时间:2019-02-07 作者:英语课 分类:2012年VOA慢速英语(七)月


英语课

 



AMERICAN MOSAIC 1 - 'Fallujah' the Opera; Songs of Summer


JUNE SIMMS: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.


(MUSIC)


I’m June Simms. This week, our report on the first opera ever to explore a soldier’s experiences in the Iraq War …


And we play some favorite seasonal 2 music: songs about summer.


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"Fallujah" the Opera


JUNE SIMMS: The suffering of war is not an unusual subject for books, movies and plays. But it is less common as a theme, or subject, for musicals. Now, the production “Fallujah” becomes the first opera about the Iraq war. Christopher Cruise has our story.


CHRISYOPHER CRUISE: The opera “Fallujah” is based on the experience of an American Marine 3. Christian 4 Ellis was a machinegunner in Iraq. His back was broken during one of the deadliest series of clashes of that war: the battle for the city of Fallujah. He was one of the few survivors 5 in an attack on his platoon.


When Christian Ellis returned from Iraq his spirit was broken, too. He had lost more than twenty friends to the war. He suffered from post-traumatic stress. He attempted suicide four times. But he rediscovered a joy that may have saved his life: singing.


“Fallujah” covers a seventy-two-hour period in the life of a Marine remembering his time in Iraq. The opera can be seen in parts on the Internet site explore.org. Its founder 6, Charlie Annenberg Weingarten, led the effort to turn the war story into an opera.


CHARLIE ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: “Fallujah is based on one of America’s most deadly battles and the chaos 7 that ensues when a soldier one day is friends with this young Muslim man, but on the next day, when he sees him, will have to kill him.”


Explore.org is an aid organization. It is known for supporting media projects.


Canada’s City Opera Vancouver is producing the show. Heather Raffo, an Iraqi American, wrote the words. The music is from composer Tobin Stokes.


(SOUND: "Fallujah")


Christian Ellis says the story is based on what he experienced in Fallujah in two thousand four.


CHRISTIAN ELLIS: “I took a lot of my own personal experiences that dealt with suicide, that dealt with a lot of dark moments, and turned it into a way that people could understand.”


The former sergeant 8 grew up listening to opera. He says using that music to tell his story was healing.


CHRISTIAN ELLIS: “It’s helped me so much that I wish that this type of therapy was more readily available to veterans -music, expression.”


Mr. Weingarten says the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan raise questions.


CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: “As the wars wind down, the new war is going to be, how do we deal with the personnel that is coming home? It’s a very serious issue. And so it fits all the beats of traditional opera.”


Christian Ellis says for him and his fellow Marines, the war on the ground may be over. But, he says, he is still fighting a battle that goes on in his head.


That inner battle is set to music in “Fallujah.” Its producers hope it will also be performed in the United States.


Summer Songs


JUNE SIMMS: It is the middle of summer in the northern hemisphere. Today we play songs in recognition of the season.


Many call this middle period the “dead of summer.” It is very hot and dry in much of the United States right now. In fact, this week, American officials said more than sixty percent of the continental 9 United States was in a moderate to severe drought. They declared a natural disaster in parts of more than twenty-six states.


So, this nineteen eighty-three song from Bananarama, “Cruel Summer” seems just about right.


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Ten years before “Cruel Summer” came a much more hopeful seasonal message from the group Seals and Crofts. The men sing sweet days of summer, jasmine’s in bloom / July is dressed up and playing her tune 10.


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Surf music was very popular in the nineteen-sixties. The Beach Boys had many songs about summer fun in the ocean, like “Surfin’ Safari,” from nineteen sixty-one.


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Surfing, swimming and sunning seem to define the typical summer day. But romantic desires fill “Summer Nights” as sung by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in the nineteen seventy-eight movie, “Grease.”


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More recently, Justin Timberlake explored the idea of seasonal romance in his song, “Summer Love.” But Timberlake sings that the love discovered in the warm months will last beyond the summer.


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The former rock band X put out a sad summer song in nineteen eighty-seven. John Doe and Exene Cervenka sing about love gone wrong in “4th of July.”


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Country star Keith Urban sings about a “Long Hot Summer” in a recording 11 released in two thousand ten.


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Hip-Hop artist Nelly is on our summer list for his steamy hit from two thousand-two, “Hot in Herre.”


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We leave you with a summer classic from nineteen sixty-three. Martha and the Vandellas perform “Heat Wave.”


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JUNE SIMMS: Is there a summer song you love but did not hear today? Let us know what it is. Send an e-mail to mosaic@voanews.com. Maybe we’ll play your favorite in a future American Mosaic.


I’m June Simms. This program was written and produced by Caty Weaver 12. Mike O’Sullivan provided additional reporting.


Join us again next week for music and more on AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.




n./adj.镶嵌细工的,镶嵌工艺品的,嵌花式的
  • The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
  • The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。
adj.季节的,季节性的
  • The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
  • The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。
adj.海的;海生的;航海的;海事的;n.水兵
  • Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
  • When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时,他自愿参加了海军陆战队。
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒
  • They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
  • His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
幸存者,残存者,生还者( survivor的名词复数 )
  • 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
n.创始者,缔造者
  • He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
  • According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说,罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。
n.混乱,无秩序
  • After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后,城市一片混乱。
  • The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。
n.警官,中士
  • His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
  • How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹?
adj.大陆的,大陆性的,欧洲大陆的
  • A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
  • The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。
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。
n.录音,记录
  • How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间?
  • I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
n.织布工;编织者
  • She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快,而且布的质量很好。
  • The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。
学英语单词
abbreviated Doolittle method
agkistrodon acutus
allochthonous sediment
anticontractile
array mbiras
associate dean
at abroad
atmospheric diving suit
audio-gram
auxiliary fuel pump
basic indicator
bearded Milanese
bell rope
bilprotein
cantering
carbarsone
cardinalic
Carmo do Rio Claro
chorussing
coastal zone resources
coefficient of retardance
color graphic work station
Common Intermediate Format
compressor exhauster unit
consolido meter
constre
credit underwriting
deltaeta
egged
erythrogenic acid
exhaust conditioning box
finder adapter
fire suppression system
fix someone's little red wagon
Fourier modulus
french republics
fuel spray nozzle
game on-demand
ghost protocol
grottiness
heating tongs
heggies
HPWT
identification papers
inside gauge
International Consultative Committee
irrigation frequency
kralik
law of stream gradient
lie-down
london depositary receipt
lustre-coating agent
macrolevels
made the trial
MAPL
maximum working value
mcsween
methemalbuminemia
Mizoguchi Kenji
moments of truncated distribution
ninet
nonadic
nonmicrobial
oligozoospermias
organic insecticide
over-thoughtful
pahute mesa
paikoff
papait
PARRIDAE
phycobilin
piezoresistance transduction element
pince
pondexter
posterior intermediate sulcus
primitive spleen
pseudotrunks
punch operator
reduction of output
reductive genioplasty
sarcoma of penis
Schkeuditz
sequential memory mode
sermatech
share alike
sir sarvepalli radhakrishnans
solder clad copper
spels
split Abelian subgroup
spun-bonded non-woven fabric
subfactorials
system designing
telescopic star
temperature measuring element
textwar
tutorial subsystem
unpilled
unregardful
ventralizes
Walgaon
within measure
Xiaojun