时间:2018-12-17 作者:英语课 分类:2018年NPR美国国家公共电台2月


英语课

 


SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:


The indie rock band Pedro the Lion is known for its sometimes dreary 1 lyrics 2 that take on internal conflict often filled with religious angst.


(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE FLEECING")


PEDRO THE LION: (Singing) Who shall I blame for this sweet and heavy trouble for every stupid struggle? I don't know.


MCCAMMON: Pedro the Lion formed in 1995 in Seattle. They gathered a wide indie rock following even as many of their songs tackled faith. A decade later, the band and its frontman, David Bazan, had reached a tipping point. Bazan had been questioning his faith, and he left the band and embarked 3 on a solo career. Fast forward to 2017, Bazan announced he would start touring again this year with a group of musicians under the old name Pedro the Lion. David Bazan joins us now while on tour with Pedro the Lion. Welcome.


DAVID BAZAN: Hi.


MCCAMMON: So since the band's inception 4, Pedro the Lion has always toed the line between indie rock and Christian 5 music. What do you think made the band so successful in the early 2000s? What is it that resonated with people?


BAZAN: I don't totally know, but I can guess. I think there is an earnestness that I wrote with and an openness with which I sang about doubt and faced issues at a time when I don't really think that was going on much. And also, I think I did it in such a way that it wasn't too hard on people who weren't coming from a place of faith. It wasn't slogans or trying to convert anybody. It was just me trying to process what was going on inside my head. I guess that worked for some folks.


(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SECRET OF THE EASY YOKE")


PEDRO THE LION: (Singing) Can someone please tell me the story of sinners ransomed 6 from the fall? I still have never seen you. And some days, I don't love you at all.


MCCAMMON: During your time as a solo artist, you seemed to be documenting what you've called your breakup with God. Your 2009 album, "Curse Your Branches," talks a lot about that. I want to play a little bit of one of those songs, "Bearing Witness."


(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BEARING WITNESS")


BAZAN: (Singing) Too full of fear and prophecy to see the revelation right in front of me. So sick and tired of trying to make the pieces fit 'cause it's not what bearing witness is.


MCCAMMON: David Bazan, how far have you come in being able to make the pieces fit - for yourself, at least?


BAZAN: It's taken some time. I've tried to be patient. But slowly, I've found more peace than I have had before. And I guess an analogy that I come back to a lot is planting a garden. There's just a lot of natural kind of sowing and reaping, these dynamics 7 at work in everybody's lives. And I've been trying to focus on those. And it's been a lot easier to make sense of how to be as a human that way for me.


MCCAMMON: One of the things that stands out to me as I hear even some of your very early work as Pedro the Lion is there - a lot of these songs are riddled 8 with uncertainty 9 and doubt and criticism of religion. And so this has been a long process for you. Was there a moment, was there a turning point, was there a time when you said, I got to call this, I just don't believe anymore?


BAZAN: Yeah, having a daughter - my wife and I, our daughter was born in 2004. And it caused me to look at Genesis, the creation account and especially the account of the the fall and original sin in a new way.


(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HARD TO BE")


BAZAN: (Singing) You've heard the stories. You know how it goes. Once upon a garden, we were lovers with no clothes.


In their innocence 10, Adam and Eve made a mistake that separated them from God forever. And having a new baby girl, who, in her innocence, I couldn't imagine removing myself from her or casting her out of my presence for any reason. And I just found I couldn't respect a being that would do that or certainly not be moved to love that being.


(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HARD TO BE")


BAZAN: (Singing) Wait just a minute. You expect me to believe that all this misbehaving grew from one enchanted 11 tree?


And so from there, things started to unravel 12. And I started looking at some other parts of the puzzle and hoping to shore things up. And they didn't get shored up, they just started to crumble 13 more the closer that I looked. It was really, really disappointing. I was crushed.


(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HARD TO BE")


BAZAN: (Singing) Hard to be a decent human being.


MCCAMMON: You said that you're writing new songs and that doing so as Pedro the Lion again has reconnected you to parts of yourself you'd lost touch with. What can we expect from this new iteration of Pedro the Lion?


BAZAN: Well, I'm writing a record that pays homage 14 to the town that I grew up in - Phoenix 15, Ariz. So there's a bit of concept record that I've dabbled 16 in before. I'm drawing from all of the Pedro music tonally and then all the Bazan music, just everything that I've done I feel like can come to bear on this Pedro record. And it seems to be doing that.


MCCAMMON: That's David Bazan. His band, Pedro the Lion, is on tour now. Thank you so much.


BAZAN: Thank you very much.


