VOA慢速英语2009-People in America - Eartha Kitt, 1927-2008:

VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about the unforgettable entertainer Eartha Kitt. The life of this singer and actress was as rich and interesting as her career.

(Music: “C’est Si Bon”)

VOICE ONE:
　
Eartha Kitt

“C’est Si Bon,” or “It’s So Good” in French, was one of Eartha Kitt’s first hit songs. She recorded it in the early nineteen fifties after performing it in a Broadway show. But Eartha Kitt’s life was not always so good. She had a very difficult childhood although information about her early history is limited.

Eartha Mae Keith was born into a poor, rural family in South Carolina in nineteen twenty-seven. Some reports say she was the child of rape¹. Her mother was of African and Cherokee Indian ancestry². Her father was a white farmer.

When Eartha was eight, her mother married. The husband did not want Eartha to live with them because of her mixed race. Eartha Kitt said he called her “yellow gal³.”

Eartha was sent to New York City to live with an aunt in the African- American neighborhood of Harlem. The relationship was difficult. The aunt helped pay for piano and dance lessons for Eartha. But she also beat the girl. Eartha would run away after beatings.

(Music: “God Bless The Child”)

VOICE TWO:

Eartha Kitt lived on the streets and worked in a factory as a young teenager. But she kept up her dance lessons. One day she decided⁴ to try out for a famous African-American dance company. Soon, Eartha was performing in shows around the world with the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe⁵.

In Paris, Eartha left the dance company to sing in a nightclub. Her voice was unusual – but very appealing. She learned French quickly and gained French fans.

(Music: “Je Cherche Un Homme")

VOICE ONE:

The film director Orson Welles discovered Eartha Kitt singing in Paris. He called her “the most exciting woman in the world.” Welles asked her to play a lead part in a play he was directing and starring in.

Eartha Kitt returned to New York and appeared in the Broadway show “New Faces of Nineteen Fifty-Two.” A humorous song she sang about a bored, spoiled woman became famous. Here is “Monotonous.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

She soon signed a recording⁶ agreement with a record company. Eartha Kitt’s songs were all daring, especially for the nineteen fifties. She even made a sexy Christmas song. “Santa Baby,” became Kitt’s biggest hit.

(MUSIC)

Eartha Kitt’s first role in a film was in the nineteen fifty-seven movie “Mark of the Hawk” with Nat King Cole. Kitt was very careful about choosing her roles in films. She rejected parts that were not respectful to people of color. She said if her choices were bad it would not help the black actors who came after her.

CATWOMAN: “Hello Pierre.This is Catwoman. C-A-T-W-O-M-A-N.”

PIERRE: “Quelle est la problem, Femme Chat?”

CATWOMAN: “Batman just caught Joker and me in the middle of a robbery.”

VOICE ONE:
　
Eartha Kitt as Catwoman

In nineteen sixty-seven, Eartha Kitt got the part of Catwoman on the popular television series “Batman.” Fans loved the special way she rolled her “r”s to create a sound like a cat. She appeared on just three shows but was an unforgettable Catwoman.

CATWOMAN: “What now?”

BATMAN: “You’re on your way to prison, Catwoman. Will you never learn that you cannot outwit the law?”

CATWOMAN: “Maybe one day I will, Batman. Purr-haps.”

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen sixty-eight Eartha Kitt was invited to the White House. President Lyndon Johnson was in office and the Vietnam War was an issue of national dispute.

The president’s wife, Lady Bird Johnson, invited several women to a luncheon⁸ to discuss the problem of crimes committed by young people. Eartha Kitt said the First Lady asked her why she thought there was so much youth crime in America.

Eartha Kitt said: “You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. They rebel in the streets. They will take pot and they will get high. They don’t want to go to school because they will be snatched⁹ off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam.”

VOICE ONE:

Those comments destroyed Kitt’s career in America for a long time. Later, it was discovered that President Johnson had immediately ordered government agents to investigate the performer. Kitt said she was “blacklisted.” No one in the American entertainment industry would employ her. For about ten years, she could only find work in other countries.
　
Eartha Kitt in"Timbuktu"

In the mid⁷ nineteen seventies Eartha Kitt slowly began to rebuild her career in America. She won critical praise for a concert in nineteen seventy-four at Carnegie Hall in New York. In nineteen seventy-eight, President Jimmy Carter asked Eartha Kitt back to the White House. That same year, she was nominated¹⁰ for a Tony award as best actress in the musical “Timbuktu!”

In nineteen ninety-four, Eartha Kitt released the album “Back In Business”. It was nominated for a Grammy. She was sixty-six years old. She received another Tony nomination¹¹, three Emmys and other honors in the years that followed. And she continued singing in small clubs until the last year of her life.

(Music: "Let’s Do It")

VOICE TWO:

Eartha Kitt was also a mother and grandmother. She married businessman William O’Donald in nineteen sixty and gave birth to their daughter, Kitt, the same year. Eartha Kitt said her daughter was her greatest joy in life. She said she took her everywhere her career went.

Eartha Kitt said her own experiences as a child left her a divided person. Her real self was not Eartha Kitt but Eartha Mae, a child given away by her mother.
　
Eartha Kitt

EARTHA KITT: “Rejection has always made me into a person that does not want to be seen anywhere, except when I’m all made up and go out as Eartha Kitt. Then I feel okay.”

And where was Eartha Mae most herself?

EARTHA KITT: “I’m at home, digging in the dirt, or doing something that is very close to the Earth, because that’s where I know how to survive.”

(MUSIC: “Here’s To Life”)

VOICE ONE:

Eartha Mae Kitt was at home when she died on December twenty fifth, two thousand eight. The cause was colon¹² cancer. She was eighty-one.

VOICE TWO:

This program was written and produced by Caty Weaver¹³. For transcripts¹⁴, mp3s and podcasts of our shows go to voapsecialenglish.com. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.

1 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

2 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

3 gal   

n.姑娘，少女

参考例句：

• We decided to go with the gal from Merrill.我们决定和那个从梅里尔来的女孩合作。
• What's the name of the gal? 这个妞叫什么？

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 troupe   

n.剧团，戏班；杂技团；马戏团

参考例句：

• The art troupe is always on the move in frontier guards.文工团常年在边防部队流动。
• The troupe produced a new play last night.剧团昨晚上演了一部新剧。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

8 luncheon   

n.午宴，午餐，便宴

参考例句：

• We have luncheon at twelve o'clock.我们十二点钟用午餐。
• I have a luncheon engagement.我午饭有约。

9 snatched   

突然伸手拿取，攫取，抓住( snatch的过去式和过去分词 )； 抓紧时间做； 乘机获得； 夺去

参考例句：

• The boy snatched a piece of cake and ate it hungrily. 男孩抢过一块饼便贪婪地吃起来。
• The thief snatched her handbag and ran. 盗贼抢了她的手提包就跑。

10 nominated   

adj.被提名的，被任命的 动词nominate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She has been nominated for the presidency. 她已经获得了董事长职位的提名。
• The movie was nominated for an Oscar. 这部电影获奥斯卡金像奖提名。

11 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

12 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

13 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

14 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句