VOA慢速英语2010-American Mosaic - Elvis Presley Rocks the

DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to American Mosaic¹, in VOA Special English.

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I’m Doug Johnson. Today we tell about South by Southwest, the major music conference in Austin, Texas.

And we answer a listener question about the meaning of the stars on America’s flag.

But first, we rediscover Elvis Presley at an exhibit in Washington, D.C.

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Elvis at the Newseum

Elvis Presley in the news

DOUG JOHNSON: As you can probably guess from its name, the Newseum in Washington, D.C. is a museum about news. It recently opened an exhibit about a famous performer. His special sound and bold moves changed the history of music and popular culture. The exhibit is called “Elvis! His Groundbreaking, Hip-Shaking, Newsmaking Story.” It tells about Elvis Presley’s influence on American culture. It shows newspaper articles, television recordings² and personal objects belonging to the King himself. Barbara Klein tells us more.

BARBARA KLEIN: Most people know that Elvis Presley was a popular singer and actor. But many young people today might not realize that Elvis represented a rebellious³ new form of popular culture. He first became famous in the mid⁴ nineteen fifties.

Elvis Presley

At this time, music in America was mostly divided racially. Country music was for white people, while black people performed rhythm and blues⁵ music. Elvis changed this. He combined both influences to create a whole new kind of music -- rock and roll. And, the man could dance. He moved his hips⁶ in a way that drove crowds wild. Elvis came to represent energy, youth and freedom.

The “Elvis!” exhibit at the Newseum explores the way the media represented Elvis and his career. And it tells about his lasting⁷ influence. The exhibit shows newspaper headlines about efforts to ban Elvis’s rebellious music, even his hairstyle. Other newspapers tell about his daily activities, fan reactions and crowded performances. The exhibit also tells about the important role television played in making Elvis a star.

REPORTER: “A phenomenon recalling Marilyn Monroe’s sensational⁸ debut⁹ in show business, Mister Teenager is on his way to attaining¹⁰ a popularity unparalleled in theater history.”

The exhibit includes a movie about Elvis’ life and the evolution of his representation by the media. There are also several objects from Elvis’ personal life. You can see a large nineteen fifty-seven Harley Davidson motorcycle he once owned. There is a bottle of Champagne¹¹ from Elvis’ wedding to Priscilla Beaulieu, and clothing worn by his daughter Lisa Marie. And it is hard to miss the jeweled white jumpsuit that Elvis wore for his famous “Aloha from Hawaii” performance. An estimated one billion people in forty countries watched this program when it was broadcast on television in nineteen seventy-three. He died four years later at the age of forty-two.

“Elvis! His Groundbreaking, Hip-Shaking, Newsmaking Story” marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of Elvis Presley’s birth year. And, it shows that the popularity of the King of Rock and Roll lives on.

You can learn more about the life and music of Elvis Presley Sunday on the Special English program People in America.

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Stars on the Flag

DOUG JOHNSON: Our question this week comes from Saudi Arabia. Ali Awod asks about the meaning of the number of stars on the American flag.

The United States flag has fifty stars that represent the fifty states. The flag also has thirteen red and white horizontal stripes. They represent the thirteen original colonies that rebelled against British rule. They became the first states in the Union.

The white stars are in rows in a blue rectangle on the American flag. The stars have five points. Until the late seventeen hundreds, many stars had six, seven or even eight points. For many years there were different ways that the stars were shown, including in circles and rows. In nineteen twelve, Congress declared how the stars must be shown.

Throughout American history, the number of stars increased as more states were added. For example, the flag had forty-eight stars for forty-seven years, from nineteen twelve until nineteen fifty-nine. Then Alaska and Hawaii became states. They remain the only states not physically¹² connected to the mainland United States. The fifty star flag became the official flag of the United States on July fourth, nineteen sixty.

Fifty years have now passed without any changes to the American flag. That is the longest period in United States history that the flag has remained unchanged.
Some American citizens live in places that do not have a star on the flag.

Washington, D.C. is the country’s capital but it is a city, not a state, so it does not have its own star. Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Minor¹³ Outlying Islands and the United States Virgin¹⁴ Islands are territories. So they do not have stars, either.

Some of the territories, like Puerto Rico and Guam, may vote to become states in the future. The United States government has created possible flags that have up to fifty-six stars.

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South By Southwest

DOUG JOHNSON:
Austin, Texas calls itself the “Live Music Capital of the World.” That is surely true each year in the middle of March. Tens of thousands of people come to the city to attend the ten-day South by Southwest Music, Film and Interactive¹⁵ festivals. Katherine Cole went this year and has our report.

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KATHERINE COLE: That was Bob Schneider singing his song “Forty Dogs (Like Romeo and Juliet).” It was named Song of the Year at the Austin Music Awards, the closing event of the South by Southwest Music conference. Maybe organizers should change the name of the awards to the “Bobs” as Schneider and his band had ten wins this year. They include Musician of the Year and Album of the Year.

Nneka

South by Southwest was started in nineteen eighty-seven to bring attention to Texas musicians like Bob Schneider. Now it includes performers from around the world. This year, six hundred forty-two acts from fifty-nine countries were invited to perform. Nneka from Nigeria was one of them. Here she sings “Walking.”

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Musicians and fans at South by Southwest were looking forward to a reunion concert by the nineteen seventies band Big Star. Sadly, its leader Alex Chilton died of a heart attack on the first day of the music festival. The remaining members of the band played a set with some other musicians as a benefit for Chilton’s family.

Here is the original Big Star with “September Gurls.”

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DOUG JOHNSON: I'm Doug Johnson. Our program was written by and Dana Demange, Chris Cruise and Katherine Cole. Caty Weaver¹⁶ was the producer. For transcripts¹⁷, MP3s and podcasts of our programs, go to voaspecialenglish.com. You can also post comments.

Do you have a question about America? Or write to [email protected]. 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 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

3 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。

4 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。

5 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。

6 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

8 sensational   

adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的

参考例句：

• Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
• Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。

9 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。

10 attaining   

（通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况）

参考例句：

• Jim is halfway to attaining his pilot's licence. 吉姆就快要拿到飞行员执照了。
• By that time she was attaining to fifty. 那时她已快到五十岁了。

11 champagne   

n.香槟酒；微黄色

参考例句：

• There were two glasses of champagne on the tray.托盘里有两杯香槟酒。
• They sat there swilling champagne.他们坐在那里大喝香槟酒。

12 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

13 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

14 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

15 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

16 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。

17 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