VOA慢速英语 2007 0629b

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC¹, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:

We answer a question from a listener about a place called Hell's Kitchen‿/P>

Play music by Chris Daughtry and his new rock group‿/P>

And report about a new American artist.

Graham Caldwell

HOST:

Graham Caldwell is a young artist who makes magical and unusual sculptures out of glass and metal. This artist does not want to make glass art that just looks nice. He wants to push the limits of this material.  He likes to explore the meeting point of natural and mechanical forms. Critics are praising his imaginative² and bold sculptures. Barbara Klein has more.

BARBARA KLEIN:

Graham Caldwell makes many of his glass sculptures in his workshop near Washington, D.C.

There, you can watch him put red-hot liquid glass on a metal stick ca 
Malocclusus by Graham Caldwell
lled a blowpipe. He expertly forms the glass in different ways by blowing air through the blowpipe opening. He can stretch the glass into long shapes or let it hang down so that gravity does the work. But Caldwell’s art is not usually just one single piece of sculpture. Each work is made up of many similar parts.

Graham Caldwell recently had a show at an art gallery in Washington.  One work was made up of pointy glass pieces that looked like the shape of elephant tusks³. They were attached to the wall by round metal bases.

Caldwell arranged these sharp, curved pieces in a circle so that all the points were 
Untitled by Graham Caldwell
going in the same direction. It looked like the open mouth of an angry sea creature.

Another work was made up of many slightly different silvery glass forms that looked like tear drops coming out of the wall. Each glass drop reflected the silvery shape next to it. When you stood near the rounded forms, you could see yourself and the whole room reflected in the glass.

Graham Caldwell said the piece is about the "intelligibility⁴ of reflections."  This striking⁵ artwork keeps you looking, wondering, and exploring.

Hell's Kitchen

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Hungary.  Monika Fogl asks about a neighborhood in New York City called Hell's Kitchen.

 
Restaurants in the Hell's Kitchen area of New York City
Hell's Kitchen is on the island of Manhattan.  It is between Thirty-Fourth and Fifty-Ninth Streets west of Eighth Avenue all the way to the Hudson River.  Dutch immigrants settled in the area in the late sixteen hundreds.  Back then, it had green fields and small rivers.  The Dutch called the area Vale of Flowers.

How did the area get the name Hell's Kitchen? There are several possible answers.  Some people say it was the traditional name of a building in the area.  The building was in bad condition and the people who lived there were very poor.

By the eighteen hundreds the area had become a dangerous place to live.  Many poor Irish immigrants lived there.  Fights and other crimes were common. People lived in dirty, crowded buildings that the owners did not take care of.  The area had many factories, including slaughterhouses, where animals were killed and sold at food markets. 

In the eighteen sixties there were riots⁶ in Hell's Kitchen to protest the government's order forcing people to serve in the military during the Civil War.  White people attacked black people, whom they blamed for the war. Many people were killed during the riots.

Some people think the area was named Hell's Kitchen around that time.  It could have come from Americans who knew of a poor and dangerous neighborhood in London, England called Hell's Kitchen.

There is also the story of a police officer named Fred who worked the area in the eighteen seventies. Fred and his partner were watching a fight among people in the neighborhood. The partner said, "The place is hell itself."  Fred answered, "Hell's a mild climate.  This is Hell's kitchen."

In the nineteen thirties, the Great Depression made the poverty in Hell's Kitchen even worse.  Many factories in the area dismissed employees.  Port companies and slaughterhouses closed.  Many people were forced to live on the streets because they could not pay for housing.  Many others left the area.

But new immigrant groups continued to arrive in New York, seeking a better life. Many Puerto Rican immigrants settled in Hell's Kitchen.  The nineteen fifty-nine Broadway musical "West Side Story" was set in the area.  It told about two young lovers torn by ethnic⁷ conflict between their Puerto Rican and white groups.

The area has experienced a renewal⁸ over the years.  It has many art galleries and restaurants. And it is close to Broadway Theaters.  Hell's Kitchen has in fact been home to many young actors. There are also several broadcasting operations for television and radio in the area.

There have been efforts to change the neighborhood's name to Clinton, after a former New York governor.  But efforts to keep the name Hell's Kitchen are equal in strength.

Chris Daughtry

HOST:

The television show, “American Idol⁹,‿has been the most popular program on American television for the past few years. Young singers perform on the show each week. Three judges comment on their performances.  Then the viewers at home vote for their favorite.  The singer with the fewest votes leaves the show.  The winner gets the title, “American Idol.‿nbsp; But what happens to the singers discovered on the show after the competition ends?  Faith Lapidus tells us about one “American Idol‿loser who has become a big winner.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Chris Daughtry competed on "American Idol" a year ago.  But he was voted off the 
Chris Daughtry
show. He is now the lead singer of the rock group called Daughtry.  That is also the name of the band’s first album, released last November.  It has sold more than two and one-half million copies. Here is the first single from the album DAUGHTRY.  It is called, “It’s Not Over.‿/P>

(MUSIC)

Chris Daughtry is twenty-seven years old.  He was born and raised in North Carolina.  He wrote or helped write ten of the twelve songs on the album. Here he sings, “What I Want.‿/P>

(MUSIC)

Critics say Chris Daughtry has become the best-selling musician in the United States. This is not bad for a singer who was a loser on “American Idol."  We leave you now with another song from DAUGHTRY.   It is called, “Home.‿/P>

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson.  I hope you enjoyed our program today.

It was written by Dana Demange, Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver¹⁰, who also was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. 

Send your questions about American life to [email protected].  Please include your full name and mailing address.  Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A. 

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English. 

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 imaginative   

adj.富有想象力的，爱想象的

参考例句：

• The imaginative child made up fairy stories.这个想像力丰富的孩子自己编神话故事。
• Scott was an imaginative writer.司格特是位富于想象力的作家。

3 tusks   

n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头

参考例句：

• The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
• Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

4 intelligibility   

n.可理解性，可理解的事物

参考例句：

• Further research on the effects of different characteristics on intelligibility is necessary. 不同的特征对字码可懂度的影响力的进一步研究是必要的。 来自互联网
• Demand concisely intelligibility, word number 30 or so thanks! 要求简洁明了，字数30左右谢谢啦！ 来自互联网

5 striking   

adj.显著的，惹人注目的，容貌出众的

参考例句：

• There is a striking difference between Jane and Mary.简和玛丽之间有显著的差异。
• What is immediately striking is how resourceful the children are.最令人注目的是孩子们的机智聪明。

6 riots   

n. 暴乱, 骚乱, 暴动 vi. 骚乱, 闹事

参考例句：

• the instigators of the riots 煽动骚乱的人
• The riots are a clear manifestation of the people's discontent. 骚乱清楚地表明了人们的不满情绪。

7 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

8 renewal   

adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来

参考例句：

• Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。

9 idol   

n.偶像，红人，宠儿

参考例句：

• As an only child he was the idol of his parents.作为独子，他是父母的宠儿。
• Blind worship of this idol must be ended.对这个偶像的盲目崇拜应该结束了。

10 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。