时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2014年(九月)


英语课

 


'The Star Spangled Banner' Celebrates 200 Years 庆祝美国国歌200周年


BALTIMORE— 


This year, the U.S. city of Baltimore, Maryland is celebrating its role in the birth of America’s national anthem 1.


National Park Service Ranger 2 Vince Vaise is Chief of Interpretation 3, or head storyteller, at Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor. He says that two of the greatest symbols of the United States came out of a British attack on the fort during the War of 1812.


“The American flag and the national anthem... Now, the flag had already been invented, but it hadn’t really caught on yet. It was really the words of Francis Scott Key who, upon seeing the flag [still flying] over this fort on September 14th, 1814, 200 years ago, that really led to the flag becoming the great national icon 4 for the United States that it is today,” he said.


When darkness fell September 13, 1814, the British were shelling Fort McHenry, and through the night observers of the battle strained to see whether the fort had fallen. But when the sun rose the next morning the sight of the American flag flying over Fort McHenry prompted Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and amateur poet, to write a poem he called “The Defence of Fort McHenry.”


“Word choice was very important to him," Vaise said. "We know that he thought about it because the original manuscript four verses are on display for this week and if you look at the first draft, you see that he scratched out a few words.  ‘Oh say can you see through.’ No, no, no.  ‘By the dawn’s- yes, by the dawn’s early light….’ So, clearly he thought about it.“


Vaise says Key didn’t immediately run to Washington, D.C. and announce he’d written the national anthem for his young country.


“Just the opposite.  Francis Scott Key gave those four verses to his brother-in-law and good friend, who was a captain in the fort during the battle," he said. "So he might have just given it to him as a personal thing -like ‘hey, you were there, here’s something I’ve written.”


Key’s brother-in-law began giving away copies of the poem and soon it appeared in newspapers with the title “The Star Spangled Banner.”   Someone set it to the tune 5 of an old British drinking song and within weeks it was being sung outside of Maryland.


Park Ranger Kristin Schenning says it’s interesting that the poem that eventually became America’s national anthem isn’t about the war, but is about the flag.


“Yes, it’s about a battle, but it’s really about the emotions that Francis Scott Key captures," she said. "It’s not necessarily about guns, and beating the British and all of that. It’s about this idea of asking is the flag still there and answering it with yes, it flies over the land of the free and the home of the brave.”


It wasn’t until 1931 that an Act of Congress made “The Star Spangled Banner” the official U.S. national anthem. Schenning says there’s still a connection between the flag and the song for many people, which could explain why some people react so strongly when they hear the song performed in non-traditional ways.


Rocker Jimi Hendrix’s unconventional performance is one of 15 that beat-boxer and vocal 6 percussionist 7 Shodekeh included in an exhibit he curated at Baltimore’s Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture. The exhibit is called “For Whom It Stands,” and it brings together “culturally alternative” versions of the anthem as part of the bicentennial celebration.


“I listened to every state anthem, I listened to the anthems 8 of all the island entities 9. South America’s anthems. The continent of Asia, Africa," he said. "I mean, I went through them all and I tried to find some of the more controversial examples or reinterpretations throughout history.”


Shodekeh closed out Maryland’s celebration of the 200th anniversary of The Star Spangled Banner by joining with an improvisational 10 hip 11 hop 12 group and a group of classically trained musicians to perform a new interpretation of the anthem. Vocalist Katrina Ford 13 hopes that people won’t think their version is “wrong” just because it’s different.


“Every performance should have its own style," she said. "Every performer should bring something unique to it. And I think that that even holds true for the national anthem.”



n.圣歌,赞美诗,颂歌
  • All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
  • As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上,唱起了国歌。
n.国家公园管理员,护林员;骑兵巡逻队员
  • He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
  • He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。
n.解释,说明,描述;艺术处理
  • His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
  • Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。
n.偶像,崇拜的对象,画像
  • They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
  • Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整
  • He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子,并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
  • The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。
adj.直言不讳的;嗓音的;n.[pl.]声乐节目
  • 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。
n.打击乐器演奏者
  • She overcame her deafness and eventually became a successful percussionist. 她克服了耳聋的毛病,最后当了打击乐队敲打手。 来自辞典例句
  • For many years I practiced these techniques as a professional percussionist in jazz and new music. 许多年来作为一个职业的爵士乐和新音乐演奏者我不断实践着。 来自互联网
n.赞美诗( anthem的名词复数 );圣歌;赞歌;颂歌
  • They usually play the national anthems of the teams at the beginning of a big match. 在大型赛事开始前,他们通常演奏参赛国国歌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Rise please, rise for the anthems of & . 请全体起立,奏和两国国歌。 来自互联网
实体对像; 实体,独立存在体,实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )
  • Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
  • The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。
adj. 即兴的
  • I have never been at games like charades or improvisational acting. 您从来都唔擅长玩“有口难言”或者“即席表演”之类既游戏。
  • I'm practicing self-control, those random and improvisational acts aren't allowed. 我在练习控制自己,那些随意的、即兴的举动是不允许的。
n.臀部,髋;屋脊
  • 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。
n.单脚跳,跳跃;vi.单脚跳,跳跃;着手做某事;vt.跳跃,跃过
  • 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?
n.浅滩,水浅可涉处;v.涉水,涉过
  • They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上,所以我们只能涉水过河。
  • If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪,必须极度小心。
学英语单词
achaemanid
Alvarez accelerator
azosulfamide
barbecute
Bassfield
biadder worm
brake pressure
bring something up to date
calibrating resistance
cause ill blood
chalchuite
character change
cleaning screen
coking arch
common goal
complementarity
compound motor
conchoid of Nicomedes
confide to sb that...
decreasing term insurance
direct instruction
dump heat test
dyest
eartags
enshelled
epicentral region
equilibrium stability
eupatoria
fardelled
finger-painted
flash point-apparatus
foreheads
foreign exchange holdings
geocomposite
geon (geometric ion)
glenospore disease
goodeniaceaes
Gornaya
goryphus basilaris
hemicorporectomies
hypomecis formosana
immunoneutralisation
injury to auricle
is of interest to
isomere
kucheans
lacerating machine
land leases
layer of ganglion cells
line judges
list up
logical check
look-ahead data staging architecture
lozenge-shapeds
lupus cell
methyleneurea
misbeliever
mounting area
multi-disciplinary
multichannel recording oscillograph
necked-down section
netversion
non-ferromagnetics
non-jacquard machine
normalbacteriolysin
obduratenesses
operating convenience
operational semantics
optimum cure point
orthostatic
overtones
Padumi
paid attention to
plateros
point pitch
Pokrovka
race way grinding machine
reactive golden yellow
receiver of the refrigerator
recorded gap
refined syrup
refrigeration dehumidifying
registerial
reprocessing rate
rolling hatch beam
Romishly
scymnus (neopullus) hoffmanni
shift driving shaft
shiner
sonar beam pattern
spherolite
standard minerals
stereo(regular) rubber
telebooths
tolyl-
total points
transmission, parallel
unclonable
unindents
villanized
warm sludge
xanthochilus