美国

28 美国 "诗歌月"

DATE=4/16/01
TITLE=THIS IS AMERICA #1060 - National Poetry Month and Walt Whitman BYLINE=Jerilyn Watson

VOICE ONE:
April is National （1）Poetry Month. People are （2）celebrating poetry in the United States, around the world and even in space. I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Sarah Long. We tell about National Poetry Month and the great American poet Walt Whitman on our report today on the VOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.
((THEME))
VOICE ONE:
America's National Poetry Month has become a (3) worldwide event. Millions of people are taking part in poetry activities this month. People are reading poems in more than one- hundred cities around the world. They are presenting poems in Antarctica and on Mount Everest. (4) Astronauts are reading poems on the International Space Station.
The (5) Academy of American Poets organized this worldwide National Poetry Month celebration. The academy was (6) established in Nineteen-Thirty-Four to support poets and their work. It started the first National Poetry Month in Nineteen-Ninety-Six. The goal was to help more Americans add poetry to their lives.
VOICE TWO:
In the Nineteenth (7) Century, one of America's greatest writers, Walt Whitman, helped people learn to value poetry. Whitman created a new kind of poetry. People across the nation are (8) honoring Whitman with readings of his work during National Poetry Month.
Walt Whitman was born in Eighteen-Nineteen in New York City. During his long life, he watched America grow from a new nation to the strongest industrial power in the world. Whitman was (9) influenced by events around him. But his poetry speaks of the inner self. He celebrated 1 great people like President Abraham Lincoln. He also celebrated common people.
VOICE ONE:
As a young man, Whitman worked as a schoolteacher, a printer and a newspaper reporter. He was thirty-six years old when he (10) published his first book of poetry in Eighteen-Fifty-Five. He called it "Leaves of Grass." It had only twelve poems. The poems are written in free verse. The lines do not follow any set form. Some lines are short. Some are long. The words at the end of each line do not have a similar sound. They do not (11) rhyme.
Here are some lines from the famous poem "Song of Myself" from "Leaves of Grass." Whitman writes about grass as a sign of (12) everlasting 2 life.
VOICE THREE:
A child said, what is the grass? Fetching it to me with full hands;
How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.
I guess it must be the flag of my disposition 3, out of hopeful green (13) stuff woven.
Or I guess it is the (14) handkerchief of the Lord,
A scented 4 gift and (15) remembrancer designedly dropped,
Bearing the owner's name someway in the covners, that we may see and (16) remark, and say whose?
…And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of (17) graves,
Tenderly will I use you curling grass?
It may be you transpire 5 from the breasts of young men…
…It may be you are from old people, or from (18) offspring taken soon out of their mother's laps.
VOICE TWO:
One of America's greatest thinkers and writers immediately recognized the importance of "Leaves of Grass." Ralph Waldo Emerson praised Whitman's work. But most other poets and writers said nothing or (19) denounced it.
Most readers also rejected Whitman’s poems. The new form of his poetry surprised many people. His praise of the human body and sexual love shocked many people. Whitman was (20) homosexual. He loved other men. Some people disliked Whitman’s opinions of society. He rejected the search for money and power.
Even his own brother told Whitman that he should stop writing poetry. But Whitman had many things to say. And he continued to say them. Readers began to understand that America had a great new poetic 6 voice.
((BRIDGE MUSIC))
VOICE ONE:
The American Civil War began in Eighteen-Si|ty-One. The southern states had broken away from the United States. They wanted to protect their rights against the central government. They especially wanted to continue owning black (21) slaves.
The northern states fought the South to save the Union and free the slaves. Walt Whitman hated slavery because he believed all people are equal. He supported the northern cause.
During the war Whitman worked for the government in Washington, D.C. He also worked without pay at army hospitals. He helped care for wounded and dying soldiers. He sat beside these men for hours. He wrote letters for them. He brought them food and money.
Whitman sometimes saw President Abraham Lincoln riding his horse in Washington. President Lincoln was murdered soon after the Civil War ended. Whitman honored him with a poem called "When (22) Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed." The poem describes Lincoln as a great spirit and a fallen star. This is how the poem begins:
