(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Steve Ember. And I'm Barbara Klein with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today, we explore the life of dancer and choreographer Martha Graham. She created almost two hundred dance pieces. She is often called the Mother of Modern Dance. Her influence on the world of dance continues today.
In the beginning of the twentieth century, women like Isadora Duncan and Ruth Saint Denis wanted to create a new form of dance. Duncan and Saint Denis felt restricted by ballet. Modern dance was created as a revolt against ballet. Martha Graham was one of the most famous dancers and creators of dance, called choreographers. She brought modern dance to a new level of popularity in American culture. She created a new language of movement that expressed powerful emotions. She started traditions that are still used in modern dance today. They include expressive movements of the body to tell a dramatic story, special music, lighting, stage design and costumes.
Martha Graham was born in the small town of Allegheny, Pennsylvania in eighteen ninety-four. After Martha turned fourteen years old, her family moved to Santa Barbara, California. While traveling across the Midwest, Martha enjoyed the wide, open spaces of nature. She also enjoyed the beautiful flowers and plants in California. The free, expressive movements of modern dance were clearly influenced by the beauty of nature Graham observed.
Earlier in her life, however, Martha did not know that she would become a dancer. Her father was a doctor and her family was very religious. They were members of the upper class and did not accept dance as an art form. Still, in nineteen ten, Martha's father took her to see a dance performance by Ruth Saint Denis, one of the first modern dancers in America. Martha was sixteen and she decided then that she wanted to become a dancer.
Ruth Saint Denis and Isadora Duncan were at the center of attention in modern dance. They established some of the traditions we see today. For example, Duncan was famous for starting the tradition of not wearing dance shoes while performing. Saint Denis was famous for creating dances influenced by other cultures. She studied dance from countries such as Mexico and Egypt, instead of the European countries where ballet had started. Martha Graham took an immediate interest in this new art form.
Martha's parents, however, did not approve of her sudden desire to dance. At this time, people saw American dance as a lower art form. Graham chose to follow her dream of dancing, even though she was considered too old to begin dancing. She was in her early twenties when she began studying dance in nineteen sixteen. She attended the school created by Ruth Saint Denis and her husband, Ted Shawn in Los Angeles, California.
At the Denishawn Dance School, Graham worked very hard to improve her ability to dance. She trained her body to become strong enough to meet the difficult demands of dance. She performed with the Denishawn dance company for several years before moving to New York City. There, Graham performed in shows but she wanted to make greater experiments with dance.
Martha Graham started teaching dance at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Later she returned to New York City to teach at Carnegie Hall. She began to choreograph, or create the steps of dances. In order to express herself freely, she decided to establish her own dance company and school. In nineteen twenty-six she started the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance.
She enjoyed having her own company of students to perform her dances. Graham produced a dance called "Heretic" in nineteen twenty-nine. She wore all white and danced against a wall of dancers wearing all black. Graham began to work with music composer Louis Horst. She worked with him until he died in nineteen sixty-four. Graham once said that, without Horst, she would have felt lost.
In nineteen thirty-six, Graham created "Chronicle," one of her most important dances. "Chronicle" was influenced by current events including the Great Depression and the Spanish Civil War. The dance expressed sadness and loneliness. At this time, showing strong emotions in dance was very rare. Graham also created dances based on ancient Greek tragic stories and famous female heroines.
At first, people did not react well to Graham's style of dancing. It was very different from European ballet, which was more commonly accepted. Graham's dances were powerful, with strong and sharp movements. Some of the movements involved contracting and releasing parts of the body, using the arms in dramatic movements and falling to the floor. These movements are still used in modern dance today.
In nineteen thirty-eight, President Franklin Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, invited Martha Graham to perform at the White House. She created a dance called "American Document." Graham later danced at the White House for seven other presidents.
In nineteen forty-four, Martha Graham created "Appalachian Spring," one of her most famous dances. It tells the story of a wedding among early American settlers. Aaron Copland composed this music for "Appalachian Spring."
In nineteen fifty-one, Graham was among the people who established the dance program at the Juilliard School in New York City. It is still one of the best arts schools in the country. Many famous artists have begun their careers by studying there. Graham created her largest dance in nineteen fifty-eight. She named it "Clytemnestra," and used music from the Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh.
Graham worked with other famous and influential people in the world of dance. Many of her students became famous dancers and choreographers. She also taught movement to famous people. including singer Madonna, actress Bette Davis and film director Woody Allen.
Some of her dances were filmed and made into a DVD called "Martha Graham: Dance on Film." This is a collection of three programs Graham made for American public television in the nineteen fifties and sixties. "A Dancer's World" is an introduction to Graham and her work. She tells about her dances and her dance group shows some of their methods. The DVD also includes films of two of her dances, "Appalachian Spring" and "Night Journey."
