on looks and image and not enough on making good songs.

(MUSIC)

One band that criticized MTV was the Dead Kennedys. In nineteen eighty-five they had a song called MTV 鈥?Get off the Air.

(MUSIC)

Some other bands chose not to make videos. This was their way to protest the influence of MTV. But MTV became more and more popular.

VOICE ONE

Rock stars were not the only people to criticize MTV. Since the beginning, many people saw it as a bad influence on children. They said MTV showed a world without morals or values and full of sex and drugs.

From the beginning, MTV edited⁸ bad words out of songs and would not show some kinds of images. Then, in the nineteen nineties, it began to do more about its own image. MTV created new programs and campaigns to inform young people about serious issues. There were shows about AIDS, poverty, racism⁹, and violence at home.

VOICE TWO:

MTV also began to urge young people to vote and expanded its political reporting. In nineteen ninety-four, President Bill Clinton answered questions from a group of young people on MTV. There were thoughtful questions, but one teenager asked him about his choice of underwear¹⁰: boxers¹¹ or briefs. Usually briefs, the president answered.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen ninety-one, MTV began a show called The Real World. The Real World brought seven young people to live together in New York and have their lives videotaped. The success of the show helps explain the current popularity¹² of reality programs on television.

The Real World also started a trend on MTV. Instead of showing mostly music videos, it began to show more of other kinds of programming. These included not only reality shows but also cartoons and game shows. Today, MTV shows many more hours of these programs than it does of music videos.

But every year MTV honors the best music videos. The two thousand six MTV Video Music Awards will be presented at Radio City Music Hall in New York on August thirty-first.

VOICE TWO:

MTV is a group of networks owned by Viacom, a major media company in the United States. MTV produces programs in many different languages and in many different countries. Some shows have worldwide popularity -- like the reality show Pimp My Ride. The host is the rapper and actor known as Xzibit. Average people are chosen to have their cars made to look really showy.

VOICE ONE:

Not everyone is happy with the way MTV has changed. Many older fans would like to see less of shows like Pimp My Ride and more of the music television that gave MTV its name. They say things like, Remember when there was music on MTV?

You can still find music on the different MTV channels and networks. You can also find programs about how famous musicians live, or lived, their lives. Some people like to say that MTV today is no better or worse than it used to be, only different.

VOICE TWO:

MTV has been setting up operations outside of the United States for years. It now broadcasts in more than one hundred and sixty other countries.

MTV studies what is popular in each new country it enters. This research helps guide local programs. For example, more people in Germany ride bicycles than drive cars. So, instead of Pimp My Ride, the German MTV has a show called Pimp My Bicycle.

VOICE TWO:

Within the United States, MTV offers a number of specially¹³ targeted channels. For example, MTV Desi brings music and culture from India to people of Indian ancestry¹⁴ in the United States.

VOICE ONE:

Yet some people are uneasy¹⁵ with the idea of programs created for just one group. They worry about cultural fragmentation. They say common culture is breaking into smaller pieces because people have less in common than they used to.

MTV is not the only broadcaster with narrowly targeted programming. And people can debate the influence of entertainment shows. Are they more a cause or an effect of changes in culture?

But such issues are probably deeper than most people want to think of when they turn on the television.

In the past, many teenagers watched MTV to see what music was popular. Today, they watch to see what activities, cars and clothes are cool.

In the past, many parents objected to some of the music videos shown on MTV. Today, they still object to the videos -- along with the activities, the cars and the clothes.

So someone could argue that MTV still brings people together.

VOICE TWO:

Over the past twenty-five years, MTV has presented everything from dancing zombies to discussions of the president's underwear. It has survived criticism and changing music tastes and expanded around the world. MTV has succeeded in reinventing itself from an all-music network to something completely different.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Sarah Randle and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. You can download transcripts¹⁶ and listen to our shows at www.unsv.com. And please join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

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 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

4 jersey   

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。

5 spoke   

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。

6 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

7 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

8 edited   

编辑( edit的过去式和过去分词 )； 剪辑（电影、录音磁带、无线电或电视节目、书等）； 主编（报纸、杂志等）

参考例句：

• I know that this draft text will need to be edited. 我知道这篇草稿需要校订。
• All references to the scandal were edited out of the tape. 所有涉及这件丑闻的内容都从录音带中删去了。

9 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

10 underwear   

n.衫衣，内衣，贴身衣

参考例句：

• He had removed his underwear.他已脱去了内衣。
• They left off their woollen underwear when the weather got warm.天气转暖的时候，他们不再穿羊毛内衣。

11 boxers   

n.拳击短裤；（尤指职业）拳击手( boxer的名词复数 )；拳师狗

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The boxers slugged it out to the finish. 两名拳击手最后决出了胜负。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

13 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

14 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

15 uneasy   

adj.心神不安的，担心的，令人不安的

参考例句：

• He feels uneasy today.他今天心里感到不安。
• She had an uneasy feeling that they were still following her.她有一种他们仍在跟踪她的不安感觉。

16 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句