Woody Guthrie

 

Broadcast: Feb 9, 2003
By Shelley Gollust

VOICE ONE:

I'm Mary Tillotson.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today, we begin a two-part story about songwriter and singer Woody Guthrie. He wrote songs about common people and social issues in the nineteen-thirties. His music influenced many people.

VOICE ONE:

Imagine you are in America in the nineteen-thirties. A train passes through the countryside. It is night time. And the only sound that can be heard is the long, lonely whistle1 coming from the train's engine.

Inside the train's boxcars are groups of men sitting or lying on the floors. The men are dirty, and their clothing is torn. In one boxcar, a short man with long, curly¹ brown hair is playing a guitar and singing. His name is Woody Guthrie. He is singing a song about men who look for work as they travel from town to town.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born in nineteen-twelve in the American state of Oklahoma. The Guthrie family lived in a small farming town called Okemah. Woody's father, Charles, was a businessman who bought and sold land. Woody's mother, Nora, was a school teacher. She also liked to play the piano and sing. When Woody was young, his mother sang him songs she had learned² as a girl. These songs told stories about love and death and difficult times.

VOICE ONE:

Woody's early years were happy ones. But his life began to change when he was only ten years old. One day, his sister, Clara, spilled oil on her dress and accidentally³ set herself on fire. She died the next day. Woody never forgot her death.

As time passed, Woody's mother began acting⁴ strangely. She lost control over her actions and speech. Many people thought she was insane2. Because of this, the Guthrie family became more private as they attempted to hide Nora's problems.

The loss of his daughter and his wife's suffering ruined Charles Guthrie. He began drinking alcohol⁶. His business soon failed. The Guthrie family left Okemah and lived in several towns in Oklahoma and Texas. Young Woody often had to work instead of attending school because his family was poor.

VOICE TWO:

The first musical instrument Woody learned to play was the harmonica3. He learned to play the harmonica by watching an old man play the instrument. Woody learned how to play the guitar by watching his father's brother play. In the nineteen-twenties, Woody was living in the town of Pampa, Texas. Pampa was known as a "boom⁷ town" because it had grown quickly after oil was discovered nearby.

On weekends, Woody joined other young men to play music at dances in the town. Years later, Woody described what singing meant to him:

"When you sing a song, it reaches out and enters people's ears. It makes them jump up and down, and sing it with you. The best part about singing is that you can sing what you think. You can tell all kinds of stories in a song, and put your ideas across to another person."

VOICE ONE:

Woody liked to communicate with other people through his music. Yet he did not like to say much about himself. One reason for this was that he did not want people to know that his mother was in a hospital for insane⁵ people. Nora Guthrie suffered from Huntington's Chorea, a disease⁸ that destroys the brain and nervous system. Woody knew that someday he also might develop the disease.

He was seventeen years old when his mother died, in nineteen-twenty-nine. That was the year when the economy of the United States began to slow down. Over the next several years, many Americans lost their jobs. The period became known as the Great Depression.

In Pampa, the oil fields dried up. Farms in many areas failed because little or no rain fell for several years. The land became so dry that wind easily blew away the top soil. These areas of Texas, Oklahoma and other states became known as the Dust Bowl.

VOICE TWO:

Like many other people, Woody Guthrie left Pampa to travel around Texas and the Southwest looking for work. He often made trips by train. But because he had no money, he would jump on the train's boxcars and ride for free. This was often dangerous, because guards on the train would throw the men off or arrest them. However, Woody found this life exciting. One of the first songs he wrote was about leaving home and fleeing the Dust Bowl.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Woody Guthrie married Mary Jennings in nineteen-thirty-three. They had three children. Three years later, Woody left his family and traveled to California. He met many kinds of people during his travels. He also learned songs from many different parts of the country. Yet what affected⁹ him most was the suffering he saw. He said, "When I saw hard-working people suffering under debts, sickness and worries, I knew there was plenty to make up songs about."

VOICE TWO:

In California, Woody earned money by playing his guitar and singing. Later, he began performing on a radio program with a friend, Maxine Crissman. She was called Lefty Lou. They had one of the most popular radio programs in Los Angeles. They sang songs Woody had written about social issues. His best songs were about the troubles Americans faced during the Depression. This song is about the dangers of coal mining. It is called "The Dying¹⁰ Miner¹¹."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen-thirty-eight, Woody Guthrie left the radio program to travel around California. He found that conditions had become worse for many people who had lost their land and fled the Dust Bowl.

Most of these "Dust Bowl refugees¹²" could only find seasonal¹³ farm work like gathering¹⁴ fruit from trees. Farm owners did not pay these workers much money. The workers lived in camps that were often dirty and had no running water. Hunger and sickness were widespread. The people in the camps seemed to have lost all hope of improving their lives. Woody wrote a song about them called "Dust Bowl Refugees."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The oppression and bad conditions in the workers' camps made Woody Guthrie angry. He began helping¹⁵ labor¹⁶ organizers establish4 unions to help the workers. Next week, we tell about how he traveled to New York City and became a well-known musician.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Paul Thompson. Our studio engineer was Audrius Regis. I'm Mary Tillotson.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.
1. whistle [(h)wIsl] n. 口哨，汽笛声
2. insane [In5seIn] adj. 患精神病的
3. harmonica [hB:5mCnIkE] n. 口琴
4. establish [Is5tAblIF] vt. 建立，设立

1 curly   

adj.卷曲的，卷缩的

参考例句：

• The little boy has curly hair.这小男孩长着一头卷发。
• She is tall and dark with curly hair.她高高的个子，黑皮肤，卷头发。

2 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。

3 accidentally   

adv.偶然地；意外地

参考例句：

• Mary accidentally let out that her mother had telephoned.玛丽无意中说出她的母亲来过电话。
• As I turned around,I accidentally hit him in the face.我转身时不经意撞了他的脸。

4 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。

5 insane   

adj.蠢极的，荒唐的，精神错乱的，疯狂的

参考例句：

• Insane people are sometimes dangerous.精神病人有时非常危险。
• The letter made her insane with jealousy.那封信使她妒忌得发疯。

6 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。

7 boom   

n.隆隆声；vt.发隆隆声

参考例句：

• The country is having a great boom in industry.这个国家的工业正蓬勃发展。
• Boom!Boom!Boom!A series of explosions shook the valley.轰！轰！轰！一连串爆破声震撼山谷。

8 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

9 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。

10 dying   

adj.垂死的，临终的

参考例句：

• He was put in charge of the group by the dying leader.他被临终的领导人任命为集团负责人。
• She was shown into a small room,where there was a dying man.她被领进了一间小屋子，那里有一个垂死的人。

11 miner   

n.矿工

参考例句：

• He was a miner all his working life.他一辈子都是矿工。
• I think it is dangerous to be a miner.我认为当矿工是很危险的。

12 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

13 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

14 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

15 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

16 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。