2007年VOA标准英语-Ocean's Music Presented by San Fransisco Audio

By Liu Enming
San Francisco, California
04 September 2007
 

Pipe picks up sounds created by waves

At the tip of a tiny peninsula near San Francisco, California's Golden Gate Bridge stands the Wave Organ, a work of art that allows people to listen to music created by waves rolling ashore¹.   For producer Liu Enming, Elaine Lu shares the environmental symphony of this wave-powered organ.

A park that looks like ancient ruins holds an unusual acoustic² sculpture.

"The Wave Organ is both a place and, I guess you can say, a phenomenon," says artist Peter Richards. "This place is on the edge between the city and the wilderness³ of the San Francisco Bay.  As a phenomenon, it's a series of 25 pipes that extend down into the water. 

Richards is a senior artist at San Francisco's Exploratorium science museum. He and stonemason George Gonzales were behind the project. "They create music when waves move in and out of them," explains the artist.  But Richards says the inspiration came from the sound of water. "At one point I heard a recording⁴ that was made by an artist in Australia.  He recorded a floating concrete dock, put his (microphone) into a floating chamber⁵ and water moving in and out of that chamber made a beautiful sound.  That inspired me to investigate where that sound came from." 

Using a series of pipes, the sculpture captures the surf hitting the tubes creating a symphony of waves.

One visitor explains what he heard. "It sounds kind of like a humming and some of them have a higher pitch and some of them have a lower pitch; some of them are 'ooooo,' some of them are 'eeeeee.' I think some of the tubes are longer, they go out into the bay more."

She says it sounds like the waves

Another young visitor provides her explains what she heard. "I think the organ sounds like the waves in the ocean and it's just really fun to put your ear to the organ."

Richards believes the true beauty of the Wave Organ is the way nature's many sounds mix together. "If I just sit here and listen, I will hear the sounds of the wave organs but hear other sounds as well.  Blended together, it becomes this sort of environmental symphony.  That's what I encourage people to do, to really listen, not just come out here to hear the wave organ but listen to the landscape."

A local resident remarked, "It's a place I have come out to many many times. This is one of my favorite places in the whole city.  It's always quiet out here, there is always very few people and you can kind of get away from the whole city."

Despite being off the beaten path, Richards says it is well worth the trip to enjoy nature's symphony.

1 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

2 acoustic   

adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的

参考例句：

• The hall has a fine acoustic.这个大厅的传音效果很好。
• Animals use a whole rang of acoustic, visual,and chemical signals in their systems of communication.动物利用各种各样的听觉、视觉和化学信号来进行交流。

3 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

4 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。

5 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。