VOICE THREE:
When lilacs last in the dooryard (23) bloomed,
And the great star early drooped 7 in the western sky in the night,
I (24) mourned, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.
Ever-returning spring, trinity sure to me you bring,
VOICE THREE (CONT):
Lilac blooming (25) perennial 8 and (26) drooping 9 star in the west,
And thought of him I love.
O powerful western fallen star!
VOICE TWO:
After the Civil War, Whitman worked for government agencies. He watched the United States try to heal itself and increase democracy.
To Walt Whitman, democracy was more than a political system or idea. It was the natural form of government for free people. Whitman believed democracy is meant to honor the rights of every person and the equality of all people. Whitman (27) denounced people who believed they were better than others in the eyes of God. He expresses these ideas in his poem "Song of Myself."
VOICE THREE:
I think I could turn and live with animals; they are so placid 10 and self-contained,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweet and whine 11 about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is (28) demented with the mania 12 of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, or to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE ONE:
Experts today praise "Leaves of Grass" as a major (29) literary work. In his time, Whitman thought of it as a work in progress. He re-published the book every few years for the rest of his life. Each time he added new poems. And he changed many of the old lines. The last version of the book contained more than four- hundred poems. By then, Whitman's fame had spread to many nations.
In Eighteen-Seventy-Three, Walt Whitman suffered a stroke. He spent the last years of his life in Camden, New Jersey 13. He wrote more poems. He also wrote about political and democratic policies.
Whitman was poor and weak during the last years of his life. He died in Eighteen-Ninety-Two. But if we can believe his poetry, death held no terrors for him. Listen to these lines from "Song of Myself":
VOICE THREE:
And as to you Death, and you bitter hug of mortality, it is idle to try to alarm me…
And as to you Corpse 14 I think you are good manure 15, but that does not offend me…
And as to you Life I (30) reckon you are the leavings of many deaths.
(No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before)…
Do you see O my brothers and sisters?
It is not chaos 16 or death -- it is form, union, plan -- it is eternal life -- it is Happiness…
I depart as air; I shake my white locks at the runaway 17 sun…
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless…
Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.
VOICE TWO:
Some critics say Walt Whitman was a spokesman for democracy. Others say he was not a spokesman for anything. Instead, they simply call him a great poet. We leave you now with more words from "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman.
VOICE THREE:
I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul, I am the poet of the woman the same as the man
(PAUSE)
I celebrate myself.
((THEME))
VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. It was produced by Caty Weaver 18. The poetry was read by Steve Ember. I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Sarah Long. 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)　 poetry[ 5pEuitri, 5pEuetri ]n.诗,诗意
(2) celebrate[ 5selibreit ]v.庆祝, 祝贺
(3) worldwide[5w:ldwaId, -5waId]adj.全世界的
(4) astronaut[5AstrEnC:t]n.太空人, 宇航员
(5) academy [ E5kAdEmi ]n.(高等)专科院校, 研究院
(6) established[ is5tAbliFt ]adj.已制定的, 确定的
(7) century[ 5sentFuri, -tFEri ]n.世纪, 百年
(8) honor[ 5CnE ]n.尊敬, 敬意v.尊敬, 给以荣誉
(9) influence[ 5influEns ]n.影响, 感化v.影响, 改变
(10) publish[ 5pQbliF ]v.出版,公布
(11) rhyme[ raim ]n.韵, 押韵v.押韵
(12) everlasting[ 7evE5lB:stiN ]adj.永恒的, 持久的, 无止境的, 耐用的
(13) stuff[ stQf ]n.原料, 材料, 素材资料v.塞满, 填满, 填充
(14) handkerchief[ 5hANkEtFi:f ]n.手帕
(15) remembrancer[ ri5membrEnsE ]n.纪念品, 提醒者
(16) remark[ ri5mB:k ]n.备注, 评论, 注意, 注释v.评论
(17) Graves [^reivz] n（法国）格拉夫葡萄酒
(18) offspring [5RfsprIN; (?@) 5C:f-] n..儿女, 子孙
(19) denounce[ di5nauns ]v.公开指责, 公然抨击,
(20) homosexual[ 7hEumEu5seksjuEl ]adj.同性恋的n.同性恋
(21) slave[ sleiv ]n.奴隶v.辛勤努力
(22) lilac [5lailEk] n. [植] 丁香 (尤指西洋丁花) 紫丁香adj.淡紫色的
(23) bloomed[ 5blu:md ] a.模糊的,发晕的
(24) mourn[ mC:n ]v.哀悼, 忧伤
(25) perennial[ pE5renjEl ]adj.四季不断的, 终年的
(26) drooping[`drU:pIN]adj.下垂的,无力的
(27) denounce[ di5nauns ]v.公开指责, 公然抨击,
(28) demented[ di5mentid ]adj.失去本性的, 发狂的
(29) literary[ 5litErEri ]adj.文学(上)的, 从事写作的
(30) reckon[ 5rekEn ]v.计算, 总计, 估计