VOA慢速英语2013 THIS IS AMERICA - United States Observes Black History Month

 

THIS IS AMERICA - United States Observes Black History Month

From VOA Learning English, welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in Special English. I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I'm Mario Ritter. February is Black History Month in the United States. It is a time when Americans remember people and events that shaped the story of African-Americans. One of those events was the Emancipation¹ Proclamation, a document signed 150 years ago by President Abraham Lincoln. The Emancipation Proclamation began the process of freeing an estimated four million slaves. Later, the 13th amendment² to the Constitution ended slavery across the United States.

Many freed slaves moved away from areas where slavery had been permitted. Some came to the nation’s capital, Washington, DC, in search of a better life.

Arlington National Cemetery³ is just outside Washington. The cemetery is the final resting place for many former armed forces members. Years ago, the grounds were home to slaves and then former slaves.

Craig Syphax has been working on his family’s history for the past 15 years. He discovered the Syphaxes were an influential⁴ slave family in Arlington. He also learned that his great-great-great grandfather, Charles Syphax, belonged to the nation’s first president, George Washington. Charles Syphax lived at the Washingtons’ home in Mount Vernon. He was one of 57 slaves who moved to Arlington House with George Washington’s adopted grandson.

“Every time I research a certain aspect of the Syphax family, I find more exciting things that spark my interest to want to keep going and delve⁵ into that.”

In 1863, thousands of newly freed slaves moved to Washington, DC. The government set up a camp for former slaves on land in Arlington, Virginia. The camp was known as Freedman’s Village.

Tens of thousands of former slaves lived in Freedman’s Village for nearly 40 years. The community had schools, hospitals, religious centers and even a home for children whose parents were dead.

Craig Syphax says his ancestor Charles became a leader in Freedman’s Village.

“The Syphaxes became people that could read and write. So they freely taught people how to read and write without charge or anything because we knew that was how you would succeed here in America.”

Syphax is working on a documentary about his family and on a new history museum next to Arlington Cemetery. Talmadge Williams is a leader of that effort.

“History not taught could be history repeating itself, and we don’t want history to be repeated. We don’t need slavery again.”

Former slaves are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Some people say they are as much a part of history as the soldiers buried there.

The “Battle Hymn⁶ of the Republic” is one of the most recognized pieces of music in American history. It is often called the great Civil War anthem⁷. And it was the favorite song of President Abraham Lincoln.

Poet and anti-slavery activist⁸ Julia Ward⁹ Howe wrote those words during the early years of the Civil War. The words came to her after she met with President Lincoln at the White House and saw soldiers fighting near Washington, DC.

Chris Coover is a specialist in American historical documents.

“That evening, she had a dream where this set of lyrics¹⁰ was presented to her, inspired by things she’d seen in the day. And she woke up in the middle of the night with these visions of Lincoln and battles and marching troops and wrote this rather remarkable¹¹ series of verses.”

Julia Ward Howe wrote those words to the folk song “John Brown’s Body.” Her work quickly became a success with the Union soldiers and even President Lincoln himself.

“Lincoln loved this piece and asked for it to be performed on many occasions.”

In the years since the Civil War, the song has become an iconic musical work. It is often played at major political events.

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. used parts of the Battle Hymn in several of his speeches. He read some of the words at the close of a 1968 speech on the night before he was shot and killed.

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”

Late last year, Christie’s auction¹² house sold what is thought to be the original manuscript of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The manuscript includes the signature of Julia Ward Howe. Christie’s estimated the value of the document at $250,000 to $400,000. But its final sales price was a surprising $782,500! 

“I’m Ray Freeman, with the Special English program ‘People in America.’” 

Many of you may recognize that voice. It belonged to Ray Freeman, who read newscasts and other programs in Special English. We are sorry to report that Ray Freeman died earlier this month. He was 78 years old. Our own Jim Tedder¹³ knew him well. Jim spoke¹⁴ with VOA’s Ray Kougell about his friend Ray Freeman.

I can’t remember exactly when Ray came to work here. But I remember shortly after he made his presence known, we knew that he always enjoyed a joke and a laugh. He was always very, very outgoing. Is that the way you remember him?

Yes I do. I remember him mainly as a director of our shows. We had long-form shows. And my fondest memory of him actually, is he was the candy man.

He would bring in these bags of Hershey candies. And of course newspeople haven’t eaten in a week. So anytime he dropped it off, it would be devoured¹⁵ in no time, even by people who didn’t work in our office.

