VOA慢速英语2010年-People in America - James Brown, 1933-

STEVE EMBER: I'm Steve Ember.

BARBARA KLEIN: And I'm Barbara Klein with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about James Brown, the musician called "The Godfather of Soul."

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: That was James Brown singing his famous hit song from nineteen sixty-five, "I Got You (I Feel Good.)" With this song, Brown went from a rhythm¹ and blues² singer to a pop music star. It helped him gain a huge number of white fans as well as black ones. He became a famous and wealthy singer, songwriter and performer. But this huge success was very different from the poverty of his early life.

James Brown is also known as the hardest working man in show business.

BARBARA KLEIN: James Brown was born in nineteen thirty-three in a one-room house near Barnwell, South Carolina. His father, Joe Brown, had a job removing fluids³ from pine trees in the surrounding woods. He sold the sap for making turpentine. The boy's mother left the family when he was seven years old. James and his father moved to Augusta, Georgia. Young James had musical abilities. He learned⁴ to play the guitar, piano and drums. He did this while picking crops in the fields and shining people's shoes to earn money to survive.

STEVE EMBER: James loved the African-American church music called gospel. He loved it when the church's religious leader would sing this music and drop to his knees with emotional⁵ shouts and screams.

Brown later used this kind of emotional singing in his own performances. He also liked the sound of the jazz and rhythm and blues performer Louis Jordan. Jordan had recorded a song called "Caldonia" and other popular songs in the late nineteen forties and nineteen fifties.

Brown was also called the hardest working man in show business.

BARBARA KLEIN: By the time he was thirteen, James Brown had formed his own music group. He later joined a group called the Flames. The band played at drinking places, restaurants, colleges and other places in the South. These young performers copied the sounds of successful rhythm and blues groups. They also included in their shows a song co-written by James Brown. It was called "Please, Please, Please."

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: This was the song that launched⁶ James Brown's career. He was able to stop doing low-paying jobs. He said the success of the song gave him the chance to have some of the things he could not have dreamed of. "Please, Please, Please" was recorded in nineteen fifty-six. It sold more than one million copies. It made James Brown famous in the United States. And it became part of his electrifying⁷ stage performances.

Brown would be on stage with an eighteen-piece band and a group of dancers. His emotional singing included unusual sounds and screams. He danced around the stage performing movements that had not been seen before. He created his own musical and performing style.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: That was another James Brown hit song, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" from nineteen sixty-five. Brown said that song was one of the most important things he ever did in the way of changing music rhythms⁸. With that song, Brown created the music he called "funk." This later came to be called "soul" music. And James Brown became known as "The Godfather of Soul." He followed this hit a few months later with "I Got You (I Feel Good)", an even bigger hit.

STEVE EMBER: James Brown also became known as "the hardest working man in show business." During the nineteen sixties, he performed his exciting show almost non-stop in city after city in the United States and in other countries. At the same time, Brown worked for civil rights for African-Americans.

He supported black business ownership⁹ as the most important way to what he called "real black power." He urged black people to be proud of themselves. And he urged young people to continue their education and not drop out of school. His message was positive instead of angry. He recorded this song in nineteen sixty-eight, "Say it Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud.)"

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Over the years, James Brown had problems in business, with taxes and in his personal life. During the nineteen seventies, his popularity¹⁰ decreased as disco music became popular. But he made a comeback in the early nineteen eighties, with "Living in America," his first hit in years.

(MUSIC)

His emotional singing included unusual sounds and screams.

STEVE EMBER: In nineteen eighty-six, James Brown was one of the first performers invited into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He became one of the most successful recording¹¹ artists in history. With the exception¹² of Elvis Presley, no pop artist had more hit records. He had ninety-four songs in the Top One Hundred songs. And he had more Top Twenty single records than any other recording artist up to that time.

But, in nineteen eighty-eight, he committed some crimes. He spent two and one-half years in prison. He was pardoned of his crimes in two thousand three.

