来自母亲节的报道

33 来自母亲节的报道

DATE=5/7/01
TITLE=THIS IS AMERICA #1063 - Mother's Day
 BYLINE=Shelley Gollust

      VOICE ONE:
     Sunday, May 13th, is Mother's Day in America.  It is a day when millions of Americans (1) honor 1 their mothers in many （2） different ways. I'm Shirley Griffith.
       VOICE TWO:
      And I'm Steve Ember. The story of Mother's Day is our report today on the VOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.
       (MUSIC BRIDGE)
       VOICE ONE:
      Mother's Day is the day when people （3）express the love and thanks they feel for their mother.  They give her gifts.  They send her a （4）greeting card.  They buy her flowers.  And they take her out to dinner.
       Mother's Day has been a national （5）celebration in the United States for more than eighty years.  The idea of honoring 2 mothers is much older than that.  Ancient civilizations in what is now (6) Turkey honored 3 the goddess (7) Cybele.  In their belief system, she was the mother of all the gods.  The belief in Cybele spread to the （8）ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.  Many centuries later, celebrations to honor mothers were held in other countries, too.
       VOICE TWO:
      During the Eighteen-Hundreds, a number of Americans （9）organized local celebrations to honor mothers.  It took a long time, however, to gain support for a national celebration.  The person most responsible for doing this was Anna Jarvis.  
       Miss Jarvis began her effort in the early Nineteen- Hundreds. She wrote thousands of letters to （10）congressmen, city officials, teachers, and newspaper publishers.  She traveled across the country to gain support for her idea.  
    In Nineteen-Fourteen, President Woodrow Wilson and Congress 4 agreed that the second Sunday in May should be observed as Mother's Day in America.
       VOICE ONE:
     Anna Jarvis wanted Mother's Day to be a simple event.  She thought children could honor their mothers with small acts of （11）kindness.  She did not want Mother's Day to become a time for businesses to make a lot of money.  But her efforts to prevent this from happening did not succeed.  The day has become a major moneymaking event for gift stores, flower stores, the greeting card industry, and telephone companies.
       ((MUSIC BRIDGE))
       VOICE TWO:
      Today, millions of Americans （12）observe Mother's Day in some way. They buy more than one- hundred- fifty million Mother's Day greeting cards. Companies produce more than one- thousand different kinds.  Most of the cards show pictures of flowers or hearts or other things that people feel are linked to being a mother.  They have messages that express a person's love and thanks for his or her mother.  Some are humorous.  And some have no words -- people can express their own feelings for their mother.
       VOICE ONE:
       Many people give flowers for Mother's Day.  It is one of the busiest days of the year for the flower industry.  Even Americans who live far away from their mothers can send flowers.
       They order and pay for the flowers at a local flower store.  The local store places a telephone call or sends a fax message to a flower store in a faraway city.  And that store carries the flowers to the person's mother in that city.
       VOICE TWO:
     Many people have written songs about mothers and Mother's Day. Here is a song called "Mother's Day."  It was written and is （13）performed by Rick Margitza.
       ((TAPE CUT 1:  "MOTHER'S DAY))
       VOICE ONE:
      Americans spend millions of dollars to buy Mother's Day gifts. Stores begin major advertising 5 （14）campaigns several weeks before the holiday.  Clothes, sweet-smelling (15) perfume 6, and jewelry 7 are popular traditional gifts.  Candy also is very popular.  But Mother's Day gifts can be imaginative 8, too.  Many mothers like to receive books or sports （16）equipment or tickets to the theater.
       VOICE TWO:
     Mother's Day is a time for young children to do special things for their mother.  Some will make a special gift or draw a special picture.  Maybe they will play this special song on the piano.  It is called "My Dear Little Mother."  It was written by Russian composer Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky in the Eighteen- Hundreds, the music shows how he felt about his mother, and here, it is performed by Carol Rosen Berger.
       ((TAPE CUT 2:  "MY DEAR LITTLE MOTHER"))
       VOICE ONE:
      One family activity on Mother's Day is to have the children cook the early morning meal.  Then they serve the food to their mother while she is still in bed.  Or they might clean the house so she does not have to do it.  Fathers might take care of the children that day so the mother can rest or take a walk or read a book. Many mothers feel that this free time on their special day is a very good Mother's Day gift.
       VOICE TWO:
      The day is an important time for family （17）gatherings.  Some families get together to honor all members who are mothers: grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and cousins.  Many people who cannot spend the day with their mother call them on the telephone.  Mother's Day is one of the busiest days of the year for America's telephone companies.  More than one- hundred- twenty- five million sons and daughters will telephone their mother on Sunday.
       VOICE ONE:
      Other families will get together for a meal at a local eating-place.  This means that mothers do not have to cook on their special day.  Going out to dinner has become a tradition on Mother's Day. More than thirty-percent of Americans do it. As a result, restaurants are extremely (18) crowded that day.  It has become one of the busiest days of the year for the restaurant industry in the United States.
       VOICE TWO:
      Another Mother's Day activity is to go to a music （19）concert.  One of the songs people might hear is this one, "Songs My Mother Taught Me."  It is by the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak ['DVAWR ZHAHK].  It is performed by violinist Itzhak Perlman.
       ((TAPE CUT 3:  "SONGS MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME"))
       VOICE ONE:
       Mothers are not the only members of the family who have a special day.  In June, Americans will celebrate Father's Day.  It is a much newer celebration.  President Richard Nixon declared Father's Day a national （20）observance in the early Nineteen-Seventies.
       There also is a special day to honor grandparents in the United States.  It is in September.  It is a day when children are urged to talk with -- and learn from -- older people.
       VOICE TWO:
      For now, we want to wish all mothers, everywhere, a "Happy Mother's Day."  Here is Dick Hyman playing the song "Let Every Day Be Mother's Day."
       ((TAPE CUT 4: "LET EVERY DAY BE MOTHER'S DAY"))
       VOICE ONE:
     This program was written by Shelley Gollust, it was produced and directed by Lawan Davis.  I'm Shirley Griffith.
       VOICE TWO:
     And I'm Steve Ember.  Join us again next week for another report about life in the United States on the VOA Special English program THIS IS AMERICA.

