THIS IS AMERICA - Kennedy Center to Expand Arts Education

THIS IS AMERICA - Kennedy Center to Expand Arts Education
By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Monday, March 07, 2005

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., serves as a national home for the performing arts. Now the center wants to do more to bring those arts to children.

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VOICE ONE:

Kennedy Center
Last month the Kennedy Center announced plans to spend one hundred twenty-five million dollars on performing arts education. The program will be developed over a five-year period. The center will receive both government and private money for this effort.

Plans include opening a new Family Theater at the Kennedy Center at the end of this year. Performances from there will be seen later in schools around America.

VOICE TWO:

The president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Michael Kaiser, announced the expanded education program. Mister¹ Kaiser says the Kennedy Center has been working on developing its program with officials of more than one hundred schools. Mister Kaiser says that if people are trained in the arts while they are young, they will be interested as adults.

A major research organization came out with a report last month about public policy toward² the arts. The Rand Corporation³ says interest in the arts is of more than just economic value; it helps create better citizens. The report calls for placing greater importance on creating demand for the arts. It says the way to do that is to introduce more people, especially young people, to experiences with the arts.

VOICE ONE:

Educators say children who study the arts are more likely to do well in other subjects and to become student leaders. Yet in recent years many schools have reduced arts education.

During the nineteen nineties, research found that less than half of middle school students in the United States studied the arts. And some of the programs they did have were not very good.

In nineteen ninety-seven, an agency⁴ of the Department of Education studied thousands of eighth graders. The National Assessment⁵ of Education said the students were not as well trained in arts as they should have been.

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VOICE TWO:

The Kennedy Center will develop shows to be presented to young people around the nation. Two organizations will finance⁶ that effort. They are Disney Theatrical⁷ Productions and Music Theater International.

First, children will take part in musical shows. The shows will be presented in the Family Theater that the Kennedy Center plans to open this December. Then the productions will travel to schools around the United States. Local children, not theater professionals, will produce the shows. Educators will examine the effects of taking part in the productions on the learning⁸ skills of the performers.

VOICE ONE:

The government is to finance the new theater for ten million dollars. To create it, one hundred twenty seats will be added to an existing theater. There will be a new public waiting area and dressing⁹ rooms for performers.

Some other new Kennedy Center projects are electronic. For example, a new Web site will offer jazz music and tell about its history. This site is to be ready in two years.

Another new site on the Internet will present a history of performing arts. It will offer performances and stories about the performances. That site is to be ready in three years.

VOICE TWO:

The Kennedy Center already presents many shows for children at the center and in schools. Its president, Michael Kaiser, says the additional¹⁰ programs will bring the Kennedy Center education budget to forty million dollars. Center officials say this will be the largest amount spent for education by any American arts organization.

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VOICE ONE:

John Kennedy
The Kennedy Center is a memorial to John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He was the thirty-fifth president of the United States. It is also the official national performing arts center. Each year about two million people see music, dance, drama and other performances at the Kennedy Center.

And three million people come just to see the big white building itself. In the Hall of States, for example, they pass beneath the flags of all the American states and territories. In the Hall of Nations are the flags of more than one hundred sixty countries.

Visitors also see the works¹¹ of art and other gifts that more than forty countries have given to the Kennedy Center. And people can learn about the life of President Kennedy and listen to some of his speeches.

VOICE TWO:

Dwight Eisenhower
Efforts to build a cultural center in Washington began before John Kennedy was elected president in nineteen sixty. In nineteen fifty-eight, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the National Cultural Center Act. He said the United States needed a place to show its artistic¹² successes.

One of the earliest problems was finding¹³ a place for the building. Directors of the center chose an area on the edge of the Potomac River called Foggy Bottom. Some people worried that the building would sink into the soft ground. It hasn't yet.

VOICE ONE:

Another problem was money. The cultural center needed to collect millions of dollars in private gifts. The government promised to give an amount equal to the money raised.

