VOA慢速英语2013 PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Marilyn Monroe, 1926-1962: America's Most Famous Sex Symbol

 

PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Marilyn Monroe, 1926-1962: America's Most Famous Sex Symbol

VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith. 

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today we tell about movie star Marilyn Monroe. She died many years ago, yet still is one of the best known American women. 

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Her name at birth was Norma Jean Baker¹. Her life as a child was like a bad dream. She lived with a number of different people, and often was mistreated. 

At age sixteen Norma Jean married a sailor. But she soon ended that marriage. She changed her hair color from brown to shining gold. And she changed her name to Marilyn Monroe. 

She wanted to be an actress. And she succeeded. She appeared in a number of Hollywood movies. Millions of people went to see them. By the time Norma Jean had reached the age of twenty-six, her beautiful face and body earned her a place as one of America's leading movie stars. 

But success and fame were not enough to make her happy. The troubles of her childhood days stayed with her. She drank too much alcohol³. She took too many drugs. 

At the age of thirty-six, she took her own life. 

VOICE TWO:

She has been dead since nineteen sixty-two. Still, her fame continues to grow. 

People born long after she died are watching her movies on television. Objects that belonged to her bring huge prices at public sales. The Warner Brothers museum in Hollywood has the white dress she wore in one of her movies, "The Prince and the Showgirl. "

People continue to talk about what they feel is her strange death. Some people believe she was murdered. Two investigations⁴ showed that she died as the result of too many drugs. 

VOICE ONE:

Why is the public still so interested in a woman who died so many years ago? A number of reasons. Her exciting but tragic⁵ life. Her connections with well-known people. And her image as an especially desirable⁶ woman. 

In the nineteen fifties, many Americans believed sex was a very private subject. People often severely⁷ judged those who were sexually⁸ appealing. 

Into this atmosphere burst Marilyn Monroe. As one critic said, her body was round in all the right places. She wore her clothes like skin. When she walked, she moved her lower body in a way that few other actresses had done. Her voice was soft and breathy. She soon became America's golden girl. 

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The story of Marilyn Monroe begins on June first, nineteen twenty-six. Norma Jean was born that day in the West Coast city of Los Angeles, California. Her birthplace was not far from the Hollywood movie studios where she would someday be a star. 

Her mother, Gladys Baker, suffered from mental problems. Often the mother had to be treated in a hospital for long periods of time. Her daughter was sent to live with a number of different people. 

The actress later would describe her stays with these foster⁹ families as sometimes very unhappy. During the worst experiences, she would go to a movie theater. There the young Norma Jean escaped into the make-believe world of movies. 

She would act all the movie parts after she went to a movie. She told this to a long time friend, actor Ted² Jordan, who later wrote a book about her. 

VOICE ONE:

By the time she was seventeen, Marilyn was trying very hard to be a movie actress. She finally was able to get an actors' agent to help her. He got Twentieth Century Fox Company to give Marilyn parts in some movies it produced.

Marilyn continued to change the way she had looked as Norma Jean. She had an operation to improve the appearance of her nose. Her eyes were made to appear larger. She began using a great deal of bright red lipstick¹⁰ on her mouth. 

Marilyn may have worked more to improve her appearance than to improve her performance in acting¹¹ classes. Some people at Twentieth Century Fox said she did not like to work at all. She appeared in only one movie. And she had only one line to speak in that. The Fox movie company dismissed¹² her. 

Soon, however, her agent got her a job at Columbia Pictures. She appeared in a movie called "Ladies of the Chorus¹³. " She sang two songs. Several critics praised her performance. But Columbia dismissed her. 

VOICE TWO:

Marilyn did not stop struggling. She next won a small part in a movie called "Love Happy." It was a comedy starring the famous Marx Brothers. Critics said it was not one of their better efforts. Marilyn, though, earned praise for simply taking a short walk in the movie. 

The movie called for her to say, "Some men are following me. " Groucho Marx answered that he did not understand why. As he said that, he watched Marilyn walk her famous walk. His eyes opened very wide. 

That short scene in the movie made many people in Hollywood talk about Marilyn Monroe. 

VOICE ONE:

Marilyn got her first major chance when director John Huston invited her to act in a movie called "The Asphalt Jungle. "

Huston said her performance as a criminal's girlfriend was good. It gained Marilyn her dream of a long-term agreement with Twentieth Century Fox, the company that had dismissed her earlier. Now its officials gave her a part in "All About Eve." The movie, released¹⁴ in nineteen fifty, was about a movie star. She played a golden-haired woman who did not have much intelligence -- "a dumb¹⁵ blonde." 

In nineteen fifty-two, Marilyn again appeared as a dumb blonde in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." This performance at last won her widespread fame. 