Well, you know where that came from. His wife—whose name is Renie—worked for a candy distribution company. Maybe it was Hershey’s, I don’t know.

One of the parts of her job was to go to stores and either re-stock the candy with t he freshest, or to take the candy that had been there and had not sold, take it out of the store, and I guess they could just throw it away but instead Ray would bring it in here. And it was still good.

Many of us got fat because the candy was there, and every time we walked by the table we picked up a little piece and eat it. And we all got pretty used to it. I mean, this went on for a number of years.

Yes, yes it did. It was a very nice memory of him. And he always did with a smile.

I remember when I first came to Washington, DC watching Channel 20. Oh, I had good re-runs from old shows. And they had a booth announcer who was an anonymous¹⁶ voice to me, and then later on he came on board to VOA.

And I still am like this, I like to point the anonymous voice together with the face. I’m still enamored with that.

And it was a real pleasure to hear this voice that intro’d such great such shows as “Coming up next on ‘The Twilight¹⁷ Zone’; next on ‘Mash.’”

You know, all these old TV shows, and then finally meeting the man who did that.

Yeah, Ray did that, he did that for a number of years.

There’s another famous story that I’ve got to tell you. You’re probably not aware of this. One day I was walking down the corridor by our studios here. And I looked down the hall by Ray’s office, and there were about six, seven, eight people standing¹⁸ there. And they were all laughing, but not out loud. They were trying to stifle¹⁹ the laugh. And I -- what’s going on?

I walked down there, and here’s Ray, feet up on his desk, head back, sound asleep, snoring so loud you could hear him out in the hallway.

And this would go on, and on, and on and people would laugh. And they would laugh so loud I thought, well surely they’re going to wake him up.

And he would—Ray would give you one of these. Snort, snort.

And then he would stop, and then he’d start again.

And I laughed about it. And they said, this is not the first time. This has happened many times. He’s even slept so long he’s even missed his bus to go home.

He probably ate too much candy and the sugar knocked him out.

Could be, could be.

But you know, it’s a strange thing. You and I have been around here a long time. I’ve been here now over 33 years. And it’s very odd to look in the mirror and see your father or your grandfather looking back at you. And you think of a person like Ray Freeman, our colleague, as always being exactly like he was the day he walked out of here, and now he’s gone.

It’s a soul-searching exercise.

It is, it is. Time marches on for all of us. And it is very soul-searching.

Well, he was liked, he was loved. And I’ll miss his laugh and his jokes.

So will I. He was a very nice man and had a beautiful shock of white hair. Even, as I guess a relatively²⁰ younger man. He was very, very distinguished²¹ looking.

And a very, very pleasant demeanor²².

Always.

Join us again next week on the Voice of America.

Our program was written and produced by Kelly Jean Kelly. I'm Mario Ritter.

And I'm Kelly Jean Kelly. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 emancipation   

n.（从束缚、支配下）解放

参考例句：

• We must arouse them to fight for their own emancipation. 我们必须唤起他们为其自身的解放而斗争。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They rejoiced over their own emancipation. 他们为自己的解放感到欢欣鼓舞。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

3 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

4 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

5 delve   

v.深入探究，钻研

参考例句：

• We should not delve too deeply into this painful matter.我们不应该过分深究这件痛苦的事。
• We need to delve more deeply into these questions.这些是我们想进一步了解的。

6 hymn   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌

参考例句：

• They sang a hymn of praise to God.他们唱着圣歌，赞美上帝。
• The choir has sung only two verses of the last hymn.合唱团只唱了最后一首赞美诗的两个段落。

7 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

8 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

9 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

10 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

11 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。

12 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

13 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

15 devoured   

吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• She devoured everything she could lay her hands on: books, magazines and newspapers. 无论是书、杂志，还是报纸，只要能弄得到，她都看得津津有味。
• The lions devoured a zebra in a short time. 狮子一会儿就吃掉了一匹斑马。

16 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

17 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

18 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

19 stifle   

vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止

参考例句：

• She tried hard to stifle her laughter.她强忍住笑。
• It was an uninteresting conversation and I had to stifle a yawn.那是一次枯燥无味的交谈，我不得不强忍住自己的呵欠。

20 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

21 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

22 demeanor   

n.行为；风度

参考例句：

• She is quiet in her demeanor.她举止文静。
• The old soldier never lost his military demeanor.那个老军人从来没有失去军人风度。