After President Kennedy took office in nineteen sixty-one, he campaigned for the national cultural center. His wife, Jacqueline, helped raise money for the center. So did Mamie Eisenhower, the wife of the former president.

On November twenty-second, nineteen sixty-three, President Kennedy was shot to death as he rode in an open car in Dallas, Texas. Congress¹⁴ soon declared the cultural center a memorial to him.

VOICE TWO:

Still, it was not easy to get enough money for the Kennedy Center. Center officials had to have more than fifteen million dollars by June thirtieth, nineteen sixty-five. If that did not happen, then they would not receive money from the government. They would not be able to build the center. Most of June passed, and the campaign still had not reached its goal.

Then on June twenty-ninth the people of Italy gave more than one million dollars worth of marble to build the center. Other countries also gave money. These gifts rescued the project.

VOICE ONE:

Building finally began on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in nineteen sixty-seven. Four years later, the completed Kennedy Center stood along the Potomac River. Architect Edward Durrell Stone had designed a simple and beautiful building. It cost about seventy million dollars.

Opening night at the Kennedy Center was September eighth, nineteen seventy-one. Guests heard a new musical work composed and conducted by Leonard Bernstein. He wrote "Mass" to honor¹⁵ President Kennedy. Here, from Bernstein's "Mass," is "Gloria Tibi."

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VOICE TWO:

Some of the world's finest artists have appeared at the Kennedy Center over the years.

Classical musicians like pianist Vladimir Horowitz and violinist Isaac Stern¹⁶ have played there. So have jazz performers like Benny Goodman and Sarah Vaughan.

These days, Placido Domingo, one of the world's best known tenors¹⁷, sometimes sings there. He is also the general director of the Washington National Opera, which performs at the Kennedy Center Opera House.

VOICE ONE:

Long before the Kennedy Center was built, President Eisenhower said America needed a place to show its artistry. Now the center wants to help build more interest in the arts into the lives of young America.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁸. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

2 toward   

prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝

参考例句：

• Suddenly I saw a tall figure approaching toward the policeman.突然间我看到一个高大的身影朝警察靠近。
• Upon seeing her,I smiled and ran toward her. 看到她我笑了，并跑了过去。

3 corporation   

n.公司，企业&n.社团，团体

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation. 这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• The inflation did the corporation up. 通货膨胀使这个公司破产了。

4 agency   

n.经办；代理；代理处

参考例句：

• This disease is spread through the agency of insects.这种疾病是通过昆虫媒介传播的。
• He spoke in the person of Xinhua News Agency.他代表新华社讲话。

5 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

6 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
• A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。

7 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

8 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。

9 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

10 additional   

adj.添加的，额外的，另外的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to set down these additional rules.有必要制定这些补充规则。
• I think we can fit in an additional room.我想我们可以再加建一间房子。

11 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

12 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

13 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

14 Congress   

n.(代表)大会；(C-:美国等国的)国会，议会

参考例句：

• There were some days to wait before the Congress.大会的召开还有几天时间。
• After 18 years in Congress,he intented to return to private life.在国会供职18年后，他打算告老还乡。

15 honor   

n.光荣；敬意；荣幸；vt.给…以荣誉；尊敬

参考例句：

• I take your visit as a great honor.您的来访是我莫大的光荣。
• It is a great honor to receive that prize.能拿到那个奖是无上的光荣。

16 stern   

adj.严厉的，严格的，严峻的；n.船尾

参考例句：

• The ship was in a blaze from stem to stern.整艘船从头到尾都着火了。
• The headmaster ruled the school with a stern discipline.校长治校严谨。

17 tenors   

n.男高音( tenor的名词复数 )；大意；男高音歌唱家；（文件的）抄本

参考例句：

• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration. 3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His one -- a-kind packaging thrilled an opera world ever-hungry for tenors. 他一对一类包装激动世界的歌剧以往任何时候都渴望的男高音。 来自互联网

18 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。