VOA慢速英语2009-THIS IS AMERICA - Mothers Through the Eyes, and

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. This week, our subject is mothers and how their image has changed over the years in film and television.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:
　
Anna Jarvis

In the United States and a number of other countries, the second Sunday in May is celebrated¹ as Mother's Day.

Early in the nineteen hundreds, a woman named Anna Jarvis began a campaign to honor mothers in America. She talked to friends and friends of friends. She wrote to congressmen, local leaders, teachers and newspaper publishers.

Finally, President Woodrow Wilson signed a resolution in May of nineteen fourteen that officially established Mother's Day.

VOICE TWO:

Anna Jarvis thought mothers should be honored with expressions of love and respect.

Professor Robert Thompson at Syracuse University in New York state is an expert on American popular culture. Fifty or sixty years ago, he says, the popular media image of mothers was the so-called perfect mother.

This was a woman who gave all her time to her husband, home and children. Many women in society felt pressure to try to be this kind of mother.

VOICE ONE:

Like many observers, Professor Thompson uses the example of the imaginary June Cleaver², the mother on "Leave It to Beaver³." That was a TV series from nineteen fifty-seven to nineteen sixty-three.

The Cleavers⁴ were a happy family. June Cleaver always had time and patience for her two sons, Wally and "Beaver." His real name was Theodore. And if there was ever a problem she could not handle, her husband put things right.

The same was true on another nineteen fifties television show. The name said it all: "Father Knows Best."

VOICE TWO:

A different image, though, could be found in films like the nineteen forty-eight motion picture "I Remember Mama." It was set in San Francisco, California, in nineteen ten.

It was about a family that came from Norway. The Hansons were poor and they struggled to make their way in their new land.

Mama Hanson, played by actress Irene Dunne, had little education. But she knew a lot about dealing⁵ with people. She guides her family.

VOICE ONE:

Mama hates "going to the bank" -- she means borrowing money. But she also recognizes the importance of staying in school. We listen as Mama and her family are sitting around the table, counting money.

(SOUND)

MAMA: "Yah, is all for this week. Is good. We do not have to go to the bank."
SON: "Mama, mama, I'll be graduating from Valley School next month. Could I -- could I go into high, do you think?"
MAMA: "You want to go to high school?"
SON: "Well, I'd like to, very much, if you think I could."
MAMA: "Is good."

VOICE TWO:

"I Remember Mama" earned Irene Dunne an Academy Award nomination⁶ for best actress of nineteen forty-eight.

Two years later, in the lighthearted film "Cheaper by the Dozen," Myrna Loy played Lillian Gilbreth, a mother of twelve. The father is an efficiency expert, an expert in doing things better and faster.

Lillian Gilbreth obeys her husband, or at least appears to. But she also has a mind of her own.

At one point, the husband, played by Clifton Webb, plays a joke on their son Bill. The father honks⁷ the horn just as the boy crosses in front of their car. Bill jumps. His father laughs and says the boy jumped six and nine-tenths inches.

VOICE ONE:

A little later, Bill plays the same joke on his father. This time his father does not laugh.

The mother has to save Bill from getting punished and, in the process, she teaches her husband a lesson.

(SOUND)

FATHER: "Who did that?"
BILL: "Uh, that was a good joke on you, Dad."
FATHER: "Listen, young man. There's a time and a place for jokes and a time and place for spankings⁸. And the sooner you learn -- get out. Get out!"
MOTHER: "Mercy Maude, Frank, I'll bet you jumped six and nine-tenths inches that time."
FATHER: "You're right, son. That was a good joke on me. By jingo, I'll bet I did jump six and nine-tenths inches. Oh these kids, these kids."
(HORN SOUNDS AGAIN)
MOTHER: "Excuse me, dear, I did it. It was accidental."

VOICE TWO:

The Gilbreths were a real family. "Cheaper by the Dozen" was the name of a book written by two of the twelve children.

Their mother, Lillian, was a psychologist and herself an expert in the area of industrial management. In fact, Lillian Moller Gilbreth is known as the mother of modern management.

A woman who graduated from a women's college in nineteen fifty-three remembers hearing her as a graduation speaker. She remembers Lillian Gilbreth urging the young women to have full lives, with professions if they wanted them.

When Lillian Gilbreth received her doctorate⁹ in psychology¹⁰, she already had four young children who attended the ceremony.

VOICE ONE:

Over the years, as mothers and American women in general became more independent, more and more of them entered the job market. They did so by choice or because of financial need or both.

