VOA慢速英语2010年-THIS IS AMERICA - A Student Orchestra

BARBARA KLEIN: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.

STEVE EMBER: And I'm Steve Ember. This week on our program, we look at musical diplomacy¹, past and present. And we talk to an actor whose most recent role came from his own childhood. But first, we meet a group of high school students who started their own orchestra.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: The Student Symphonic Orchestra of Fairfax, Virginia, near Washington, recently celebrated² its first anniversary. A young man named Matthew Martz started the group in his last year of high school. It began with twelve friends from the school orchestra. Michelle Bui was one of them.

MICHELLE BUI: "Matt is one of my very good friends, so I did it as a friend, but also because I love playing the violin."

Matthew Martz started the Student Symphonic Orchestra of Fairfax, Virginia

STEVE EMBER: Michelle, who is now in college, says she likes that the students run the orchestra themselves. Music choices are usually decided³ by a majority vote.

MICHELLE BUI: "We've played pop music. We're playing "Phantom⁴ of the Opera." We're playing John Williams, who is a famous composer who did 'Indiana Jones' and 'Star Wars' and 'Superman,' in addition to the classical music."

Orchestra member Lizzie Culberston plays the French horn.

LIZZIE CULBERSTON: "It has a versatile⁵ sound, first of all. I can do so many things with it. It can be really pretty or it can be really angry."

BARBARA KLEIN: The Student Symphonic Orchestra now has more than thirty members. Sixteen-year-old violinist Nicholas Black joined after he read a story about the group in a local newspaper. He says he likes that the music is more challenging than what he plays with his school orchestra.

NICHOLAS BLACK: "The music here is more complicated and harder, but I think it's partly because it's also with woodwinds and brass⁶, basically with a band. At school we do just strings⁷. We don't have a complete orchestra or anything."

STEVE EMBER:

Thirteen-year-old oboe player Kanika Sahi is the youngest member.

KANIKA SAHI: "They just show me how to be better, different techniques of playing and stuff like that."

Matt Martz leads the orchestra as the conductor. He says having musicians of different ages and abilities is not a problem.

MATT MARTZ: "A player who hasn't been playing for very long, I try to keep them next to the section player, or leader as we call it, that has been playing a while so they can always ask questions say, 'Hey, I don't know what that means.'"

BARBARA KLEIN:

Matt is now in college, studying music education. The orchestra's rehearsals⁸ bring him back to his hometown every weekend. He says the orchestra gives him the chance to improve his teaching skills.

MATT MARTZ: "This experience teaches me how to, more or less, teach teenagers, how to say 'OK, we're having a problem with this section, let's clap it, let's sing it.'"

(SOUND)

STEVE EMBER:

The orchestra performs for free but receives donations that help pay for necessities like sheet music.

MATT MARTZ: "In our first concert, we made eleven hundred dollars, which was fantastic. That helped pay for a lot of music that we had purchased. Then this last concert in January, we made over fifteen hundred dollars which is just incredible."

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Art and culture can bring people together. So they can often be effective instruments of public diplomacy. For the United States, one of the most successful public diplomacy efforts of the late twentieth century was the Jazz Ambassadors programs.

An exhibit launched in Washington looks back at this exercise in musical diplomacy.

(SOUND)

STEVE EMBER: "Jazz ambassadors" like Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck traveled the world. These musicians visited more than thirty-five countries from the nineteen fifties to the seventies. They traveled in the former Soviet⁹ Union, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Their music influenced the image of the United States and helped ease Cold War tensions.

Curtis Sandberg at the Meridian¹⁰ International Center in Washington is curator of the exhibit called "Jam Session."

CURTIS SANDBERG: "No one traveled back then, if you think about normal people. Who in nineteen fifty-six would get on an airplane and go to Burma? It was just unheard of. Or Thailand? Those were romantic locales for most people. And so the jazz ambassadors were really quite famous and were really hailed as America's diplomats¹¹ musically. And the legacy¹² that they left is still valid¹³."

BARBARA KLEIN: A jam session is when musicians get together and play whatever they like. The exhibit sponsored by the State Department will travel around the world over the next three years. It includes one hundred photographs from twenty-two years of the Jazz Ambassadors program.

CURTIS SANDBERG: "These guys were remarkable¹⁴. They braved dangers and sickness. Those were really tough tours. They were kept out very often for up to three months, under some pretty grueling conditions. They were heroes."

STEVE EMBER: Today the State Department has a program called Rhythm Road. It brings together different forms of music, from jazz and blues¹⁵ to Cajun and hip-hop. The aim is to share American music with the world and improve cross-cultural understanding. State Department official Maura Pally says cultural diplomacy remains¹⁶ extremely important in the world today.

MAURA PALLY: "Cultural diplomacy offers us a unique way to connect with people that we otherwise wouldn't. Art and music in particular transcends¹⁷ religious, political, and language divides in a way that nothing else does. "

Penny von Eschen is a history professor at the University of Michigan. She says cultural diplomacy should be used as a model for international relations.

PENNY VON ESCHEN: "It is a lesson to many countries to open up and have far more cultural exchange and make that a priority for diplomacy. It remains as relevant today as it would have been in the nineteen fifties and sixties."