BARBARA KLEIN: James Brown received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in nineteen ninety-two. He later talked about what he had tried to do to help young people. He said he tried to teach through his music. He thought it was very important to make young people proud of themselves and willing to work for what they wanted. He said life is sometimes really hard, but you can make it a lot better if you try to prepare for it.

STEVE EMBER: James Brown saw himself as an example of "the American dream." That means that a person can rise from poverty to wealth and success if he or she works¹³ hard. Brown influenced the music of his time and many performers who came after him. He showed his personality and energy in his famous shout:

(MUSIC)

"If you are an American or you're just a human being and got any blood going through your veins¹⁴ -- AHHOOWW! I feel good!"

BARBARA KLEIN: James Brown performed until the very end of his life and continued to help his community. Three days before his death, he joined volunteers at his yearly¹⁵ event to give toys to needy¹⁶ children in Augusta, Georgia. He had planned to perform on New Year's Eve at B.B. King's Blues Club in New York City.

James Brown, "The Godfather of Soul," died December twenty-fifth, two thousand six in Atlanta, Georgia. He was seventy-three. During his fifty-year career, he made many music fans feel good.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: This program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Steve Ember.

BARBARA KLEIN: And I'm Barbara Klein. You can read scripts¹⁷ and download audio¹⁸ at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.

 

1 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。

2 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。

3 fluids   

n.液体，流体( fluid的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He is taking cold fluids. 他正在喝冷饮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• You can contract Aids if your bodily fluids come into contact with the bodily fluids of someone else who is infected with HIV. 如果你的体液与染有HIV者的体液接触，你就会染上艾滋病。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 emotional   

adj.令人动情的；易动感情的；感情(上)的

参考例句：

• Emotional people don't stop to calculate.感情容易冲动的人做事往往不加考虑。
• This is an emotional scene in the play.这是剧中动人的一幕。

6 launched   

v.发射( launch的过去式和过去分词 )；[计算机]开始（应用程序）；发动；开展（活动、计划等）

参考例句：

• He launched a bitter diatribe against the younger generation. 他对年轻一代发起了猛烈的抨击。
• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide. 这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。

7 electrifying   

v.使电气化( electrify的现在分词 )；使兴奋

参考例句：

• The dancers gave an electrifying performance. 舞蹈演员们的表演激动人心。
• The national orchestra gave an electrifying performance of classic music. 国家交响乐团举行了一次古典音乐的震撼性演出。 来自辞典例句

8 rhythms   

节奏( rhythm的名词复数 )； 规则变化； 规律； 节律

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• Stylistically, the term implies loose, rapid painthandling, large rhythms and broken colour. 从风格上来说，这个名称意味着松散而迅速的绘画笔触，奔放的格调，使用强烈配色。

9 ownership   

n.所有(权)，所有制

参考例句：

• The house is under new ownership.那栋房子已易新主。
• He claimed ownership of the house.他声称那幢房子归他所有。

10 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

11 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

12 exception   

n.例外,除外

参考例句：

• Everyone should keep discipline and you are no exception. 每个人都应该遵守纪律,你也毫无例外。
• There's an exception to every rule. 每项规则均有例外。

13 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。

14 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 yearly   

adj.每年的，一年一度的；adv.一年一次地

参考例句：

• The flower show is a yearly event in our town.我们镇上的花展一年举行一次。
• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。

16 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

17 scripts   

剧本( script的名词复数 )； 文字； 笔迹； （一种语言的）字母系统

参考例句：

• Many felt he was prostituting his talents by writing Hollywood scripts. 许多人觉得他给好莱坞写剧本是滥用自己的才华。
• The scripts had a rather tired plot. 这部陈旧的剧本的情节是非常俗套的。

18 audio   

n./adj.音频(响)(的)；声音(的)，听觉(的)

参考例句：

• Often,the meeting is recorded on audio or video media for later reference.通常这种会议会以视频或者音频形式记录下来，供以后查阅。
• You don't even have to pay for audio programs.你大可不必为自己听这些节目付费。