VOA标准英语2012--Blues Man Guy Davis Earns Praise for Storytelling Skills

 

Blues¹ Man Guy Davis Earns Praise for Storytelling Skills

Davis conceived Fishy² Waters, a singing hobo traveling in the American South during the Great Depression, playing his country blues and telling tales to all who will listen. He embodies³ the title character in his tour de force performance of The Adventures of Fishy Waters: In Bed with the Blues.

Davis inherited his gift for performing from his parents: actors Ruby⁴ Dee and the late Ossie Davis. He says there was never any pressure to follow in their footsteps, and even though he’s done plenty of acting⁵, music has always been his first love.

“Mom and Dad just made it really clear to me that I had to go to school and get a good education," Davis explains. "They didn’t care whether I went into show business or not, because words and acting and reading and directing was their business. I wanted to get away from that, I wanted to have my own voice, so I chose to sort of lean it over into music.”

Davis wrote The Adventures of Fishy Waters while working as an understudy in the Broadway play “Mule Bone.” Since 1994, he has presented his show to audiences around the world, scheduling it between club dates and tours throughout the year. He says recording⁶ it was just as intense as performing live.

“I sat in a studio with some guitars, told it straight through and then told it again with some editing," Davis says. "And then the recording engineer put in some sound effects. So it’s a wonderful story telling CD along with the blues music.”

Call it Delta⁷ blues or Southern folk - Guy Davis simply refers to his music as good old-fashioned storytelling. He believes that in this day and age storytellers are becoming a rare breed.

“Here in America our specialty⁸ is the media," Davis notes, "so we grow up being able to take for granted all the entertainment that’s available, [because of] all the ‘zillion’ channels you can get on television. So you don’t feel the need necessarily to gather in people’s living rooms or kitchens or schools or people’s homes and just play songs and tell stories and play games.”

Guy recently visited VOA where he performed several selections from The Adventures of Fishy Waters: In Bed with the Blues, including the blues standard “Candy Man.” 

1 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。

2 fishy   

adj. 值得怀疑的

参考例句：

• It all sounds very fishy to me.所有这些在我听起来都很可疑。
• There was definitely something fishy going on.肯定当时有可疑的事情在进行中。

3 embodies   

v.表现( embody的第三人称单数 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This document embodies the concern of the government for the deformity. 这个文件体现了政府对残疾人的关怀。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 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。

7 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

8 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。