VOA慢速英语2009年-AMERICAN MOSAIC - Movie Strings Together T

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Doug Johnson. Today, we play music from the new band the Dead Weather …

And we tell you about a film featuring three greats of the guitar.

But first, we answer a question about college life in the United States.

(MUSIC)

College Life

This week's VOA listener question comes from China. Jody Leung wants to know about university life in America.
　
Students playing basketball at the University of Tampa in Florida

Students who live away from their families are generally housed in dormitories at least for their first year. Men and women often live in the same building, though they may live on separate floors.

Some dorms have a theme, like an international house, where students can learn about other cultures. In language houses, students try to avoid speaking their native language. The idea is to learn a different language.

Many colleges and universities have a Greek system that students can join. This is a social system with fraternity houses for males and sorority houses for females. Members take part in campus activities and volunteer work, and may also live and go to parties at Greek houses.

Colleges and universities often have many clubs that students can join. These include political, religious and service clubs, as well as groups for activities like singing, dancing, cooking, even learning how to juggle³.

Schools may also have intramural sports clubs. These are for students who do not play for a school team but want organized sports with other students.

And schools will often recognize a new club or activity if enough students are interested.

But one activity that legally is only supposed to be for people age twenty-one and over is drinking alcohol. Some college presidents and others have suggested that a lower drinking age could have the effect of reducing alcohol abuse. Others disagree and point to a study just published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry⁴.

Researchers found large reductions in heavy, or binge, drinking in young people between nineteen seventy-nine and two thousand six. They said this was likely a result of the legal drinking age being raised to twenty-one and other policy changes aimed at reducing underage drinking.

But they found little improvement for college students. There was no reduction in binge drinking for college men. And college women twenty-one to twenty-three had bigger increases than non-students in that age group.

(MUSIC)

"It Might Get Loud"

HOST:

Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim is best known for "An Inconvenient⁵ Truth." That was the movie about former vice² president Al Gore⁶ and his efforts to fight climate change. The director's newest movie explores a very different subject. Jim Tedder⁷ explains.

JIM TEDDER:

"It Might Get Loud" is a film about three generations of guitar superstars: Jimmy Page, the Edge and Jack⁸ White. It helps us understand how each one developed his artistry and how each has shaped rock history.

(MUSIC: "Stairway to Heaven")
　
The Edge, left, and Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page played for Led Zeppelin and another British band before that, the Yardbirds. He is one of the most influential⁹ guitarists and songwriters in rock and roll history.

(MUSIC: "Where the Streets Have No Name")

The Edge is the guitarist for U2. He helped give the Irish band a musical identity with the use of delay effects in repeating notes.

THE EDGE: "I drive everyone crazy trying to get the sound that I hear in my head to come out of the speakers. It's my voice. That is my voice."

(MUSIC: "Steady as She Goes")

And Jack White is the singer and guitarist for the White Stripes and the Raconteurs¹⁰. He is a rebellious¹¹ and inventive guitar player heavily influenced by early blues¹² music.

In the movie, we learn about each musician's choice in guitars. And we learn how they got started. We also experience their personal side. For example, the film takes us to the high school where the members of U2 performed together when they were teenagers.
　
Jack White

In a way, "It Might Get Loud" is a love story. It shows the close relationship between the guitarist and the guitar. Davis Guggenheim says he wanted to make a movie about rock music, but he did not want it to be about drugs and car wrecks¹³.

He wanted to show how three very different artists worked hard to become experts in their art. And he wanted to bring them together to perform. This is Jack White:

JACK WHITE: "I plan to trick both of these guys, that's basically what I am going to do. Trick them into teaching me all their tricks."

We see Jack White, Jimmy Page and the Edge playing together. They exchange stories and teach each other songs. The energy they create fills the room, and their music.

"It Might Get Loud" opens in American theaters later this month.

(MUSIC)

The Dead Weather

HOST:

Jack White can also be found in a new band that he put together in the last year: the Dead Weather. He brought in bass¹⁴ player Jack Lawrence from an earlier band that he created, the Raconteurs. Jack White is the drummer for the Dead Weather. Singer Alison Mosshart comes from the Kills. And guitarist Dean Fertita is a member of Queens of the Stone Age.

Here is Mario Ritter with music from the Dead Weather's first album.

(MUSIC)

MARIO RITTER:

That was "Hang You From the Heavens," the first single released by the Dead Weather. The full album is called "Horehound." Plant biologists may recognize that name as a member of the mint family.
　
The Dead Weather

"Horehound" arrived in stores July fourteenth. In its first week it went to sixth on Billboard¹⁵ magazine's top two hundred albums chart. It was number one on the list of alternative albums.

Jack White has described the sound as "really dangerous and abrasive¹⁶." If you want some evidence, here is a song called "Bone House."

(MUSIC)

"Horehound" was produced at Jack White's Third Man Records company, which even has its own store in Nashville, Tennessee.

All the members of the Dead Weather had a part in writing the songs on their debut¹⁷ album. But here is one song none of them wrote. We leave you with their version of the Bob Dylan song "New Pony¹⁸."

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program.

It was written by Marisel Salazar, Caty Weaver¹⁹ and Dana Demange, who was also our producer. For transcripts²⁰, MP3s and podcasts of our programs, go to voaspecialenglish.com. You can also comment on our programs and send us questions.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

1 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 juggle   

v.变戏法，纂改，欺骗，同时做；n.玩杂耍，纂改，花招

参考例句：

• If you juggle with your accounts,you'll get into trouble.你要是在帐目上做手脚，你可要遇到麻烦了。
• She had to juggle her job and her children.她得同时兼顾工作和孩子。

4 psychiatry   

n.精神病学，精神病疗法

参考例句：

• The study appeared in the Amercian science Journal of Psychiatry.这个研究发表在美国精神病学的杂志上。
• A physician is someone who specializes in psychiatry.精神病专家是专门从事精神病治疗的人。

5 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

6 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

7 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

8 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

9 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

10 raconteurs   

n.善于讲轶事的人( raconteur的名词复数 )

参考例句：

11 rebellious   

adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的

参考例句：

• They will be in danger if they are rebellious.如果他们造反，他们就要发生危险。
• Her reply was mild enough,but her thoughts were rebellious.她的回答虽然很温和，但她的心里十分反感。

12 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。

13 wrecks   

n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉

参考例句：

• The shores are strewn with wrecks. 海岸上满布失事船只的残骸。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• My next care was to get together the wrecks of my fortune. 第二件我所关心的事就是集聚破产后的余财。 来自辞典例句

14 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

15 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

16 abrasive   

adj.使表面磨损的；粗糙的；恼人的

参考例句：

• His abrasive manner has won him an unenviable notoriety.他生硬粗暴的态度让他声名狼藉。
• She had abrasions to her wrists where the abrasive rope had scraped her.她的手腕有多出磨伤，那是被粗糙的绳子擦伤的。

17 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

18 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。

19 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。

20 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