VOA慢速英语2011--New Movie and Museum Exhibits Shine New

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - New Movie and Museum Exhibits Shine New Light on Civil War Events

DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
(MUSIC)
I'm Doug Johnson. This week, our program is all about the Civil War in a new film and museum shows…
And, music from the new band, the Civil Wars.
(MUSIC)
“The Conspirator²”
DOUG JOHNSON: The United States is holding events in remembrance of the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the start of the Civil War. And Hollywood also is taking a look. A new film from director Robert Redford explores the plot that resulted in the murder of President Abraham Lincoln. Mario Ritter has more.
MARIO RITTER: On April fourteenth, eighteen sixty-five, a gunshot is fired at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC. The bullet hits President Abraham Lincoln. He dies within hours.
This photograph from the Library of Congress provided by Abrams Books shows fugitive³ African-Americans fording the Rappahannock River in Virginia in August 1862
The shooter is John Wilkes Boothe, an actor. He is angry about the freeing of slaves and the South’s loss in the Civil War. But John Wilkes Booth did not carry out the assassination⁴ alone. The new film, “The Conspirator,” tells the story many Americans do not know about. The action surrounds the military trial of Mary Surratt, one of the accused plotters, and the mother of another.
(SOUND “The Conspirator”)
MARY SURRAT: “I am a southerner and a devoted⁵ mother. But, I am no assassin.”
Robin⁶ Wright plays Mary Surratt. She says the movie is about more than facts.
ROBIN WRIGHT: “It’s about humanity. It’s not so much about historical evidence. It’s a real piece about human behavior.”
Mary Surratt was a businesswoman in the eighteen-sixties. She operated a boarding house, a home where visitors stayed. Her boarding house, however, was also used by her son and several other people as a meeting place to plot the murder of the president. All the plotters have been arrested except her son, who has disappeared.
A lawyer named Frederick Aiken decides to defend Mary Surratt. He does not necessarily think she is innocent. But he hopes to make sure she gets a fair trial. James McAvoy is Aiken.
AIKEN: “Mary you have to tell us where your son is.”
SURRATT: “Us? I’m have to tell us?...Whose side are you on.”
AIKEN: “I’m trying to defend you.”
SURRATT: “By suggesting I trade my son for myself?”
Historian Fred Borch was an expert adviser⁷ to the filmmakers.
FRED BORCH: “What I think the movie is trying to do is to show you that guilt⁸ or innocence⁹ aside, she didn’t get a fair trial and neither did the others because the government was so afraid that if they didn’t stomp¹⁰ on this conspiracy¹¹, that there might be more attacks by the Confederates coming.”
James McAvoy, Robert Redford and Robin Wright at the premiere of 'The Conspirator' at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC on April 10, 2011
The first showing of “The Conspirator” was to a group gathered at the same theater where President Lincoln was killed. Director Robert Redford says he hopes the movie will make people think of the assassination in a new way.
ROBERT REDFORD: “I’ve never deluded¹² myself into thinking that films change anybody’s opinion, or has an impact that’s going to change policy or anything like that, but I would think that being aware of what happened and seeing how that process has repeated itself, might strike a chord. I would hope so."
Fredericksburg Civil War Exhibits
DOUG JOHNSON: One hundred-fifty years ago today, President Abraham Lincoln approved an order for the services of seventy-five thousand militiamen. It was just a little over a month since he had taken office. And it was three days after the Confederate Army of the southern states attacked federal forces at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The American Civil War had begun.
Slave John Washington wrote about the situation in his hometown of Fredericksburg, Virginia:
“The war was getting hotter every day. The town was now filled with rebel soldiers and their outrages¹³ and dastardly acts toward the colored people can not be told. It became dangerous to be out at night. The whites was hastening their slaves off to safer places of refuge. A great many slave men were sent into the rebel army as drivers, cooks, hostlers and anything else they could do.”
John Washington was among almost thirteen hundred slaves in Fredericksburg. There were about four hundred twenty free blacks and more than thirty-three hundred whites.
The stories of many of these men and women and their experiences during the Civil War can be found at the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center. The stories are part of a permanent exhibit called “Fredericksburg at War” and in another show called “Letters and Diaries of the Civil War.” That show continues through July.
This is a Civil War-era photo showing the Kenmore Avenue Canal, looking west from Fredericksburg, Virginia
Sara Poore is the director of Education and Public Programs at the museum. On Tuesday, she led about thirty eighth-graders from a school in North Carolina on their visit to the Civil War exhibits.
She told them how it was that slave John Washington could write his memoirs¹⁴.
SARA POORE: “It was against the law to teach your slaves to read and write unless it had something to do with religion. Then you could teach them to read the Bible. John Washington’s mother taught him to read and write when he was a young boy.”
On April eighteenth, eighteen sixty-two, Union soldiers started moving into Fredericksburg. Sarah Poore describes what happened.
SARA POORE: “They could be seen across the river, the Rappahannock River. John Washington recorded that moment. He said ‘the glistening¹⁵ bayonets of the Union Army can be seen. I am sure of my freedom now. All the white people are in the streets scared. All the manservants are on the rooftops joyous¹⁶ that freedom in near.”
Then Sarah Poore gives the students more to think about with words from a white Fredericksburg resident, Maureen Breckenridge.
SARA POORE: “She wrote in her diary: ‘The union solders¹⁷ are near. We will be destroyed. They will take our land, they will take our property. We are all full of fear.’ Two very different perspectives of the exact same event.”
Sara Poore told the students to remember these different images as they went through the exhibit. She said the military action of the Civil War is very important. But she said the experiences of civilians¹⁸ affected¹⁹ by the conflict were central to understanding the period in American history.
During the Union occupation of Fredericksburg, thousands of escaped slaves fled through Virginia on their way North.
W.W. Wright was an engineer and superintendent²⁰ of military railroads at the time. He wrote about the fleeing slaves in an official military document.
READER: “During the last two days the contrabands fairly swarmed²¹ about the Fredericksburg and Falmouth Stations, and there was a continuous black line of men, women and children moving north along the road, carrying all their worldly goods on their heads. Every train running to Aquia was crowded with them. They all seemed to have perfect confidence that if they could only get within our lines they would be taken care of somehow. I think it is safe to estimate the number of contrabands that have passed by this route since we took possession of the road at Ten Thousand."
John Washington was among the fleeing slaves. In a recording²² at the Fredericksburg Museum and Cultural Center, an actor reads from Washington’s life story.
SOUND: “A most memorable²³ night was the soldiers assured me that I was a free man. Before morning I had began to feel like I had truly escaped from the hands of the slave master. And with the help of God I would never be a slave no more. I felt for the first time in my life that I could now claim every cent that I should work for as my own. Life had a new joy awaiting me.”
We talked with Sara Poore about visitors’ reactions to the Civil War exhibits. She said what surprises them most is when she states firmly that the Civil War was, in fact, about the fight over slavery. She says states rights, economic and social inequalities between the south and north and other issues were debated. But Sara Poore says major historical documents clearly show that slavery was the central issue of dispute.
Civil Wars “Barton Hollow”
DOUG JOHNSON: Musicians Joy Williams and John Paul White are the Civil Wars. Their first album, “Barton Hollow,” is number two on Billboard²⁴ Magazine’s Folk Rock chart. One newspaper calls the musical connection between Williams and White “seriously joyful²⁵.” Katherine Cole has more.
(MUSIC)
KATHERINE COLE: That is “Twenty Years,” the first song on the Civil Wars’ first album, “Barton Hollow.”
Joy Williams and Paul John White have known each other for only a few years. They met on a music writing project in Los Angeles.
On the Civil Wars’ web site, Paul John White says his connection with Joy Williams was immediate²⁶. It was, he says, “like we’d been in a family band or something for most of our lives.”
Joy Williams had been singing Christian²⁷ music until she met White. She told the Los Angeles Times newspaper that she has found new creative freedom working with him. She says now she knows she can write about any subject.
“My Father’s Father” is a moving song about a return to one’s roots.
(MUSIC)
John Paul Williams comes from Alabama. Joy Williams is a native Californian. Now, the two live and work in the home of country music, Nashville, Tennessee.
We leave you with, “I’ve Got a Friend,” from the Civil Wars album, “Barton Hollow.”
(MUSIC)
DOUG JOHNSON: I’m Doug Johnson. Our program was written by Julie Taboh and Caty Weaver²⁸, who was also the producer.
Join us again next week for music and more on AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA 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 conspirator   

