VOA慢速英语2013--适合炎炎夏日听的歌曲

 

Songs About Summer Celebrate, Remember and Complain 适合炎炎夏日听的歌曲

Welcome to This Is America from VOA Learning¹ English.

Here in the northern part of the world, we are in what some call the “dog days of summer”—in other words, the hottest weeks of the year.

To ease² the heat, Steve Ember and Shirley Griffith bring you some songs about summertime.

If you ask most Americans, they would say their favorite season of the year is summer. The weather is warm. They do not have to wear heavy clothes to keep warm.

Young people do not have to go to school. They can do many activities outside, like playing sports and swimming at the beach or the pool. They like the sunshine during the day and the warm summer nights.

People have written and recorded hundreds of songs about summer. These are some of our favorites.

One of the most famous songs about summer is from George Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess." He wrote the music in 1935.

The opera takes place in the southern United³ States. It opens with these words: "Summertime and the livin' is easy. Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high."

Leontyne Price sings the song.

Here is Billy Stewart's version⁴ of the same song.

The 1950s and 60s produced many songs about teenagers enjoying their summer vacation from school. The songs are about having fun, swimming in the ocean, driving in cars.

This one is "Summertime, Summertime" by the Jamies.

It is summer almost all year long in California⁵. And it was summer all the time for the Beach Boys. They sang about their favorite activities, like riding the ocean waves on surfboards. Here is one Beach Boy song, "All Summer Long."

However, for some teenagers, summer vacation was not all fun and games. Some of them had to work to earn money.

Eddie Cochran sang about this in "Summertime Blues⁶."

Many other bands and artists later recorded this song, including the British rock band, the Who.

The Lovin' Spoonful⁷ was a band that did not love summers in the city because of the heat. They sang: "Hot town, summer in the city. Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty."

And: "All around, people looking half-dead, walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head."

They liked the nighttime better when they could dance and have more fun.

"Summer in the City" was released⁸ in the summer of 1966 and was one of the Lovin' Spoonful's greatest hits.

Even though it was hot, Sly⁹ and the Family Stone still found ways to have fun in the summertime. This song is about the happiness that the season promises, including going to a "county¹⁰ fair in the country sun."

In the 1990s, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince produced this hip-hop song called "Summertime." It is about being with friends and having a good time.

We leave you with a song from the movie version of the musical "Grease¹¹." It is about two teenagers who meet during their summer vacation and fall in love.

Back at school in the autumn, they tell their friends all about it.

John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John sing "Summer Nights."

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 ease   

n. 安乐,安逸,悠闲; v. 使...安乐,使...安心,减轻,放松

参考例句：

• His mind was at ease and he felt confident in the future. 他心情舒畅,对前途很有信心。
• You should ease up on the child and stop scolding her. 你应该对那个孩子宽松些,不要再骂她了。

3 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

4 version   

n.版本；型号；叙述，说法

参考例句：

• His version of the events is pure supposition.他对这件事的说法纯属猜测。
• What is your version of this matter?你对这件事情的看法 怎么样？

5 California   

n.加利福尼亚(美国)

参考例句：

• He was elected governor of the state of California.他当选为加州州长。
• We were driving on a California freeway.我们正沿着加利福尼亚的一条快车道驾车行驶。

6 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

7 spoonful   

n.一匙（的量）

参考例句：

• She put a spoonful of milk in each of the two cups.她在两个杯子里各加了一匙牛奶。
• Tom added a spoonful of sugar to the coffee.汤姆在咖啡里加了一勺糖。

8 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。

9 sly   

adj.狡猾的，偷偷摸摸的

参考例句：

• You can't trust him,he's a sly old fox.你不能相信他，他是一只狡猾的老狐狸。
• I was ready to sly out the alley door.我准备从那边小门溜出去。

10 county   

n.县，郡

参考例句：

• When the good news reached there,the whole county rejoiced.喜讯传到那里时，全县的人都欢欣鼓舞起来。
• In that year county after county fell to the enemy.那一年一个又一个的县城沦入敌人手中。

11 grease   

n.动物脂，油脂，润滑脂；v.抹油，润滑

参考例句：

• He puts grease on his hair to make It'shiny.他往头发上擦油，使之发亮。
• You have a grease spot on your shirt.你的衬衣上有块油斑。