Cowgirl1 Hall of Fame / Transylvania/ The Jewels and the Ori

 

Broadcast: April 18, 2003
By Nancy Steinbach and Shelley Gollust

This is Doug Johnson. On our program today, we play some doo-wop music... answer a listener's question about places in the United States called "Transylvania" ... and-you've heard of cowboys? Come with us to a special place for cowgirls!
HOST:
The United States is home to many halls of fame--museums that honor famous people. Some examples are the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York; the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York; and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Today, Shep O'Neal tells us about another hall of fame, this one in Texas.
ANNCR:
The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame honors women of the American West. It started in nineteen-seventy-five and moved to Fort¹ Worth nine years ago. It opened a new building last summer.
The National Cowgirl Museum is an important place for experts to study the history of the women of the Western United States. The museum includes a research library and more than three-thousand rare pictures. Some of the women honored in the Hall of Fame helped settle the West. Others told its story in different ways.
Visitors learn about the lives of women like Sacajawea, the main Indian guide to nineteenth-century explorers Lewis and Clark. Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote the series of "Little House on the Prairie" books. And Georgia O'Keefe, who painted the beauty of the West.
Other areas of the museum tell about the kinds of jobs done by cowgirls. One shows cowgirls who performed in rodeos. A second examines the lives of women who worked on ranches³. A third explains the cowgirl's influence on American culture.
The Cowgirl Hall of Fame adds new members every year. Last year, it honored five modern cowgirls. One takes part in horse racing⁴, another was a top rodeo star. The third works in the movie industry, and the fourth started the American Quarter Horse Association.
The fifth recent honoree is Supreme⁵ Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. She grew up on a cattle ranch² in Arizona, in the Southwest. In nineteen-eighty-one, she became the first woman to join the Supreme Court2.
Justice O'Connor and the other women honored by the Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas, received a medal. That, along with a special pair of cowgirl boots!
HOST:
Our VOA listener question comes from Romania this week. John Tripon lives in the area called Transylvania. He wants to know how some places in the United States came to have this name, too. One is Transylvania University in the state of Kentucky. Another is Transylvania County, in North Carolina.
Transylvania--the Romanian one--is famous for the stories about Dracula, a local ruler hundreds of years ago. In eighteen-ninety-seven, British author Bram Stoker wrote the book "Dracula." This horror story, and the movies based on it, have kept the belief alive that Dracula was a vampire⁶.
Some people believe vampires⁷ live forever by drinking the blood of human victims. Some history experts say the real Dracula killed many of his enemies and may have drunk their blood. But as for being a vampire3, well ...
Anyway, Transylvania simply means "the land beyond the forest." In Latin, "trans" means "across" and "sylvania" means "woods."
Transylvania University officials in Kentucky say the school got its name from the area where early settlers established it. That was in seventeen-eighty. A land company at the time called the wooded area Transylvania. Today, that area is in the city of Lexington, Kentucky.
Transylvania County in North Carolina got its name in eighteen-sixty-one from the beautiful forests in the area. Today, two large forests lie within its borders. Pisgah National Forest covers more than thirty-three-thousand hectares of the county. The Nantahala National Forest covers two-thousand hectares.
North Carolina officials see beyond just the trees. They point out that Transylvania County also has more than two-hundred-fifty waterfalls within its woods.
HOST:
The Jewels and the Orioles are two groups that began singing more than fifty years ago. They recently performed at the Library of Congress in Washington, D-C. Steve Ember tells us about them.
ANNCR:
The Jewels and the Orioles first became well-known in the late nineteen-forties. They sang a kind of popular rock and roll music called "doo wop."
The Jewels began singing when they were four high school girls in Washington, D-C. They met musician Bo Didley who helped them get their songs recorded. Soon soul singer James Brown invited the group to perform with him. The Jewels have performed with the "Godfather of Soul" throughout the United States, Canada, Jamaica and Mexico. Here they sing their hit song "Hearts of Stone."
(MUSIC)
Five young men in Baltimore, Maryland, formed the Orioles. They recorded their first big hit in nineteen-forty-nine. "It's Too Soon to Know"sold one-million copies.
The Orioles have appeared with other famous singers. These include the Four Tops, the Supremes, Jackie Wilson, Paul Anka, Frank Sinatra and Connie Francis. In nineteen-ninety-three, they sang at President Clinton's inauguration⁸. Two years later, they were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Fifty years ago, the Orioles recorded their biggest hit, "Crying in the Chapel4."
(MUSIC)
You may wonder why this kind of music is called "doo wop." It is because the background singers sing nonsense words to support the melody⁹ sung by the lead singer. Listen to the background singers on this famous song, "When You Dance"by the Turbans.
(MUSIC)
HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.
Our program was written by Shelley Gollust and Nancy Steinbach. And our producer was Paul Thompson.
Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC¹⁰ - VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

1 fort   

n.要塞，堡垒，碉堡

参考例句：

• The fort can not be defended against an air attack.这座要塞遭到空袭时无法防御。
• No one can get into the fort without a pass.没有通行证，任何人不得进入要塞。

2 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

3 ranches   

大农场， （兼种果树，养鸡等的）大牧场( ranch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They hauled feedlot manure from the ranches to fertilize their fields. 他们从牧场的饲养场拖走肥料去肥田。
• Many abandoned ranches are purchased or leased by other poultrymen. 许多被放弃的牧场会由其他家禽监主收买或租用。

4 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

5 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

6 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

7 vampires   

n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门

参考例句：

• The most effective weapon against the vampires is avampire itself. 对付吸血鬼最有效的武器就是吸血鬼自己。 来自电影对白
• If vampires existed, don`t you think we would`ve found them by now? 如果真有吸血鬼，那我们怎么还没有找到他们呢？ 来自电影对白

8 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

9 melody   

n.旋律，曲调，悦耳的音乐

参考例句：

• She struck up a folk melody on the piano.她开始用钢琴演奏那首民歌。
• After she wrote the melody,she asked us for criticisms.她做好曲之后，请我们提意见。

10 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。