n.阴谋者，谋叛者

参考例句：

• We started abusing him,one conspirator after another adding his bitter words.我们这几个预谋者一个接一个地咒骂他，恶狠狠地骂个不停。
• A conspirator is not of the stuff to bear surprises.谋反者是经不起惊吓的。

3 fugitive   

adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者

参考例句：

• The police were able to deduce where the fugitive was hiding.警方成功地推断出那逃亡者躲藏的地方。
• The fugitive is believed to be headed for the border.逃犯被认为在向国境线逃窜。

4 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

5 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

6 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

7 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

8 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

9 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

10 stomp   

v.跺（脚），重踩，重踏

参考例句：

• 3.And you go to france, and you go to stomp! 你去法国，你去看跺脚舞！
• 4.How hard did she stomp? 她跺得有多狠？

11 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

12 deluded   

v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Don't be deluded into thinking that we are out of danger yet. 不要误以为我们已脱离危险。
• She deluded everyone into following her. 她骗得每个人都听信她的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 outrages   

引起…的义愤，激怒( outrage的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• People are seeking retribution for the latest terrorist outrages. 人们在设法对恐怖分子最近的暴行进行严惩。
• He [She] is not allowed to commit any outrages. 不能任其胡作非为。

14 memoirs   

n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数)

参考例句：

• Her memoirs were ghostwritten. 她的回忆录是由别人代写的。
• I watched a trailer for the screenplay of his memoirs. 我看过以他的回忆录改编成电影的预告片。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 glistening   

adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼里闪着晶莹的泪花。
• Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼睛中的泪水闪着柔和的光。 来自《用法词典》

16 joyous   

adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的

参考例句：

• The lively dance heightened the joyous atmosphere of the scene.轻快的舞蹈给这场戏渲染了欢乐气氛。
• They conveyed the joyous news to us soon.他们把这一佳音很快地传递给我们。

17 solders   

n.焊料，焊锡( solder的名词复数 )v.（使）焊接，焊合( solder的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• We fused the pipes with solders. 我们用焊锡熔接管子。 来自辞典例句
• Solders ate a great number of potatoes during World War II. 第二次世界大战期间的士兵吃了很多的土豆。 来自互联网

18 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

19 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。

20 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

21 swarmed   

密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• When the bell rang, the children swarmed out of the school. 铃声一响，孩子们蜂拥而出离开了学校。
• When the rain started the crowd swarmed back into the hotel. 雨一开始下，人群就蜂拥回了旅社。

22 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。

23 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

24 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

25 joyful   

adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的

参考例句：

• She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
• They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。

26 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

27 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

28 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。