美国国家公共电台 NPR New Hampshire's Exeter Brass Band Returns With Summer Concerts

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The Exeter Brass¹ Band in New Hampshire is one of the oldest continuously performing bands in the country. They've been around since 1847. This summer, they're back at it doing their usual Monday night run of free concerts from the Exeter Bandstand. New Hampshire Public Radio's Todd Bookman stopped by a show and sent this report.

(SOUNDBITE OF EXETER BRASS BAND MUSIC)

TODD BOOKMAN, BYLINE²: This scene is straight Norman Rockwell.

DAVE EMANUEL: My name is Dave Emanuel. I am one of the trumpet³ players for the Exeter Brass Band.

(SOUNDBITE OF EXETER BRASS BAND MUSIC)

BOOKMAN: Emanuel and the 30-odd members of the group cram⁴ into a bandstand draped with red, white and blue bunting, surrounding them the well-worn buildings of historic downtown Exeter.

EMANUEL: There's bricks. There's clapboards. There's the old town hall. There's the town offices. And we close Front Street for our performances, and people break out the lawn chairs, and the kids sing and dance, and everybody taps their feet and blinks their lights and honks⁵ their horns when they like us.

BOOKMAN: One hundred and seventy years in, and what's not to like? The band moves crisply through marches, polkas, overtures⁶ and Broadway medleys⁷. Michele Boulanger is the first female conductor of the Exeter Brass Band.

MICHELE BOULANGER: Well, technically⁸, we're not a brass band. They still keep the name of it, but we now have woodwinds in it as well, so we're just a regular concert band. But back in the day, it went off to the Civil War as a brass band with the backward-facing bugles⁹ 'cause the band would march in front of the regiment¹⁰. So they were the first ones to get shot, too.

BOOKMAN: For visitors to Exeter like Jan Orange, it's less about the band's history and more the simple pleasure of being outside on a New England night.

JAN ORANGE: We're from the Dallas area. And they do this in the summertime also, but it's 95 degrees, so it's not nearly as enjoyable. I don't care what's playing.

(SOUNDBITE OF EXETER BRASS BAND MUSIC)

BOOKMAN: The percussion¹¹ section is tight tonight, thanks in large part to Chick MacDougall, age 85. His first gig in 1956 started with a frantic¹² call from the band leader.

CHICK MACDOUGALL: He said, would you come down and fill in for one night? I said, geez, I don't think I'm good enough, you know, Joe (ph)? I did come down. That's 61 years ago (laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF EXETER BRASS BAND MUSIC)

BOOKMAN: There have lots of memorable¹³ nights since then for both band and audience. Katherine Tomlinson, who's here with her husband Clive, can still recall her favorite performance.

KATHERINE TOMLINSON: Our very first date came and said, hey, there's a band playing downtown. You want to go? And I said, hey, sure. And he asked me out, and we've been married for the last 24 years.

(SOUNDBITE OF EXETER BRASS BAND MUSIC)

BOOKMAN: The evening ends just after dark not with the most romantic time but rather the most patriotic¹⁴.

(SOUNDBITE OF EXETER BRASS BAND PERFORMANCE OF JOHN PHILIP SOUSA'S "THE STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER")

BOOKMAN: Lights bounce off the polished horns. The crowd comes to its feet. And the Exeter Brass Band has another show in the books. For NPR News, I'm Todd Bookman.

(SOUNDBITE OF EXETER BRASS BAND PERFORMANCE OF JOHN PHILIP SOUSA'S "THE STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER")

1 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 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。

4 cram   

v.填塞，塞满，临时抱佛脚，为考试而学习

参考例句：

• There was such a cram in the church.教堂里拥挤得要命。
• The room's full,we can't cram any more people in.屋里满满的，再也挤不进去人了。

5 honks   

n.雁叫声( honk的名词复数 )；汽车的喇叭声v.（使）发出雁叫似的声音，鸣（喇叭），按（喇叭）( honk的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In the fall we sometimes hear honks as a flock of geese flies south. 到了秋天，有时我们能听到南飞雁群的叫声。 来自辞典例句
• A wild- goose honks. 雁鸣。 来自互联网

6 overtures   

n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲

参考例句：

• Their government is making overtures for peace. 他们的政府正在提出和平建议。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had lately begun to make clumsy yet endearing overtures of friendship. 最近他开始主动表示友好，样子笨拙却又招人喜爱。 来自辞典例句

7 medleys   

n.混杂物( medley的名词复数 )；混合物；混杂的人群；混成曲（多首声乐曲或器乐曲串联在一起）

参考例句：

8 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

9 bugles   

妙脆角，一种类似薯片但做成尖角或喇叭状的零食； 号角( bugle的名词复数 )； 喇叭； 匍匐筋骨草； （装饰女服用的）柱状玻璃（或塑料）小珠

参考例句：

• Blow, bugles, blow, set the wild echoes flying. "响起来，号角，响起来，让激昂的回声在空中震荡"。
• We hear the silver voices of heroic bugles. 我们听到了那清亮的号角。

10 regiment   

n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制

参考例句：

• As he hated army life,he decide to desert his regiment.因为他嫌恶军队生活，所以他决心背弃自己所在的那个团。
• They reformed a division into a regiment.他们将一个师整编成为一个团。

11 percussion   

n.打击乐器；冲突，撞击；震动，音响

参考例句：

• In an orchestra,people who play percussion instruments sit at the back.在管弦乐队中，演奏打击乐器的人会坐在后面。
• Percussion of the abdomen is often omitted.腹部叩诊常被省略。

12 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。

13 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

14 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。