(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MAKE MUSIC")


BAZAN: (Singing) Didn't we make music? Didn't we make music? Didn't we all...



1 dreary
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的
  • They live such dreary lives.他们的生活如此乏味。
  • She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.她听够了那些关于酗酒和暴力的乏味故事。
2 lyrics
n.歌词
  • music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
  • The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。
3 embarked
乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 ); 装载; 从事
  • We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
  • She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。
4 inception
n.开端,开始,取得学位
  • The programme has been successful since its inception.这个方案自开始实施以来一直卓有成效。
  • Julia's worked for that company from its inception.自从那家公司开办以来,朱莉娅一直在那儿工作。
5 Christian
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。
6 ransomed
付赎金救人,赎金( ransom的过去式和过去分词 )
  • His wife ransomed him at a heavy price. 他妻子花了大价钱才把他赎了出来。
  • Surely, surely, we have ransomed one another, with all this woe! 确确实实,我们已经用这一切悲苦彼此赎救了! 来自英汉文学 - 红字
7 dynamics
n.力学,动力学,动力,原动力;动态
  • In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利,你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
  • Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。
8 riddled
adj.布满的;充斥的;泛滥的v.解谜,出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式)
  • The beams are riddled with woodworm. 这些木梁被蛀虫蛀得都是洞。
  • The bodies of the hostages were found riddled with bullets. 在人质的尸体上发现了很多弹孔。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 uncertainty
n.易变,靠不住,不确知,不确定的事物
  • Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
  • After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后,压力开始产生影响了。
10 innocence
n.无罪;天真;无害
  • There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
  • The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。
11 enchanted
v.弄清楚(秘密);拆开,解开,松开
  • He was good with his hands and could unravel a knot or untangle yarn that others wouldn't even attempt.他的手很灵巧,其他人甚至都不敢尝试的一些难解的绳结或缠在一起的纱线,他都能解开。
  • This is the attitude that led him to unravel a mystery that long puzzled Chinese historians.正是这种态度使他解决了长期以来使中国历史学家们大惑不解的谜。
12 crumble
vi.碎裂,崩溃;vt.弄碎,摧毁
  • Opposition more or less crumbled away.反对势力差不多都瓦解了。
  • Even if the seas go dry and rocks crumble,my will will remain firm.纵然海枯石烂,意志永不动摇。
13 homage
n.尊敬,敬意,崇敬
  • We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
  • The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。
14 phoenix
n.凤凰,长生(不死)鸟;引申为重生
  • The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
  • The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。
15 dabbled
v.涉猎( dabble的过去式和过去分词 );涉足;浅尝;少量投资
  • He dabbled in business. 他搞过一点生意。 来自辞典例句
  • His vesture was dabbled in blood. 他穿的衣服上溅满了鲜血。 来自辞典例句
学英语单词
a professional athlete
aaprotect
activity factor of B (in a liquid or a solid mixture)
al-rasheed
alignment time
anti-perfectionists
aporrectodea trapezoides
assembly robot
band-edge tailing
Barrault, Jean-Louis
be ambitious to do sth
beiderman
biophysics of membrane transport
blowout switch
boning room
caponier
Cetiprin
clinical genetics
cold waste
commercial fertilizer
content ratio analyzer
corticoliberin
crushable structure
customer centricity
DB
desktop videoconferencing
druggister
durable good
encander
essien
Ettrickhall
exner comprehensive system
extra heavy duty
genus omphalotuss
geometric mean inequality
group efficiency
hand brake housing
herposiphonieae
high efficiency TWT
highest probable frequency (hpf)
hold sb in high esteem
holeier
homogentisic acids
hot-tubs
instruction mode
iron-clad
Japanophobic
kizdere
kona cyclone
kragen
L, l
lactomucin
latitudinal cleavage
LC-ME
localcalls
lycocernuine
Maastrichtians
malignant auricular arrhythmia
methylphenylamine
micrometer-microscope
nimbiol
Office Francais de Recherche Sous-Marine
ophthalmoreaction
overconsolidated soil
peg-bar
pingees
pogonia macrocarpum broth
Pyeonghae
Qosqo
quadrant-edge orifice plate
radiosonde station
recommend substitutes
Rhizoma Panacis Japonici
rotating particle
roundhand
Saccharum Granorum
Saint James
schlenker
shoddy shaker
sidewheeler
silicon meter
skeezas
small calorie (cal)
softening plant
SP-54
square can
steering wheel angle
sukhoi
sulphur parakeet
the green-eyed monster
the have-nots
thixomolding
to yearn after...
tobacco looper
ultramacho
ultrasonic laparoscope
under authorities
volume color
wind someone round one's fingers
workfree
working-time
ya mean