VOA常速英语2008年-Grammys Honor 50 Years of Award Winners

By Ray McDonald
Washington
11 February 2008

While the Recording¹ Academy looked back a half-century of Grammy winners, new honorees at Sunday night's ceremony included a rap innovator² and a troubled British vocalist who obtained a visa too late to enter the United States for the telecast. VOA's Ray McDonald has more.

The Grammy voters knew Amy Winehouse was "no good", but they still kept returning. The trouble-prone British songstress, initially⁴ denied a U.S. visa based on her history of drug use, dominated Sunday's 50th annual Grammy Awards ceremony. Amy later received a visa, but could not travel in time to appear at the Los Angeles venue⁵.

The 24-year-old Winehouse made good on five of her six nominations⁶: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal³ Performance, and Best Pop Vocal Album, for "Back To Black." Her live performance from London provided one of the evening's highlights. Clutching her mother, Amy managed to thank both her neighborhood and her imprisoned⁷ husband, Blake Fielder-Civil.

"Thank you to everyone at Island Records," she said. "To my mom and dad! To my Blake! My Blake incarcerated⁸! And for London! This is for London, 'cause Camden Town [London landmark⁹ Camden Market] is burning down!"

Providing a prickly counterpoint to Amy Winehouse was rapper Kanye West, who was very much in attendance. The Chicago rapper brought his career Grammy total to 10, collecting trophies¹⁰ for Best Rap Solo Performance, Best Rap Performance By A Duo or Group, Best Rap Song, for "Good Life," and Best Rap Album, for "Graduation." Accepting the latter award, Kanye thanked his late mother Donda, while chiding¹¹ the orchestra for attempting to shorten his speech.

"A lot of people said 'hip-hop is dead', not just [rapper] Nazz, a lot of people just said the artform wasn't poppin' like that anymore,' he said. "I wanted to cross the genres¹², and show the people how we could still express ourselves with something fresh and new, and that's what Hip-Hop has always been about, coming out with new sounds and stuff … [orchestra begins to play] … Come on! You gonna play music on me? And, just to say something about my mother, I appreciate all the support, all the prayers. It would be in good taste to stop the music, then. (Music fades) I appreciate everything, and I know you're really proud of me right now. I know you wouldn't want me to stop. You'd want me to be the Number One artist in the world. And Mama, all I'm gonna do is keep making you proud. We run this."

Out of 110 awards, 100 were announced prior to the three-and-one-half-hour telecast from the Staples¹³ Center in Los Angeles. The emphasis was on performance, with the Grammys' parent organization, the Recording Academy, stressing historical continuity. This made for pairings both inspiring, such as Alicia Keys' show-opening duet with Frank Sinatra, and puzzling, as when Kid Rock attempted to scat while singing "That Old Black Magic" with 1950s' jazz favorite Keely Smith. Other musical highlights included Beyonce and Tina Turner's rousing rendition of "Proud Mary," and a reunion by 1980s' R&B act The Time, who also performed with Rihanna. The 19-year-old Barbados native collected her first career Grammy: Best Rap/Sung Collaboration¹⁴, for "Umbrella."

Accepting the Best Country Album award from former Beatle Ringo Starr, 18-time winner Vince Gill got off the best quip of the night - at Kanye West's expense.

"I just got an award given to me by a Beatle," Gill said. "Have you had that happen yet, Kanye?"

Viewers who endured the occasionally sleep-inducing telecast were rewarded with a final shock, when 67-year-old jazz pianist Herbie Hancock took the Album of the Year trophy¹⁵ for "River: The Joni Letters." His tribute to singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell was the first jazz album to take the title since 1965, a fact in which he reveled at the podium.

"It's been 43 years since the first and only time since that a jazz artist got the Album of the Year Award," he said. "And, I'd like to thank the Academy for courageously¹⁶ breaking the mold this time. And, in doing so, honor the giants upon whose shoulders I stand; some of whom, like Miles Davis, John Coltraine, unquestionable deserved this award in the past. But, this is a new day that proves that the impossible can be made possible. Yes, we can … to coin a phrase."

While the recording industry undergoes a bumpy¹⁷ transition from traditional music delivery methods to digital downloads, the Grammy Awards retain one overriding¹⁸ advantage over other honors. Musicians' peers and not the public determine the winners; a trait which should stand the Grammys in good stead during their second half-century.

1 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。

2 innovator   

n.改革者；创新者

参考例句：

• The young technical innovator didn't lose heart though the new system was not yet brought into a workable condition. 尽管这种新方法尚未达到切实可行的状况，这位青年技术革新者也没有泄气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Caesar planned vast projects and emerged as a great innovator. 恺撒制定了庞大的革新计划。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史

3 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

4 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

5 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

6 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

7 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

8 incarcerated   

钳闭的

参考例句：

• They were incarcerated for the duration of the war. 战争期间，他们被关在狱中。 来自辞典例句
• I don't want to worry them by being incarcerated. 我不想让他们知道我被拘禁的事情。 来自电影对白

9 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

10 trophies   

n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖

参考例句：

• His football trophies were prominently displayed in the kitchen. 他的足球奖杯陈列在厨房里显眼的位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hunter kept the lion's skin and head as trophies. 这猎人保存狮子的皮和头作为纪念品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 chiding   

v.责骂，责备( chide的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was chiding her son for not being more dutiful to her. 她在责骂她儿子对她不够孝尽。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She called back her scattered maidens, chiding their alarm. 她把受惊的少女们召唤回来，对她们的惊惶之状加以指责。 来自辞典例句

12 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

13 staples   

n.（某国的）主要产品( staple的名词复数 )；钉书钉；U 形钉；主要部份v.用钉书钉钉住( staple的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The anvil onto which the staples are pressed was not assemble correctly. 订书机上的铁砧安装错位。 来自辞典例句
• I'm trying to make an analysis of the staples of his talk. 我在试行分析他的谈话的要旨。 来自辞典例句

14 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

15 trophy   

n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品

参考例句：

• The cup is a cherished trophy of the company.那只奖杯是该公司很珍惜的奖品。
• He hung the lion's head as a trophy.他把那狮子头挂起来作为狩猎纪念品。

16 courageously   

ad.勇敢地，无畏地

参考例句：

• Under the correct leadership of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the army and civilians in flooded areas fought the floods courageously, reducing the losses to the minimum. 在中共中央、国务院的正确领导下，灾区广大军民奋勇抗洪，把灾害的损失减少到了最低限度。
• He fought death courageously though his life was draining away. 他虽然生命垂危，但仍然勇敢地与死亡作斗争。

17 bumpy   

adj.颠簸不平的，崎岖的

参考例句：

• I think we've a bumpy road ahead of us.我觉得我们将要面临一段困难时期。
• The wide paved road degenerated into a narrow bumpy track.铺好的宽阔道路渐渐变窄，成了一条崎岖不平的小径。

18 overriding   

a.最主要的

参考例句：

• Development is of overriding importance. 发展是硬道理
• My overriding concern is to raise the standards of state education. 我最关心的是提高国民教育水平。