AMERICAN MOSAIC - Artists Honored at an African American Awa

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ -April 12, 2002: Artists Honored³ at an African American Awards Ceremony / Yosemite
National Park / New Museum of Folk Art

HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC
—
VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today we:
Play recordings⁴ by musicians honored at a recent African American awards ceremony ..
.
Answer a question about Yosemite National Park ..
.
And visit a new museum of folk art.

Folk Art Museum

HOST:

A new museum opened recently in New York City. It is called the American Folk Art Museum. Shep O’Neal
tells us about it.

ANNCR:

The new museum provides a permanent home for American folk art. Folk art includes traditional objects that
people made to use in their homes during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They created these objects to
be beautiful as well as useful. Folk art also includes the work of self-taught artists who were not trained in art
schools.

The new American Folk Art Museum is an unusual modern metal building on West Fifty -Third Street. The
building is tall and narrow. A special show celebrates the opening of the museum. It is called “American
Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum.
”

Ralph Esmerian is an official of the Folk Art Museum. He gave four-hundred pieces from his private collection to
the museum. They include paintings, clay containers, cloth needlework pieces and painted household objects of
the past two-hundred years.

The objects were made by famous artists and unknown artists --sailors and farmers and schoolgirls. Many of the
pieces are well-known examples of American folk art. Some are serious pieces. Others are fun to look at and
make the visitor smile. One of the well-known paintings is called “The Peaceable Kingdom”
by Edward
Hicks. He painted it around Eighteen-Forty-Six. The painting shows many kinds of animals, including a lion and
a lamb, living together in peace. He got this idea from the Christian⁵ holy book, the Bible⁶.

Visitors to the Folk Art Museum can see many unusual metal or wood sculptures that are fun to look at. For
example, weathervanes are made to turn to show the way the wind is blowing. One metal weathervane is shaped
like the famous Statue of Liberty⁷ in New York harbor⁸.

People made other sculptures in the Eighteen-Hundreds to help sell products or services. One of them is a two-
meter tall wooden statue of a man in a red, white and blue painted suit. It is called “Dapper Dan.
”
It stood
outside a place where men got their hair cut.

The director of the new folk art museum is Gerard Wertkin. He says folk art is the art of American culture. He
says folk art can help people remember the American spirit of creativity and democracy⁹.


Yosemite National Park

HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from Japan. Nori Wada asks about Yosemite National Park.

 

Yosemite National Park is a large wild area in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of the state of
California. It extends¹⁰ over more than three-hundred-thousand hectares of land. It has more
than one-thousand kilometers of paths. Most lead to an area of lakes and mountains known as
the High Sierra.

More than sixty kinds of animals and two-hundred kinds of birds live there. Yosemite also
has more than one-thousand kinds of plants and thirty kinds of trees. It is one of the few
places to see the famous Sequoia¹¹ Trees. One of these is called the Grizzly¹² Giant Tree. This
tree measures more than ten meters around at the ground. The Sequoia trees are among the
oldest living things on Earth.

More than three-million people visited Yosemite National Park last year. Some camped in the park. They stayed
overnight¹³ in tents
–
temporary cloth shelters. Others stayed at costly¹⁴ hotels in the park. Everyone was there to
enjoy the park’s natural beauty.

Much of that natural beauty is in the Yosemite Valley, at a height of more than one-thousand meters. Water and
ice created the valley millions of years ago. Today, many waterfalls flow through it. One of the most famous is
Bridalveil Falls. It is often the first waterfall that visitors see as they enter the park. In the spring, the water hitting
the rocks produces a great sound like thunder. Another famous waterfall is Horsetail Falls. It sometimes appears
to be on fire when the water shows the orange color of sunset.

Yosemite is also known for its rock formations¹⁵. One is called the Half Dome¹⁶. It rises almost three-thousand
meters from the floor of the Yosemite Valley. At an area called Glacier¹⁷ Point, visitors can look down more than
nine-hundred meters into the valley. The highest point in the valley is called Cloud’s Rest, three-thousand
meters about the valley floor.

Margaret and Robert Lebonitte and their three children visited Yosemite National Park a few years ago. They
visited Cloud’s Rest, Glacier Point and many waterfalls during a nine -hour bus trip through the park. Missus
Lebonitte says her favorite experience was sitting in the middle of a group of huge Giant Sequoia trees and
enjoying the silence of nature.

