A Century of Memories (1920-1929)

A Century of Memories (1920-1929)

At the 1)dawn of the 1920's, America was clearly entering a new era, an era defined by a vast and complicated urban culture that would dominate the rest of the 20th century.

    After World War I, there was an eagerness to embrace the new and it was in America's cities, most dramatically in its biggest, New York, where the modern age was born. The very architecture of the city spoke 1 of America's new 2)ascendancy 2 and her 3)aspirations.

Historian David McCullen--

David McCullen: The 4)skyscraper 4 was an example of the new form achieving a kind of thrilling scale and nobility. More people worked there than lived in the average small town in America.

A movement to the cities that had started during World War I 5)accelerated. In 1920, for the first time more Americans lived in urban centers than in country towns and villages.

American studies professor, Anne Douglas--

Anne Douglas: The pace has been set in the cities. The city is 6)irresistibly 5 attractive, is  really at a kind of high tide in this decade. It's a force, a 7)magnet.

The very names of New York streets would become 8)synonymous with progress and innovation. Broadway would represent the best and latest in American entertainment. Madison Avenue would come to 9)stand for the bustling 6 new business of advertising 7 which was uniting the nation in a set of shared fantasies and desires. And Wall Street came to represent the decade's expanding economic opportunities. Wall Street was where the 10)action was. People came from everywhere to get in on it.

Michael Trinkel--

Michael Trinkel: The reason I came to New York was there was nobody there after they closed the mines in 1926 in Pennsylvania. There was no money coming there. This fella Jerry got me the first job and he said, "Come on down to Wall Street, the streets are 11)paved with gold."

It seemed that way too on Park and 5th avenues where the 12)tycoons lived. The number of millionaires in the 1920's jumped 400% over the previous decade. The 20's feeling of limitless horizons was fueled by their 13)lavish 9 lifestyle.

Francis Leimen Lobe 10--

Francis Leimen Lobe: In those days you had lots of help. You had a cook, you had a kitchen maid and you had a 14)laundress. And then you had a parlor 11 maid, a 15)chambermaid and mother's maid. How many does that make? Six, but I think there were eight, actually. Terribly nice people.

It was in 16)Harlem clubs that one could see the artists at the 17)forefront of this fresh and uniquely American music. Performers such as Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith and a 18)dapper young man named Edward Kennedy Ellington, his friends simply called him, Duke.

The actor, Aussie Davis--

Aussie Davis: Duke was the essence of what black music was all about. Everybody else was heading in that direction, but Duke was there.

The cultural historian, Stretch Johnson--

Stretch Johnson: The first time that I was seized by the music was the first time I heard Duke Ellington broadcast from the Cotton Club where Broadway, Hollywood and Paris rub elbows. People came from all over the United States to experience what was going on in Harlem in the 20's.

The author, Eudora Wealthy--

Eudora Wealthy: I was young then, you know, and we went up to Harlem that night to dance and everything. We all saved up for months to get the money to go out to a nightclub. Of course the music was wonderful.

Harlem was contributing more than music to America's new urban culture. The world above New York's 125th street was, in the 1920's, a hot bed of political, social and cultural activity. It was later called the Harlem 19)Renaissance 12.

Aussie Davis: The Harlem Renaissance was one of those fancy terms that white folks invent when they want to take a particular look at some aspect of black folks. I don't think black folk running around saying "we're going to have us a renaissance" or something like that, but it was a holiday of the spirit. I'm glad that there was a Harlem Renaissance, and there be Beetles 13 boys and Alan Lock took it and developed it and made it into a political weapon. Fine, it achieved a great deal for us by making America recognize that we were artists, and if we were artists that could produce works of genius, how then could we be inferior and treated as second-class citizens? All of that I later understood and later appreciated. But when the stuff first came to me, it was something that I could enjoy like a sweet potato pie, like an ice-cream cone 14, or you know, like the girls that I was in love with.

20)Propelled by the great technological 15 leaps in the 1920's, social patterns began to shift. Nowhere was this more obvious than in the changes seen in American women. An expanding job market had given more and more women careers and the 21)disposable income to do with what they wished. Throughout the 1920's, women would assert a 22)newfound freedom and independence. Nothing symbolized 16 that more than the 19th 23)amendment 17 to the constitution. Finally in 1920 after 81 years of 24)agitation 18, women had won the right to vote.

Anne Douglas--

Anne Douglas: A woman's lot had changed in almost every way. She thought that she had the right to live for herself rather than for her family for others as women were always supposed to. She went to bars, she went to after-hour's clubs, she went to wild parties, she had much shorter hair, she wore much more make-up. You go from having young women whose dresses reached to their ankles to flesh, flesh everywhere. And a lot of 20's culture is about the fun of smashing 25)prohibitions.

光阴的故事（1920-1929年）

    20世纪20年代初，美国明显跨入了一个新纪元，光怪陆离的都市文化是这个时代的特征，其影响一直延伸到20世纪随后的年代。

    一战结束后，人们渴望拥抱新生事物，在美国城市--非常戏剧性的是在美国最大城市纽约--现代诞生了。纽约的独特建筑象征着美国的新地位和新希望。

    历史学家大卫·麦卡伦--

大卫·麦卡伦：摩天大楼的例子就是一种新形式，体现了进步与发展。在摩天大楼里工作的人比在美国小乡镇居住的人还要多。

    始于一战期间的都市迁徙在加剧。1920年，美国城市人口开始超过乡郊人口。

    美国研究教授安妮·道格拉斯--

安妮·道格拉斯：城市引领着时代的节奏。城市五光十色，那在20年代是潮流锋头。城市是一股力量，是一块磁石。

纽约的街名与进步创新划上等号。百老汇象征着美国娱乐最好最时新的水准。麦迪逊大道代表的是欣欣向荣的新兴广告业，该行业紧聚起美国人的许多共同梦想和热望。华尔街则代表在20年代发展起来的经济机遇。华尔街是金融活动重心，人们从四处涌来，云集这里。

