VOA标准英语2012--You’ve Heard of ‘The Birth of the Blues’

You’ve Heard of ‘The Birth of the Blues¹’

 

Here’s one of those word-association games. If we said “waltz,” you’d probably think of Vienna, Austria.

Closer to our home, if we said “Dixieland,” New Orleans, Louisiana, would likely rush to mind.

Country music? Nashville, Tennessee. Blues? Memphis, also in Tennessee.

The soul sound of Motown? The Motor City, of course - Detroit, Michigan. Folk? San Francisco or New York City’s Greenwich Village.

Now here’s a tougher one: How about ragtime²?

Ragtime was born, and is still king, in a little town that even many Americans have never heard of.

It’s Sedalia, in the Midwest state of Missouri. 

Sedalia is a factory town of about 21,000 people. But a century ago, huge cattle drives from Texas passed through on their way north, and two cross-country railroads had big engine shops there.

And all those cowboys and railroad workers frequented saloons and brothels. That meant lots of jobs for piano and banjo players.

Into this scene came Scott Joplin, who played piano in some of those lively establishments. And to keep his intoxicated³ audience interested, he developed a herky-jerky style of music called ragtime. 

It really caught on, in part because it was ideally suited for piano rolls, which were then wildly popular. As these rolls of heavy paper punched with holes slowly turned within so-called “player pianos,” they activated⁴ the keys and produced tinkly⁵ music all by themselves.

That’s the short version of the story about ragtime, Scott Joplin, and Sedalia, Missouri. By the way, piano rolls are now historic artifacts. The final ones were made last year, in Buffalo⁶, New York.

1 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。

2 ragtime   

n.拉格泰姆音乐

参考例句：

• The most popular music back then was called ragtime.那时最流行的音乐叫拉格泰姆音乐。
• African-American piano player Scott Joplin wrote many ragtime songs.非裔美国钢琴家ScottJoplin写了许多拉格泰姆歌曲。

3 intoxicated   

喝醉的，极其兴奋的

参考例句：

• She was intoxicated with success. 她为成功所陶醉。
• They became deeply intoxicated and totally disoriented. 他们酩酊大醉，东南西北全然不辨。

4 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

5 tinkly   

叮当响的

参考例句：

6 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。