VOA标准英语2010年-Party Winds Down for Baseball Organist

Going to a baseball game is an American summer tradition, and a big part of that ballpark experience is the stirring, up-tempo organ music that's played throughout the game.

When teams score runs or players make hits, organ music leads the fans in chants and cheering.

At the seventh inning stretch, the organ always plays "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." And in some baseball stadiums, the organist treats fans to an impromptu¹ concert before the game or when there's a break in the action.

Last season

For 41 years, fans at Chicago White Sox games have been entertained by organist Nancy Faust. But this is her last season.

Faust planned to be a school teacher but her college friends encouraged her to apply for a job as a ballpark organist for the Chicago White Sox. She did and got the gig. That was in 1970.

Until then, she admits, she'd only attended one baseball game.

 
VOA - P. Graitcer
White Sox organist Nancy Faust autographs a baseball cap for a fan.
"So I came in not knowing what to do exactly but the organ was located in the center-field bleachers," says Faust. "What I did then was mainly play songs that reflected the towns that the ballplayers were from, (or) the states. If Bill Melton was from California, I'd play, "California, Here I Come." But since then, I've branched out and I do more crazy, far out things."

In October, at the end of this season, Faust is retiring. Over the past 41 years, she's seen the game of baseball change and feels it's time for her to move on.

Drastic² changes

"When I started playing here back in 1970, the entertainment consisted solely³ of the organ music," says Faust. "Things have changed drastically⁴ since then. We have the scoreboard games, the quizzes, dancing, just a myriad⁵ of entertainment that wasn't available in those days."

And many organists are being replaced by recorded CDs.

"The sounds that you hear eventually at the park could be the sounds you are hearing at any sport, any mall, any nightclub," she says. "It's just kind of lost its individuality."

 
VOA - P. Graitcer
Many organists are being replaced by recorded CDs at major league baseball games.
But the fans haven't lost their enthusiasm for Faust. On a hot summer day, when the White Sox hosted the Yankees, they lined up to say goodbye.

"Hearing her play, it's just, it reminds me of baseball," says one of those fans, Paul Gustilise. "It's like old school baseball...and the crowd's always more into it for her compared to the piped-in music. I just ...definitely going to miss her."

Party's over

For four decades, Faust's life has revolved⁶ around baseball and the White Sox.

She set her wedding date on a weekend when the team was playing out of town. And, the only five games she's missed were when her son, Eric, was born, 27 years ago.

Looking ahead, Faust admits she'll miss interacting⁷ with fans and performing before 40,000 people.

 
VOA - P. Graitcer
Pictures of fans and their families grace the wall behind where Nancy Faust plays the organ at White Sox baseball games.
"I kind of laugh to myself. My husband, Joe, and my son, Eric, have endured countless⁸ days and nights of my practicing at home so that I could come here with my best act, so that I could go to work, and I think, I really wasn't going to work," says Faust. "I had them fooled. What I really did, I wasn't going to work, I was leaving the house and going straight to a grand party. This is a grand party."

It's a party Faust has enjoyed with three generations of the team's fans.

"I've followed generations in terms of births and deaths and marriages and divorces," says Faust. "You know you see it all happen, and the sad thing is that I'll come back in the spring and I'll find that some of the old timers are no longer with us. But then I am greeted by the new babies, too. You see life happening right before your eyes."

At the end of this season, the Chicago White Sox will mark Faust's retirement⁹ by naming the organ booth after her. Next spring, although there will be another organist in the booth, for long-time fans, it will be a different ball game.
 

1 impromptu   

adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地)

参考例句：

• The announcement was made in an impromptu press conference at the airport.这一宣布是在机场举行的临时新闻发布会上作出的。
• The children put on an impromptu concert for the visitors.孩子们为来访者即兴献上了一场音乐会。

2 drastic   

adj.严厉的，极端的，激烈的，猛烈的

参考例句：

• His view brings a drastic argument.他的观点引起激烈的争论。
• The situation brings home to us the need for drastic preventive actions.这种情况使我们深切地感到采取极端的行动是必要的。

3 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

4 drastically   

ad.极端地，严厉地

参考例句：

• Within a year the party had drastically overhauled its structure. 一年内这个政党已大刀阔斧地整顿了结构。
• Next year's budget will have to be drastically pruned. 下一年度的预算将大幅度削减。

5 myriad   

adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量

参考例句：

• They offered no solution for all our myriad problems.对于我们数不清的问题他们束手无策。
• I had three weeks to make a myriad of arrangements.我花了三个星期做大量准备工作。

6 revolved   

v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想

参考例句：

• The fan revolved slowly. 电扇缓慢地转动着。
• The wheel revolved on its centre. 轮子绕中心转动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 interacting   

adj.相互影响的；相互作用的

参考例句：

• The interacting surfaces were lubricated with a mineral oil. 相互作用表面是用矿物油润滑的。
• Proteins which have two separate but interacting sites are called allosteric proteins. 这种具有两个不同而又相互作用位置的蛋白质叫做变构蛋白质。

8 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

9 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。