迈克尔·青科--

迈克尔·青科：我来纽约，因为宾夕法尼亚的矿井在1926年关闭后，已经没人留在那里。那里没钱。朋友杰里给我找了第一份工作，他说：“去华尔街吧，那里的路是黄金铺的。”

    帕克大街和第五大街同样如此，大亨们都居住在这两条街上。20世纪20年代，百万富翁的数目比前几个十年翻了四番。他们奢侈的生活方式进一步刺激了20年代中繁荣之势不可挡的感觉。

    法兰西斯·蕾曼·洛比--

法兰西斯·蕾曼·洛比：在那个年代，家里的仆人多极了。有厨子，有厨房女佣，有洗衣女工。还有客厅女仆、卧室女仆，妈妈有贴身女仆。有多少个来着？六个了，不过其实是有八个。都是些很好的人。

在当时哈林区的俱乐部里，人们能看到美国新兴的、独特的爵士乐前锋艺术家。在表演者当中有路易斯·阿姆斯特朗、贝茜·史密斯，还有一个名叫爱德华·肯尼迪·艾灵顿的衣冠楚楚的年轻人，他的朋友都叫他“公爵”。

    演员奥西·戴维斯--

奥西·戴维斯：公爵是黑人音乐的一切精华所在。其他人都在朝那个方向赶，而公爵就是方向标。

    文化历史学家史觉奇·约翰逊--

史觉奇·约翰逊：我爱上这音乐，是第一次听到棉花俱乐部广播出艾灵顿公爵演奏的时候，百老汇、好莱坞、巴黎都在棉花俱乐部抢风头。在20年代，美国人从各地赶来体验哈林区的音乐。

    作家尤多拉·韦尔西--

尤多拉·韦尔西：当时我还年轻，我们找了一晚到哈林跳舞玩乐。我们为了上夜总会全都攒了好几个月的钱。当然了，音乐太动听了。

    哈林对美国新都市文化所起的贡献远不止音乐。纽约第125大街在20年代是政治、社会和文化活动的温床。后来人们把那称为“哈林文艺复兴运动”。

奥西·戴维斯：“哈林文艺复兴运动”是白人为了了解黑人文化而创出的一种精妙说法。我想黑人不会四处奔走说“我们要搞一个自己的文艺复兴运动”吧，可那是一个很令人激动的节日。我很高兴有一个哈林文艺复兴运动，后来甲壳虫乐队和阿伦·洛克把它发扬光大并发展成政治工具。好，它对我们的贡献太大了，它让美国认识到我们是艺术家，而且如果我们是能创造出天才作品的艺术家，我们怎么会是弱等公民、二等公民呢？这一切都是我后来才明白和体会过来的。不过我第一次接触到那场运动时，就像在享受番薯饼，享受圆筒冰淇淋，像恋爱中的感觉。

20世纪20年代的科技大进步推动了社会模式的转变。这变化在美国妇女身上的体现最明显不过。就业市场为女性提供了越来越多的工作，她们可随心支配的收入也越来越多。女性获得新的自由与独立，这样的声言由始自终贯穿着20世纪20年代。其中最富有象征性意义的是宪法的第19次修改。经过了81年的努力，妇女终于在1920年赢得选举权。

安妮·道格拉斯--

安妮·道格拉斯：妇女的命运几乎是全方面地被改变了。她开始认识到自己有权利为自己而活，而不是像原来一样普遍认为妇女是为了家庭和别人而活。她可以出入酒吧间，出入休闲俱乐部，参加狂野派对，她可以留短发，化浓妆。年轻女孩的裙长由至脚踝变为露腿，服装很暴露。20年代的许多文化都是以打破陈规为乐的。

注释：

1) dawn [dC:n] n. 黎明，破晓

2) ascendancy [E5sendEnsi] n. 优势，支配地位

3) aspiration 3 [7AspE5reiFEn] n. 渴望，热望

4) skyscraper [5skaIskreIpE(r)] n. 摩天楼

5) accelerate [Ak5selEreit] v. 加速，促进

6) irresistibly [7iri5zistEbli] ad. 无可抵挡地

7) magnet [5mA^nit] n. 磁石

8) synonymous [si5nCnimEs] a. 同义的

9) stand for 代表

10) action [5AkFEn] n. （某一地区、领域中）最能产生效果的活动

11) pave [peiv] v. 铺

12) tycoon 8 [tai5ku:n] n. 企业界大亨

13) lavish [5lAviF] a. 奢侈的

14) laundress [5lC:ndris] n. 洗衣女工

15) chambermaid [5tFeImbEmeId] n. 寝室的女工

16) Harlem [5hB:lEm] n. （纽约的）黑人住宅区

17) forefront [5fC:frQnt] n. 最前线

18) dapper [5dApE] a. 衣冠楚楚的

19) renaissance [rE5neisEns] n. 复兴

20) propel [prE5pel] v. 推动

21) disposable [dis5pEuzEbl] a. 可支配的

22) newfound [5njU:faJnd] a. 新发现的，新得到的

23) amendment [E5mendmEnt] n. 改正

24) agitation [AdVi5teiFEn] n. 煽动，鼓吹，不安

25) prohibition 19 [prEuhi5biFEn] n. 禁止