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Music remains an important part of American public diplomacy. The newest generation of jazz musicians includes nine-year-old trumpet¹⁸ player Geoffrey Gallante. He started performing when he was five. He is the youngest jazz instrumentalist ever to perform at Washington's Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and at the White House.

GEOFFREY GALLANTE: "Well, I got to play with the president's own piano player. I did not play for President Bush, because I think he was on a trip to Iraq. It's a cool style of music and I want to keep doing it."

(MUSIC)

Rene Rivera in "The King of the Desert (El Rey del Desierto)"

STEVE EMBER: Rene Rivera is an actor who has appeared on TV shows like "Law and Order" and in many films. He is also a theater actor. His most recent play was personal. It followed his journey from poverty in Texas to the theater in New York City and the film world of Hollywood, California.

He performed the one-man play called "The King of the Desert" at a small historic theater in Hollywood. The name of the play came from words he heard from his father. His father told him that their ancestors were the kings and queens of the Olmecs, Toltecs, Mayans, Aztecs and other ancient peoples.

Here is Rene Rivera playing his father, who is talking to "mijo," or "my son," as a young boy in San Antonio, Texas.

RENE RIVERA: "Tonight you, with your dark skin and foolish tears, you have that blood running in your veins¹⁹, mijo. Your ancestors were the kings and the queens of the desert."

BARBARA KLEIN: Rene Rivera's wife, Stacey Martino, is a playwright²⁰. She wrote "The King of the Desert." She wanted to explore her husband's Latino roots as a family project, as a way to teach their young daughter.

STACEY MARTINO: "Rene really identifies as an American. And I kept saying 'But you're a Mexican American.' I want to understand the Mexican part. So I sat down and I researched a lot about the stories and the legacy of the Mexican culture. And from that, I decided to really write my version of Rene's personal mythology²¹."

STEVE EMBER: The story begins in the barrio, a poor area of San Antonio, Texas where many Latinos live. Rene Rivera says strong family ties and a shared Catholic faith helped people deal with the hard life in their community.

RENE RIVERA: "There's a very poetic²² beauty in that, in that kind of urban war zone Americana that is not really known, not really talked about, not really seen, and yet it is part of the spine²³ of America."

But he says there was too much alcohol and too little communication. And sometimes there was violence.

RENE RIVERA: "And with that, we hear fireworks. We're thrilled, until we realize it's still daylight and the fireworks are in actuality gunfire. The gangs in our barrio are awake. I lie on the ground covering my head."

BARBARA KLEIN: Rene Rivera found a way out of the barrio through school and theater. He studied at a Catholic university in San Antonio. Then he entered the Juilliard School, the nation's leading training center for the performing arts.

RENE RIVERA: "That fall, I moved to New York, got there on a Greyhound bus, and started living in New York, and started going to school. And it was an amazing, amazing shock and eye-opening experience. It was like going to a different planet. It was beautiful, it was an amazing, a frightening just yet invigorating experience."

STEVE EMBER: In "The King of the Desert" he plays members of his family and other characters. He tells the story of a boy in an immigrant neighborhood that connects two cultures, Mexican and American.

Rene Rivera has performed in many Shakespearean productions. But he says he found "The King of the Desert" more intense. He says experiencing old emotions can be difficult. But the process has helped him better understand where he came from.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Our program was based on reporting by Faiza Elmasry, Amra Alirejsovic and Mike O'Sullivan. I'm Barbara Klein.

STEVE EMBER: And I'm Steve Ember. We have a link to a video of the Student Symphonic Orchestra of Fairfax on our website, voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and iTunes at VOA Learning English.

We leave you with the orchestra in a concert recorded at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia. Conductor Matthew Martz is a student there.

Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English
 

1 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 phantom   

n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的

参考例句：

• I found myself staring at her as if she were a phantom.我发现自己瞪大眼睛看着她，好像她是一个幽灵。
• He is only a phantom of a king.他只是有名无实的国王。

5 versatile   

adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的

参考例句：

• A versatile person is often good at a number of different things.多才多艺的人通常擅长许多种不同的事情。
• He had been one of the game's most versatile athletes.他是这项运动中技术最全面的运动员之一。

6 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。

7 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

8 rehearsals   

n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复

参考例句：

• The earlier protests had just been dress rehearsals for full-scale revolution. 早期的抗议仅仅是大革命开始前的预演。
• She worked like a demon all through rehearsals. 她每次排演时始终精力过人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

10 meridian   

adj.子午线的；全盛期的

参考例句：

• All places on the same meridian have the same longitude.在同一子午线上的地方都有相同的经度。
• He is now at the meridian of his intellectual power.他现在正值智力全盛期。

11 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

13 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

14 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

15 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。

16 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

17 transcends   

超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的第三人称单数 )； 优于或胜过…

参考例句：

• The chemical dilution technique transcends most of the difficulties. 化学稀释法能克服大部分困难。
• The genius of Shakespeare transcends that of all other English poets. 莎士比亚的才华胜过所有的其他英国诗人。

18 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。

19 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》

20 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

21 mythology   

n.神话，神话学，神话集

参考例句：

• In Greek mythology,Zeus was the ruler of Gods and men.在希腊神话中，宙斯是众神和人类的统治者。
• He is the hero of Greek mythology.他是希腊民间传说中的英雄。

22 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

23 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。