Graham continued to dance past the age of seventy. Once again, she was met with criticism from people who came to watch her shows. Younger people knew that Graham was an important influence but they did not understand the meaning behind her dances. Graham began to suffer emotionally. She began to drink too much alcohol.
She later wrote a book about herself, called "Blood Memory." In her book, she wrote that she performed for the last time in nineteen seventy, when she was seventy-six years old. Two years later Graham stopped drinking alcohol. She went back to her dance company to choreograph more dances. The final dance she completed was called "Maple Leaf Rag," which she finished in nineteen ninety. Scott Joplin composed the music.
Martha Graham received many awards during her lifetime, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in nineteen seventy-six. She was the first dancer to receive the country's highest civilian honor. She died in nineteen ninety-one at the age of ninety-six. In nineteen ninety-eight, Time magazine listed her as the "Dancer of the Century" and as one of the most important people of the twentieth century. The Martha Graham Dance Company still performs her dances in New York and around the world.
重点解析
1.famous for以...闻名
Franklin is especially famous for his contributions in the field of electricity.
富兰克林尤以其在电的领域里的贡献闻名于世。
2.instead of代替；而不是
If you are not satisfied with your English, you should do something to improve it instead of complaining.
如果你对你的英语感到不满意，你就应该采取行动改善它而不是抱怨！
3.take an interest in对...感兴趣
We hope they take an interest in what is going on inside them.
我们希望孩子们对发生在自己体内的事情感兴趣。
4.meet demand满足要求
The exchange plans to double the number of slots to meet demand.
为满足需求，此交易所打算将插槽的数量增加一倍。
5.in order to为了
But in order to do this, we have to decide what our priorities are.
但是为了能够做这些，我们必须决定我们的优先次序。
6.based on基于
Your price should be based on the actual situation of our customers.
你们的价格应该是基于我们的客户群的实际情况。
参考译文
我是史蒂夫·恩贝尔，我是芭芭拉·克莱恩。这里是这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天我们讲述舞蹈家和编舞家玛莎·葛兰姆的故事。她创造了近200个舞蹈作品。她常常被人称为现代舞蹈之母。她对舞蹈世界的影响一直延续到今天。