注释：
（1） honor[ 5CnE ]n.尊敬, 敬意v.尊敬, 给以荣誉
（2） different[ 5difrEnt ]adj.不同的
（3） express[ iks5pres ]adj.急速的, 特殊的n.快车, 快递v.表达, 表示
（4） greeting[ 5^ri:tiN ]n.祝贺, 问候
（5） celebration[ 7seli5breiFEn ]n.庆祝, 庆典
（6） Turkey [5tE:ki] n. 土耳其
（7） Cybele[ 5sibili ]n.西布莉(古代小亚细亚人崇拜的自然女神,与希腊女神Rhea等同)
（8） ancient[ 5einFEnt ]adj.远古的, 旧的
（9） organize[ 5C:^Enaiz ]v.组织, 使有机化
（10） Congress [5kCN^res] n. (代表) 大会, [C～] (美国等国的) 国会, 议会
（11） kindness[ 5kaindnis ]n.仁慈, 亲切
（12） observe[ Eb5zE:v ]v.观察, 观测
（13） perform[ pE5fC:m ]v.履行, 执行
（14） campaign [kAm5pein ] n. [军] 战役, (政治或商业性) 活动
（15） perfume[ 5pE:fju:m ]n.香味,香水v.使发香
（16） equipment[ i5kwipmEnt ]n.装备, 设备
（17） gathering[ 5^ATEriN ]n.聚集, 收款
（18） crowded[ 5kraudid ]adj.拥挤的, 塞满的
（19） concert[ 5kCnsEt ]n.音乐会, 一致
（20） observance[ Eb5zE:vEns ]n.遵守, 惯例