Pop culture expert Robert Thompson says the changes could be seen in film and television as well. For example, working women used to be shown mostly as nurses or teachers, because those were the jobs that many held in real life.
　
Diane Keaton plays an overprotective mother and Mandy Moore is her daughter in the film 'Because I Said So'

But these days, whatever new jobs are written into movies or TV shows, some images of mothers are timeless. One is the image of the overprotective mother who gets too involved in her child's life, even after the child grows up.

Diane Keaton plays just such a mother, a single mom named Daphne, in the two thousand seven film "Because I Said So." Mandy Moore plays her daughter.

Daphne is supposed to be seen as one of those moms who mean well even if they make their kids crazy.

MAGGIE: "Mom, you have to leave her alone."

DAPHNE: "Fine, but I just want you girls to understand something about motherhood. It's the most impossible love. You tell me when it ends. You tell me when it stops!"

VOICE ONE:

For years, almost all leading movie and television stars, male or female, were white. Activists¹¹ say members of racial and ethnic¹² minority groups are still not well represented enough.

But the social gains that minorities made in the nineteen sixties and seventies led the way to shows like "The Jeffersons." This was a comedy on CBS television from nineteen seventy-five to nineteen eighty-five. It about a newly wealthy black family that moved into a New York City high-rise with mostly white neighbors.

VOICE TWO:

One of the most popular TV shows ever was "The Cosby Show," on NBC from nineteen eighty-four to nineteen ninety-two. It starred Bill Cosby as Cliff Huxtable and Phylicia Rashad as his wife, Clair.

He was a doctor and she was a lawyer. The Huxtables were presented as a strong, loving, successful African-American family. Still, pop culture expert Robert Thompson notes that Clair Huxtable was often shown more as a wife and mother than as a successful lawyer.

VOICE ONE:

"Mississippi Masala" was a nineteen ninety-one film about an ethnic Indian family exiled from Uganda when Idi Amin comes to power. The family lives in Mississippi, in the American South.

Daughter Meena is in love with a black American named Demetrius, played by Denzel Washington. Their parents strongly disapprove¹³.

The family decides to return to Uganda, but Meena does not want to go. She calls her parents to tell them she is running away with Demetrius. Her mother, played by Sharmila Tagore, recognizes that they have to let their daughter lead her own life.

(SOUND)

MEENA: "Ma, I'm not coming back. I'm sorry, but I can't go to Uganda. What would I do there?"
FATHER: "Are you alone?"
MEENA: "No, I'm with Demetrius. Pa, are you there? Ma, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. Why did he put the phone down?"
MOTHER: "I'll talk to your father."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁴. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Transcripts¹⁵ and audio archives of our programs are on the Internet at voaspecialenglish.com. Be sure to join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. We leave you with a song from a classic film from nineteen sixty-seven. It was about a relationship between a recent college graduate and what popular culture today would call a "hot mom" -- a sexy older woman. The young man feels regret, which only grows as he falls in love with her daughter. The actress who played the mother was Anne Bancroft, the lover was Dustin Hoffman and the movie was "The Graduate."

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 cleaver   

n.切肉刀

参考例句：

• In fact,a cleaver is a class of ax.实际上，切肉刀也是斧子的一种。
• The cleaver is ground to a very sharp edge.刀磨得飞快。

3 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。

4 cleavers   

n.猪殃殃（其茎、实均有钩刺）；砍肉刀，剁肉刀( cleaver的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These monsters would not lay down their cleavers even when on the brink of their own destruction. 这些魔鬼临死也不会放下屠刀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

7 honks   

n.雁叫声( honk的名词复数 )；汽车的喇叭声v.（使）发出雁叫似的声音，鸣（喇叭），按（喇叭）( honk的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In the fall we sometimes hear honks as a flock of geese flies south. 到了秋天，有时我们能听到南飞雁群的叫声。 来自辞典例句
• A wild- goose honks. 雁鸣。 来自互联网

8 spankings   

n.打屁股( spanking的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The spankings are given on the and with just about every implement you can imagine. 在打女生的过程中，用尽了你一切可以想到的工具。 来自互联网

9 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

10 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

11 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

13 disapprove   

v.不赞成，不同意，不批准

参考例句：

• I quite disapprove of his behaviour.我很不赞同他的行为。
• She wants to train for the theatre but her parents disapprove.她想训练自己做戏剧演员，但她的父母不赞成。

14 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。

15 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