VOA常速英语2008年-Veteran Artists Compete for Grammys in Less Kno

By Katherine Cole
Washington
08 February 2008

The votes are in. Soon we'll know who'll be taking home the big honors that will be handed out at the 50th annual Grammy Awards. Due to time limitations, only a few of Grammy Awards will presented during the televised program. VOA's Katherine Cole reports on this year's nominees¹ for one of the ones you won't be seeing on TV: Best Contemporary Folk-Americana Album.

Over the past 20 years, Mary Chapin Carpenter has sold more than 13 million records, and taken home five Grammy awards. If she's lucky, The Calling will bring her a sixth, as it is one of the five nominees for the Best Contemporary Folk/Americana honor. This CD, her 10th, is filled with what we've come to expect from the esteemed² writer; deeply personal and sometimes political songs. Mary Chapin's not afraid to ruffle³ a few feathers, as evidenced by "On With the Show," a tune⁴ dedicated⁵ to the Dixie Chicks and the freedom of speech that we're allowed in the United States.

The Calling is another in a long string of great albums from Mary Chapin Carpenter. Unfortunately, it didn't receive all the attention it deserves, as just weeks after its release the singer was forced to cancel her tour after suffering a pulmonary embolism. She has recovered fully⁶, and will be back before her fans in 2008.

The other nominees are Ry Cooder, Tom Waits, Patty Griffin and Steve Earle, who is nominated for Washington Square Serenade, an album that has been called a "love letter" to his new hometown of New York City. The opening track, "Tennessee Blues," does a great job of setting the scene for the rest of the album. It finds Earle saying goodbye to his longtime Nashville home, and heading for New York with his sixth wife, singer Alison Moorer.

Ry Cooder's nominated CD is My Name is Buddy⁷, and it's not your usual singer-songwriter release. A few years ago, Cooder received wonderful reviews for his concept album Chavez Ravine, a song cycle about the residents of the Mexican-American community near downtown Los Angeles that was bulldozed to make way for a baseball stadium. His new CD, My Name Is Buddy, is another musical tale. The hero is a farm cat who becomes friends with a labor-organizing mouse and a blind preacher toad⁸. The result is an album full of adventures that could have come out of the 1939 novel The Grapes Of Wrath⁹. The songs tell of some of the hardships faced by the people who migrated to California around the time of the Great Depression in search of a better life.

Also nominated this year is Tom Waits' Orphans¹⁰, a monumental three-disc set of 56 songs, accompanied by a 95-page booklet of lyrics¹¹ and photos. Thirty of the songs are new recordings¹². The remainder are "orphans," songs that never found a home. Some are outtakes of songs that have appeared in another form on a movie or television soundtrack, or tribute album.

2007 was a great year for Patty Griffin. Not only did she sell out concert halls around the world, a musical based on her songs opened off-Broadway, and her sixth CD, Children Running Through won the Americana Music Association's "Album of the Year" award. On Sunday, we'll find out if the Grammy voters thought along the same line, or if they give the honor to Tom Waits, Ry Cooder, Steve Earle or Mary Chapin Carpenter.

 

Every album Patty Griffin has released has been excellent. "I Don't Ever Give Up" is just one reason why many critics are saying Children Running Through has bettered her best.

1 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

2 esteemed   

adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为

参考例句：

• The art of conversation is highly esteemed in France. 在法国十分尊重谈话技巧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He esteemed that he understood what I had said. 他认为已经听懂我说的意思了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 ruffle   

v.弄皱，弄乱；激怒，扰乱；n.褶裥饰边

参考例句：

• Don't ruffle my hair.I've just combed it.别把我的头发弄乱了。我刚刚梳好了的。
• You shouldn't ruffle so easily.你不该那么容易发脾气。

4 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

5 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

8 toad   

n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆

参考例句：

• Both the toad and frog are amphibian.蟾蜍和青蛙都是两栖动物。
• Many kinds of toad hibernate in winter.许多种蟾蜍在冬天都会冬眠。

9 wrath   

n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒

参考例句：

• His silence marked his wrath. 他的沉默表明了他的愤怒。
• The wrath of the people is now aroused. 人们被激怒了。

10 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

11 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

12 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