Marilyn Monroe was now a lead actress, a star. 

VOICE TWO:

Huge successes now followed. Between nineteen fifty-three and nineteen fifty-nine she appeared in lead parts in many popular movies: "How To Marry a Millionaire." "The Seven Year Itch¹⁶." "Bus Stop." "Some Like it Hot."

Her part in "Some Like it Hot" showed that she was very good at making people laugh. 

Marilyn's picture appeared on the front cover of many magazines and the front pages of many newspapers. She began to earn more money. 

Life should have been good. But Marilyn was not happy. She was being asked to repeat her part as a dumb blonde in movie after movie. 

She wanted to be accepted as a good actress. She went to the Actors' Studio school in New York City with many serious actors. She thought she could change the way people thought of her. 

VOICE ONE:

But she did not succeed. People thought of Marilyn Monroe as "that blonde bombshell." Few people thought of her as a serious actress. 

She also failed in her attempts at marriage. She admitted that she got married the first time only to escape from being forced to live in a group home for children without parents. In nineteen fifty-four she married again. Her husband was the famous New York Yankee baseball player, Joe Di Maggio. They were together for only a few months. 

Later, she tried again. She married Arthur Miller¹⁷, a famous writer of plays. That marriage ended unhappily in nineteen sixty-one, after five years. 

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Marilyn returned to Hollywood. But things were different now. Friends said she was drinking too much alcohol. They said she was taking too many drugs. 

She seemed to always be in trouble with the movie company. She had gained too much weight. Or, she had not learned¹⁸ what she was to say in the movie. Or she had arrived late for the filming. 

By nineteen sixty-two, Marilyn's problems were threatening her work in the movies. She was to appear in the Twentieth Century Fox movie called "Something's Got to Give." 

She lost weight for her part. She tried to arrive on time for the filming. She reportedly knew her part. However, she became sick several times and missed work. Fox company officials dismissed her. 

VOICE ONE:

On August fourth, nineteen sixty-two, Marilyn Monroe died alone in her home. She was thirty-six years old. Reports said taking too many drugs killed her. But people who knew her said failed marriages, and the failure of her latest movie also led to her death. 

Many people said Marilyn Monroe never escaped her past. She continued to suffer from the early, sad life of a little girl named Norma Jean. 

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written by Jeri Watson and directed by Marilyn Christiano. I'm Steve Ember. 

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for another People in America program on the Voice of America.

1 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

2 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 alcohol   

n.酒精，乙醇；含酒精的饮料

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors.法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。
• The alcohol is industrial.这些酒精是供工业用的。

4 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

5 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

6 desirable   

adj.值得拥有的；可取的，有利的

参考例句：

• Some reasonable adjustments seem desirable.某些合理的调整似乎是可取的。
• Prolonged negotiation was not desirable.拖长了的谈判并不是大家所想要的。

7 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

8 sexually   

adv.性别上地；按性别地；性欲地；两性之间地

参考例句：

• to be sexually promiscuous 性生活淫乱
• I was depressed,withdrawn and sexually frigid. 我郁郁寡欢，离群索居，没有什么性要求。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 foster   

vt.收养，培养，促进；adj.收养的，收养孩子的

参考例句：

• Nowadays young couple sometimes foster.现今年轻夫妇有时领养别人的孩子。
• The captain did his best to foster a sense of unity among the new recruits.队长尽力培养新成员之间的团结精神。

10 lipstick   

n.口红，唇膏

参考例句：

• Taking out her lipstick,she began to paint her lips.她拿出口红，开始往嘴唇上抹。
• Lipstick and hair conditioner are cosmetics.口红和护发素都是化妆品。

11 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

12 dismissed   

v.解雇( dismiss的过去式和过去分词 )；（使击球员或球队）退场；使退去；驳回

参考例句：

• Vegetarians are no longer dismissed as cranks. 素食者不再被视为有怪癖的人。
• He was dismissed for incompetence. 他因不称职而被解雇。

13 chorus   

n.合唱，合唱队，齐声

参考例句：

• Never before have I heard this song sung in chorus.我从来没有听过这首歌的合唱。
• The children repeated the words after her in chorus.孩子们跟她齐声朗读单词。

14 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

15 dumb   

adj.哑的；不会说话的；笨的；愚蠢的

参考例句：

• She is very kind to the dumb children.她对哑童非常好。
• It was dumb of you to say that.你说这种话太愚蠢了。

16 itch   

n.痒，渴望，疥癣；vi.发痒，渴望

参考例句：

• Shylock has an itch for money.夏洛克渴望发财。
• He had an itch on his back.他背部发痒。

17 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

18 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。