20世纪初，伊莎多拉·邓肯和露丝·圣丹尼斯等女性想要创造一种新的舞蹈形式。邓肯和圣丹尼斯觉得芭蕾舞限制了他们。现代舞是对芭蕾舞的一种反抗。玛莎·格雷厄姆是最著名的舞蹈家和舞蹈创作者之一，被称为编舞家。她把现代舞在美国文化中的受欢迎程度提高到了一个新的水平。她创造了一种新的运动语言来表达强烈的情感。她开创了至今仍在现代舞中使用的传统。它们包括讲述戏剧性故事的身体表达动作、特殊的音乐、灯光、舞台设计和服装。
玛莎·格雷厄姆于1894年出生在宾夕法尼亚州的阿勒格尼小镇。玛莎14岁后，全家搬到了加州的圣巴巴拉市。玛莎在中西部旅行时，喜欢大自然开阔的空间。她也喜欢加州美丽的花朵和植物。现代舞中自由、富有表现力的动作显然受到了格拉汉姆所观察到的自然美的影响。
然而，在她生命的早期，玛莎并不知道自己会成为一个舞蹈家。她的父亲是一名医生，她的家人都很虔诚。他们是上流社会的成员，不接受舞蹈是一种艺术形式。然而，在1910年，玛莎的父亲带她去看露丝圣丹尼斯的舞蹈表演，她是美国第一批现代舞演员之一。玛莎16岁，那时她决定要成为一名舞蹈演员。
露丝·圣丹尼斯和伊莎多拉·邓肯是现代舞的焦点人物。他们创建了我们今天看到的一些传统。比如，邓肯以开创了不穿舞鞋跳舞的传统而闻名。圣丹尼斯以创作受其他文化影响的舞蹈而闻名。她学习的舞蹈来自墨西哥和埃及等国家，而不是芭蕾诞生的欧洲国家。玛莎·格雷厄姆立刻对这种新的艺术形式产生了兴趣。
然而，玛莎的父母不同意她突然想学跳舞的想法。那时候，人们将美国舞蹈视为较低级的舞蹈形式。格雷厄姆选择跟随她跳舞的梦想，即使她开始跳舞的年龄有些太大了。1916年她开始学习舞蹈，那时她二十出头。她就读于由露丝·圣丹尼斯和她的丈夫特德·肖恩在加州洛杉矶创办的学校。
在丹尼斯肖恩舞蹈学校，格雷厄姆非常努力地提高她的舞蹈能力。她训练让自己的身体变得强壮，以满足舞蹈的困难要求。在搬到纽约之前，她在丹尼斯肖恩舞蹈公司表演了几年。在那里，格雷厄姆在节目中演出，但是她想做更大的舞蹈实验。
玛莎·格雷厄姆开始在纽约罗切斯特市的伊士曼音乐学院教授舞蹈。后来她回到纽约市卡内基音乐厅任教。她开始编舞，或创造舞蹈的舞步。为了自由的表达自己，她决定成立自己的舞蹈公司和学校。在1926年，她创办了玛莎格雷厄姆当代舞蹈中心。
她喜欢有自己的学生陪她跳舞。格雷厄姆在1929年创作了一种名为“异教徒”的舞蹈。她穿着一身白衣服，对着一群穿着一身黑衣服的舞者跳舞。格雷厄姆开始与作曲家路易斯·霍斯特合作。她和他一起工作，直到1964年他去世。格雷厄姆曾经说过，如果没有霍斯特，她会感到迷失。
1936年，格雷厄姆创作了她最重要的舞蹈之一《编年史》。《编年史》收到了包括大萧条和西班牙内战在内的当时事件的影响。这个舞蹈展示了悲伤和孤独。那时候，在舞蹈中展现强烈的情感是非常少见的。格雷厄姆也基于古希腊的悲剧故事和著名的女英雄创作了舞蹈。
起初，人们对格雷厄姆的舞蹈方式反响并不好。它和更普遍为人接受的欧洲芭蕾非常不同。格雷厄姆的舞蹈非常有能量，带有强壮和剧烈的动作。一些动作包括收缩和释放身体的某些部位，用手臂做剧烈的动作，然后跌倒在地板上。这些动作至今仍在现代舞中使用。
1938年，富兰克林·罗斯福总统的妻子埃莉诺·罗斯福邀请玛莎·格雷厄姆在白宫表演。她创作了一种被称为“美国档案”的舞蹈。格雷厄姆后来在白宫又为其他七位美国总统跳舞。
在1944年，玛莎·格雷厄姆创造了《阿巴拉契亚春天》，她最著名的舞蹈之一。它讲述了早期美国殖民者的婚礼故事。阿伦·科普兰为《阿巴拉契亚的春天》创作了这首曲子。
1951年，格雷厄姆是纽约市茱莉亚音乐学院舞蹈项目的创始人之一。现在茱莉亚音乐学院仍是全国最好的艺术院校之一。很多著名的艺术家通过在那里学习开始他们的生涯。格雷厄姆于1958年创作了她最大规模的舞蹈。她将其命名为《克吕泰墨斯特拉》，该舞蹈使用了埃及作曲家哈利姆·埃尔达布的音乐。
格雷厄姆曾和舞蹈世界中其他著名和有影响力的人们共事过。她很多学生都成为了著名的舞蹈家和编舞家。她还教名人跳舞。包括歌手麦当娜、女演员贝蒂·戴维斯和电影导演伍迪·艾伦。
她的一些舞蹈被录制了下来，制成了名为《玛莎·格雷厄姆：录制舞蹈》的DVD。这是格雷厄姆在五六十年代为美国公共电视制作的三个节目的合集。《舞者世界》是对格雷厄姆和她的作品的介绍。她讲述了她的舞蹈，她的舞蹈团队展示了他们的一些方法。这个DVD也包括了她的两个舞蹈的录影，《阿帕拉契亚之春》和《夜旅》。
格雷厄姆七十岁后仍然在跳舞。再一次，她遭遇了来看她表演的人们的批评。年轻的人们知道格雷厄姆有重要的影响力，但他们不能理解她舞蹈背后的意义。格雷厄姆开始出现情感上的痛苦。她开始大量酗酒。
她后来写了一本关于她自己的书，名字叫做《血色记忆》。在她的书中，她写道，她最后一次演出是在1970年，当时她76岁。两年后，格雷厄姆不再饮酒。她回到自己的舞蹈公司创作更多的舞蹈。1990年，她完成了自己的最后一个作品《枫叶拉格》。斯科特·乔普林为该舞蹈谱写了音乐。
玛莎·格雷厄姆一生中获得过许多奖项，包括1976年的总统自由勋章。她是第一个获得国家最高平民荣誉的舞蹈家。她于1991年去世，享年96岁。1998年，时代杂志将她列为“世纪舞蹈家”和二十世纪最重要的人物之一。玛莎格雷厄姆舞蹈公司仍然在纽约和世界各地表演她的舞蹈。
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