NABOB Awards

HOST:

The National Association¹⁸ of Black Owned Broadcasters represents the interests of African American owners of
radio and television stations in the United States. Their goal is to increase the number of African American
owners in the American broadcasting industry. The group is known as NABOB.

It recently held a ceremony in Washington, D-C, to honor² some of the most famous people in the entertainment
and broadcasting industries. Among them were the rhythm¹⁹ and blues²⁰ group the Isley Brothers, popular singer
Janet Jackson and radio station owner Cathy Hughes. They were recognized for being successful and for helping²¹
others in the black community. Mary Tillotson has more.

ANNCR:

NABOB presented blues musician Bo Diddley with the Pioneer in Entertainment Award. He was honored for his
influence on rock, blues, jazz and popular music. Here is one of Bo Diddley’s hits, “I’m a Man”.

((CUT 1: I’M A MAN))

Opera singer Leontyne Price was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Leontyne
Price has continued the struggle to help other black opera singers become successful. She
performed one of her most famous songs from George Gershwin’s musical production


“Porgy and Bess.
”
The song is “Summertime.
”

((CUT 2: SUMMERTIME))

Patti LaBelle sang some of her greatest hits at the NABOB awards
ceremony. She is known for her energetic live performances. Here, she sings
the song “Lady Marmalade”
with the group Labelle.

((CUT 3: LADY MARMALADE)
)
HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And I hope you will join us

again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC—VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Shelley Gollust, Cynthia Kirk and Nancy Steinbach. Our
studio engineer was Curtis Bynam. And our producer was Paul Thompson.

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1 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

2 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。

3 honored   

adj.光荣的：荣幸的v.尊敬，给以荣誉( honor的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I hope to be honored with further orders. 如蒙惠顾，不胜荣幸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is a time-honored custom. 这是一个古老的习俗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

5 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。

6 bible   

n.《圣经》；得到权威支持的典籍

参考例句：

• According to the Bible we are all the seed of Adam.根据《圣经》所说的，我们都是亚当的后裔。
• This dictionary should be your Bible when studying English.学习英语时，这本字典应是你的主要参考书。

7 liberty   

n.自由，自由权；冒昧行为

参考例句：

• He stood for the cause of liberty and justice.他为自由和正义的事业而奋斗。
• You are at liberty to do as you please.你可以随意行事。

8 harbor   

n.海港，港口；vt.庇护，藏匿；心怀(怨恨等)

参考例句：

• The harbor lies to the south of the city.港口在城市的南边。
• At that time,our ship was tied up at this harbor.当时我们的船停靠在这个港口。

9 democracy   

n.民主政治，民主制度；民主精神，民主作风

参考例句：

• Democracy is based on good will and mutual understanding.民主建立在善意和相互理解的基础上。
• Did democracy have its beginnings in Athens? 民主制度是创始于雅典吗？

10 extends   

v.（空间、时间等）延伸，延续( extend的第三人称单数 )；伸展；给予；延长

参考例句：

• This country extends its power and influence into neighbouring countries. 这个国家将其势力与影响扩大至邻国。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His domain extends for 20 miles in every direction. 方圆20英里之内都是他的地产。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 sequoia   

n.红杉

参考例句：

• The sequoia national forest is at the southern end of the sierra nevada range.红杉国家公园位于内华达山脉南端尽头处。
• The photo shows the enormous general Sherman tree in California's sequoia national park.照片显示的是加利福尼亚州红杉国家公园内巨大的谢尔曼将军树。

12 grizzly   

adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊

参考例句：

• This grizzly liked people.这只灰熊却喜欢人。
• Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般说来，灰熊不是社交型动物。

13 overnight   

ad.前一天晚上，一夜间 a.前一天晚上的

参考例句：

• She stayed overnight in the hotel. 她在旅馆过了一夜。
• Our success is not won overnight. 我们的成功不是一夜之间得来的。

14 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

15 formations   

n.形成( formation的名词复数 )；构成；形成物；编队

参考例句：

• Clouds are formations of condensed water vapour. 云是由凝聚的水蒸气构成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• New word formations have not regularity. 新词的构成没有规律。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

17 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。

18 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

19 rhythm   

n.韵律；节奏

参考例句：

• He has an ear for the rhythm of Irish speech.他对爱尔兰语的节奏很敏感。
• His poem has a pleasing rhythm.他的诗有和谐的韵律。

20 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。

21 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。