VOA标准英语2013--Military Moms Sing Wartime Blues Away

 

Military Moms Sing Wartime Blues¹ Away

Walking into a rehearsal² of the Swingin’ Blue Stars feels like stumbling³ across a group of best friends. They meet about once a week in one of their living rooms in a San Francisco suburb. They push aside the furniture to face a big picture window. Sometimes they find themselves serenading neighbors.

"When it gets dark, we can’t see out but they can see in," one singer laughs. "But we watch our reflections in the glass and that helps us a little bit."

The Swingin' Blue Stars were formed by Cindy Shon. "But it was never meant to continue for more than a couple years."

It was supposed to be a distraction⁴ from worry, when, right after the attacks of 9-11, her son was deployed⁵ to Afghanistan. Shon had just joined the Blue Star Moms - a support group for U.S. military mothers. The term, "blue star," refers to having one family member in the military.

A natural go-getter, Shon organized some fellow moms to sing Christmas carols at the local veterans hospital.

Francie Roberts remembers they started getting lots of calls to sing for other veterans groups. The performances were a welcome distraction from the fear of getting a visit from a military delegation⁶ with the worst news a parent can hear.

"It just took our mind off of it, learning the songs and knowing where we’re going to perform because you just never know if he’s going to be alive or if I’m going to lose him," Roberts said. "It was so bad I even put a lock on my front gate, because I was so scared I’d come home and see a black van out there. We all went through it."

Soon the women were performing regularly. They decided⁷ to learn some of the 1940s and '50s songs the World War II and Korean War veterans loved, and even put together a routine fashioned after the old USO shows.

Roberts, whose son Blake spent 16 months with the army in Iraq, says audiences seemed to understand what motivated the mothers.

“Afterwards, everyone would come up and shake our hands," she said. "And just give us that extra encouragement that they’d be back. Our kids would be back. We needed to hear that.”

The sons and daughters of the original members of the Swingin’ Blue Stars all returned home safely from their tours of duty. Membership⁸ in the group has changed over the years and so has the focus.  The women now concentrate on songs that have special meaning to older veterans.

“Sometimes they’ll be laughing and enjoying and then sometimes the next they’ll be crying," Cindy Merino said. "And they’ll come up to you and thank you so much for that, that was the last song I danced to with my husband. It really brings back so many memories for them. It’s amazing."

The Swingin’ Blue Stars have performed at hospitals, schools, parks and community theaters in the San Francisco area, and have toured as far as the new Pearl⁹ Harbor visitors center in Hawaii and the USS Midway in San Diego.

“It’s not about having a huge audience," said Sandy Lewis. "It’s just get that one guy with the twinkle in his eye and bring that smile to his face and we would sing forever.”

Although most of the singers couldn’t have imagined singing in public 20 years ago, the Swingin’ Blue Stars intend to keep doing exactly that. 

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 rehearsal   

n.排练，排演；练习

参考例句：

• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
• You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal.排练可以让技巧更加纯熟。

3 stumbling   

adj.摇摇晃晃或跌跌撞撞的v.（不顺畅地）说( stumble的现在分词 )；跌跌撞撞地走；绊脚；（说话、演奏等）出错

参考例句：

• The question of disarmament proved a major stumbling block to agreement. 结果证明裁军问题是达成协议的主要障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His stumbling attempts at colloquial Russian amused her. 他结结巴巴地学说俄语，把她逗乐了。 来自辞典例句

4 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

5 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

6 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 membership   

n.成员资格，会员全体，从属关系

参考例句：

• I must renew my membership of the sailing club.我必须延续我的航海俱乐部会员的资格。
• He made up his mind to apply for membership in the Party.他决心申请入党。

9 pearl   

n.珍珠，珍珠母

参考例句：

• He bought his girlfriend a pearl necklace.他给他女朋友买了一条珍珠项链。
• The crane and the mother-of-pearl fight to death.鹬蚌相争。