美国国家公共电台 NPR A Museum With Nearly 300 Brass Horns: You've Gotta See It Tuba-lieve It

A Museum With Nearly 300 Brass¹ Horns: You've Gotta See It Tuba-lieve It 

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0002:26repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser² to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. DAVID GREENE, HOST: 

OK. This summer, we have been exploring obscure collections and hidden treasures, places we like to call unsung museums.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GREENE: Today, a museum that is more than capable of tooting its own horn.

(SOUNDBITE OF TUBA)

GREENE: That is the sound of one of the exhibits in the tuba museum in Durham, N.C.

VINCENT SIMONETTI: We have five rooms in this building filled with instruments and we're up to almost 300. Uh oh, it looks like we have some guests coming into the museum. Hi, folks, come in.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Hi.

V SIMONETTI: Welcome to the Vincent Ethel Historic Tuba Collection.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: 

Vincent and Ethel Simonetti used to sell tubas to school bands. They're retired³ now, and they've turned their instrument collection into a tuba museum. Vincent Simonetti says the tuba we know and love today was invented in Germany in 1835.

V SIMONETTI: I have one almost exactly identical to that first tuba from 1845. I can try to get my son John to play it.

JOHN SIMONETTI: (Playing tuba).

V SIMONETTI: Yeah, the valves are dry. They're not functioning.

J SIMONETTI: (Playing tuba).

GREENE: You probably have an image of a tuba. You think it's really big. Well, get this - over the years, tubas have gotten bigger, and the sound has grown deeper. Simonetti says if you uncoil a tuba from the 1800s, it would be about 12 feet long. Modern instruments are longer and capable of playing much lower notes.

V SIMONETTI: Now, this instrument was made in Germany in 1984. It's one of the finest of its type.

J SIMONETTI: (Playing tuba).

V SIMONETTI: That last note is called the fundamental, which is the lowest note you can play on the instrument. The particulars from what John is playing is 17 and a half feet long, and that's why you get that big, full sound.

MONTAGNE: Simonetti himself started playing tuba in high school in the 1950s, and it was love at first puff⁴.

V SIMONETTI: And I would draw it in study hall draw. I would draw pictures of it. I don't know why. I just became obsessed⁵ with it.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OOM-PAH-PAH")

MONTAGNE: An obsession⁶ that grew one oom-pah-pah at a time. Vincent Simonetti spoke⁷ to us over Skype from his tuba museum in Durham, N.C.

1 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。

5 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

6 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

7 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。