VOA标准英语2010年-Poland Celebrates 200th Birthday of a

This spring marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederic Chopin, who was born and raised in a village just outside Warsaw.  His musical legacy¹ forms an integral part of modern Poland's cultural identity.

For any visitor to Warsaw, it does not take long to realize that Frederic Chopin is everywhere.  Schools, streets and even the international airport are named after him.  Hundreds of people turn up every summer for free Chopin concerts in a Warsaw park, beneath a towering statue of the man himself.

People often assume that Chopin was French - he spent half his life in France and is buried there in the famous Pere Lachaise cemetery³ in Paris.

But for many Poles, Chopin is the embodiment of their nation's spirit.  When they listen to his mazurkas and polonaises, they hear not only the strains of Polish folk music, but also nostalgia⁴ and patriotism⁶ for his homeland.

Former Minister of Culture Waldemar Dabrowski is adamant⁷ about Chopin's legacy.

Chopin taught us what it means to be a patriot⁵, he says, and he symbolizes⁸ what Poles want to achieve in shaping our culture today.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth, and the Polish parliament has declared 2010 to be the official Year of Chopin.

Stanislaw Leszczynski of the Warsaw-based Chopin Institute is helping⁹ organize the year-long events.  He says that even during Chopin's lifetime, he was the best ambassador of Polish culture, and remains¹⁰ so to this day.

Chopin was born in ?elazowa Wola, a tiny village about 50 kilometers west of Warsaw.  His family home is an elegant two-story manor¹¹ house on spacious¹² grounds.  Today it is a museum.  Inside are precious artifacts from the family's daily life, including scraps¹³ of hand-written poetry and the manuscript of a polonaise written by young Frederic when he was eight-years-old.

The Chopin family later moved to Warsaw, where Chopin became known as a child prodigy¹⁴.  But in 1830, while he was touring Europe, Poland's Russian rulers crushed an uprising, sending many Polish artists into exile.  On the advice of a friend, Chopin settled in France.  He would never again set foot in his native land.

Chopin spent years pining for Poland, and never entirely¹⁵ mastered the French language.  As he was dying of tuberculosis¹⁶ at the age of 39, he asked that his heart be removed and taken back to his homeland.  Today it is preserved in an urn² in a Warsaw church.

French tourist Marie Claude Monchablon says that her love of music inspired her to visit Poland.  During a visit to Chopin's birthplace, she says that for music lovers like herself, it is impossible to forget that Chopin's heart is here.

On March 1, Warsaw unveiled a new, state-of-the-art Chopin museum.  It features an innovative¹⁷ electronic information system, and the collection includes rare items like Chopin's last piano and his passport. 

Museum curator Alicja Knast explains that she and her colleagues had to fight hard at auctions¹⁸ to collect the last remnants of Chopin's life, but, she says they felt it was their obligation to finally provide Chopin with a home. 

To one young man in Zelazowa Wola, the most important thing about Chopin is that he showed the world that Poles can achieve great things.  He said he hopes 2010 will make people realize that Poland is more than just an obscure country they can't find on a map.  Maybe, he adds, it might even make people want to visit.
 

1 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。

2 urn   

n.（有座脚的）瓮；坟墓；骨灰瓮

参考例句：

• The urn was unearthed entire.这只瓮出土完整无缺。
• She put the big hot coffee urn on the table and plugged it in.她将大咖啡壶放在桌子上,接上电源。

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 nostalgia   

n.怀乡病，留恋过去，怀旧

参考例句：

• He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
• I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌，心中充满了怀旧之情。

5 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

6 patriotism   

n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism.他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。

7 adamant   

adj.坚硬的，固执的

参考例句：

• We are adamant on the building of a well-off society.在建设小康社会这一点上，我们是坚定不移的。
• Veronica was quite adamant that they should stay on.维罗妮卡坚信他们必须继续留下去。

8 symbolizes   

v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The use of light and dark symbolizes good and evil. 用光明与黑暗来象征善与恶。
• She likes olive because It'symbolizes peace. 她喜欢橄榄色因为它象征着和平。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 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。

10 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。

11 manor   

n.庄园，领地

参考例句：

• The builder of the manor house is a direct ancestor of the present owner.建造这幢庄园的人就是它现在主人的一个直系祖先。
• I am not lord of the manor,but its lady.我并非此地的领主，而是这儿的女主人。

12 spacious   

adj.广阔的，宽敞的

参考例句：

• Our yard is spacious enough for a swimming pool.我们的院子很宽敞，足够建一座游泳池。
• The room is bright and spacious.这房间很豁亮。

13 scraps   

油渣

参考例句：

• Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
• A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。

14 prodigy   

n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆

参考例句：

• She was a child prodigy on the violin.她是神童小提琴手。
• He was always a Negro prodigy who played barbarously and wonderfully.他始终是一个黑人的奇才，这种奇才弹奏起来粗野而惊人。

15 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

16 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

17 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

18 auctions   

n.拍卖，拍卖方式( auction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They picked up most of the furniture at auctions in country towns. 他们大部分的家具都是在乡村镇上的拍卖处买的。 来自辞典例句
• Our dealers didn't want these cars, so we had to dump them at auctions. 我们的承销商都不要这些车子，因此我们只好贱价拍卖。 来自辞典例句