VOA标准英语2014--柬埔寨裔的美国嘻哈歌手唱的个人奋斗史

 

Cambodian American Hip¹ Hop² Artist Sings of Personal Struggles 柬埔寨裔的美国嘻哈歌手唱的个人奋斗史

LONG BEACH, CA—

A growing underground movement of Cambodian American hip hop artists is rapping about the struggles of living in urban America.  Most, if not all of them, are refugees or children of refugees who came to the United States from Cambodia to escape the Khmer Rouge³ genocide of the 1970s.  Through their music, the artists hope to give voice to immigrants who have been struggling quietly for years.

At 36 years old, Chanthy Sok, known to his fans as “CS,” has experienced more than most people in a lifetime.  The hip hop artist tells his story of pain and redemption through his music.

“My struggle was coming from a war-torn country, raised by a single mother who's probably suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder⁴, raising six kids living in somebody else’s living room.  That struggle was real," he explains.

From Cambodia to California 

CS's mother brought the family to Long Beach, California, where he experienced poverty, bullying⁵ and prejudice. 

"It was basically the simple rules: go to school, stay away from trouble, if somebody hurt you look the other way, and get home," he says. "Those are the rules.  But when you leave the household, it’s a different story.  Those rules don’t apply.  You can’t run from the bullies⁶ forever.  You can’t run from racial slurs⁷ forever."

Without support from home or his mother, CS joined a gang, was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

"Ain't nobody love me at home so I felt like I’m going to go out whatever pain inflicted⁹ on me was going to be easy for me to inflict⁸ on other people, because my mama... that’s my life," he said tearfully, "though but I’m just glad that I got out of prison not the criminal not the tainted¹⁰ background not the tainted individual."

Wake up call 

While in prison, CS says he had time to think and finally understood his mother’s struggles.  He also found a way to give voice to his pain through rap music.  More than a year after he was released, CS continued to work on his music, and ended up on the cover of an arts and entertainment newspaper in Los Angeles.

CS is one of a growing number of Cambodian Americans using hip hop to express themselves because it is the music of the urban communities where they grew up.

“We’re not saying we’re the best representation for Cambodians.  We’re not.  I think that I’m the best representation for the people who went through the struggle like me for the people who didn’t have a voice like me," CS says.

“A lot of these artists do their music as if it’s a sense of duty, as if this is their way to pay respect to the survivors¹¹ to the victims of the genocide," says Seak Smith, who produced Cambodian Music Festival in Los Angeles this month, bringing together artists from around the United States.

"This is their piece of the voice that they can project to the world," she notes.

Mixed support 

Smith says, as with any music of the younger generation, hip hop is not embraced by everyone in the community.

"There are older generation Cambodians here in the U.S. as well as in Cambodia who really don’t like the representation of Cambodian hip hop, feeling like it brings some kind of negative vibe to the culture and losing its tradition," she says.

In his songs, beyond talking about his own struggles, CS is working on infusing traditional Cambodian music into his work.  According to Smith, many artists not only want to get in touch with their roots but are trying to connect with musicians in the Cambodian Diaspora locally and around the world so the artists can have a voice again after surviving the horrors of genocide.

1 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

2 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

3 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

4 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

5 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 bullies   

n.欺凌弱小者, 开球 vt.恐吓, 威胁, 欺负

参考例句：

• Standing up to bullies takes plenty of backbone. 勇敢地对付暴徒需有大无畏精神。
• Bullies can make your life hell. 恃强欺弱者能让你的日子像活地狱。

7 slurs   

含糊的发音( slur的名词复数 )； 玷污； 连奏线； 连唱线

参考例句：

• One should keep one's reputation free from all slurs. 人应该保持名誉不受责备。
• Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian. 种族主义辱骂，种族笑话，都是跟亚裔有关的。

8 inflict   

vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担

参考例句：

• Don't inflict your ideas on me.不要把你的想法强加于我。
• Don't inflict damage on any person.不要伤害任何人。

9 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。

10 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者