VOA标准英语2011--Alligator Records Celebrates 40th Annive

Alligator¹ Records Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Happy 40th birthday Alligator Records! The legendary² blues³ label has marked the event with the release of “Alligator Records 40th Anniversary Collection.”
If you ever want to start a blues label you should probably make yourself at home in Chicago, Illinois. That’s what a young, impressionable college student named Bruce Iglauer did in 1971 after hearing a band called Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers playing at Florence’s Lounge on the South Side. Iglauer quit his job as a shipping⁴ clerk at a local record company, recorded Hound Dog Taylor, and launched his own company, Alligator Records.
Iglauer says he always dreamed of living in Chicago and soaking up the sounds he heard on every corner.
“I realized as I began to hear more and more blues that Chicago was and is the capital of blues music in the world," he said. "There’s more blues performed in Chicago than any other city or any other geographical⁵ area in the country. So I came here expecting to hang around and be in the blues clubs for maybe a year before I went back and finished my college. And I never got back to college. I started visiting radio stations, primarily FM stations that had just begun playing a wide variety of rock and folk and blues and jazz music, a format⁶ of radio that was being called progressive rock. This was a brand new format and it was very wide open, and lots of those disc jockeys were happy to play a blues record.”
Alligator Records was off and running in the 1970s as blues giants Koko Taylor and Albert Collins signed on. The label, which became known by the slogan “Genuine Houserockin’ Music,” expanded its blues base to include Zydeco master Clifton Chenier and guitarists Johnny Winter and Lonnie Brooks⁷. A turning point came in 1985 with the release of the Grammy-winning album “Showdown!,” featuring a celebrated⁸ guitar trio led by Albert Collins.
“Showdown! brought together three artists who had a very special relationship with one another," Iglauer said. "They were all making their own records, but, Albert Collins, who just was an amazing blues guitar player from Texas [they called him ‘The Master of the Telecaster’]; Albert had tutored and helped bring forward the talent of both Johnny Copeland, who was another artist from Houston who sat in with Albert back in the ‘50s, and the young Robert Cray who was inspired by Albert to pick up a guitar in the first place when Albert played his show at his high school. And Robert went on to become perhaps the most popular blues star of his generation.”
Of all the songs he could have put on the 40th why these?
“Choosing the songs for the Alligator 40th Anniversary Collection was very hard," Iglauer said. "I wanted to both try to summarize and encapsulate the history of the label. Of course, I wanted to point the spotlight⁹ at some of our most important artists like Koko Taylor and Son Seals and Albert Collins and Hound Dog Taylor. I also wanted to show the direction the label is going in now. So I wanted to make sure our current artists - Guitar Shorty and The Holmes Brothers and Michael Burks and Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials and Marcia Ball and Anders Osborne and J.J. Grey & MoFro - and a number of others were all represented so that the fans could feel how I hear the blues expanding to reach a new and more contemporary audience, as well as glorifying¹⁰ the tradition.”
After 40 years, Alligator Records continues to garner¹¹ accolades¹². In July, "Living Blues" magazine announced the winners of its annual Living Blues Awards. Four Alligator artists won a total of seven awards, including James Cotton for Blues Artist of the Year (Male), Most Outstanding Musician (Harmonica), and Best Blues Album (“Giant”).

1 alligator   

n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼)

参考例句：

• She wandered off to play with her toy alligator.她开始玩鳄鱼玩具。
• Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather.鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。

2 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

3 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。

4 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

5 geographical   

adj.地理的；地区(性)的

参考例句：

• The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
• These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。

6 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

7 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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。

9 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

10 glorifying   

赞美( glorify的现在分词 )； 颂扬； 美化； 使光荣

参考例句：

• I had no intention of either glorifying or belittling Christianity, merely the desire to understand it. 我并没有赞扬基督教或蔑视它的立意，我所想的只是了解它。
• You are glorifying a rather mediocre building. 你正在美化一栋普普通通的建筑。

11 garner   

v.收藏；取得

参考例句：

• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals.他的提议得到了广泛的支持。
• Squirrels garner nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬储存松果。

12 accolades   

n.（连结几行谱表的）连谱号( accolade的名词复数 )；嘉奖；（窗、门上方的）桃尖拱形线脚；册封爵士的仪式（用剑面在肩上轻拍一下）

参考例句：

• Unlike other accolades for literature which tend to value style or experimentation. 有别于其他偏重风格活实验性的文学奖项。 来自互联网
• Build your trophy room while amassing awards and accolades. 建立您的奖杯积累奖项和荣誉。 来自互联网