VOA慢速英语2020--The 55th Grammy Awards

 

From VOA Learning English, welcome to AS IT IS! … your daily magazine show in Special English. 

I’m June Simms.

Today we hear the story of a 16 year old Ugandan girl who has become an international chess champion.

We also play music from one of the world’s best-selling jazz musicians. And we hear from some of the artists being honored at the 55th Grammy Awards.

Musicians from around the world have gathered in Los Angeles, California. As Jim Tedder¹ reports, the Grammy Awards take place this Sunday.

The event will recognize performers, producers, recording² engineers, and other people who work in the music business. 

This year, there are three new award categories.  They are:  Best Urban Contemporary Album, Best Latin Jazz Album, and Best Classical Compendium³.  Singer songwriter Frank Ocean has been nominated for six awards.

One of the six songs nominated for record of the year is from the group “Fun.”  Here is lead singer Janelle Monae with “We Are Young.”

The Album of the Year award may go to Frank Ocean, Fun, Mumford and Sons, The Black Keys, or Jack⁴ White.  

The five nominees⁵ for Song of the Year are “The A Team,”  “Adorn,”  “Call Me Maybe,”  “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You), and “We are Young.”

Who will win the award for best new artist?  It may be Fun, Alabama Shakes, Hunter Hayes, Frank Ocean …or the folk-rock group …the Lumineers.

The Lumineers …with “Ho Hey.”  Their first album is also competing for Best Americana Album.  The Lumineers and many other artists will perform this Sunday during the Grammy ceremony.  To see a complete list of possible winners, visit www.grammy.com.

You are listening to “As It Is” in VOA Special English. I’m June Simms.  

Trumpet⁶ player Chris Botti has also been nominated for a Grammy this year. As Faith Lapidus reports, some top musical talent joins him on his latest album. 

Chris Botti is currently the best-selling jazz musician in the world. He also has gained recognition for being a fine classical musician. 

His latest album, Impressions, has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category. Chris Botti is known as a generous musician. He often invites other musicians to perform with him. Here he is with guitarist Leonardo Amuedo performing “Over The Rainbow".  

Country singer Vince Gill performs on Chris Botti’s version of “Losing You,” a song by Randy Newman. 

Surprisingly, Chris Botti's first musical instrument was not the trumpet. He learned to play piano from his mother, a part-time piano teacher. As a student he performed in jazz clubs around the city of Portland, Oregon where he was born. 

The trumpeter and his seven-piece band spent much of the past year traveling and performing. Other musicians on Impressions include Andrea Bocelli, Mark Knopfler and jazzman Herbie Hancock. Here he plays George and Ira Gershwin’s “Summertime.” He teamed up with David Foster on the song.

The Katwe area of Kampala, Uganda can be a difficult place to live. It is often flooded. Untreated waste can be found on the street. And, people compete with rats and other animals for survival. But, Katwe is also home to one of the world’s most unlikely champions. It is where 16 year old Phiona Mutesi first saw a chess board.

The international chess champion started playing the game when she was nine years old. She had heard about a Christian⁷ group that was teaching chess to slum children. But, she only went to the class because she knew the group was serving food. 

“We were evicted⁸ out of our house because we couldn’t afford that money. So when I heard that, I was like, ‘maybe I can also get there to know about chess and then I get a cup of porridge’, because I was hungry [at] that time.” 

She is now considered the best female player in Uganda. She began representing the country in international tournaments, and has competed two times in the International Chess Olympiad. 

Robert Katende directs the Katwe chess program. He says there is something about slum life that makes children like Phiona good at the game.

“I very much believe that having gone through all they go through right from childhood, figuring out how to survive on a daily basis, they do easily identify themselves with the board, which I think somehow makes them understand it better.”

Last year, she was named Candidate Master, the lowest-ranking position in the World Chess Federation⁹. But it is an important first step for Phiona to becoming a Grandmaster.

And that’s AS IT IS for today. Thanks for listening. I’m June Simms.

1 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 compendium   

n.简要，概略

参考例句：

• The Compendium of Materia Medica has been held in high esteem since it was first published.“本草纲目”问世之后，深受人们的推重。
• The book is a compendium of their poetry,religion and philosophy.这本书是他们诗歌、宗教和哲学的概略。

4 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

5 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

6 trumpet   

n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘

参考例句：

• He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴，我吹喇叭。
• The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。

7 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。

8 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

9 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。