Lesson One Rock Superstars.docx

Lesson One Rock Superstars

关于我们和我们的社会，他们告诉了我们些什么？

What Do They Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society?

摇滚乐是青少年叛逆的音乐。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　——摇滚乐评论家约相?罗克韦尔

Rock is the music of teenage rebellion.

--- John Rockwell, rock music critic

知其崇拜何人便可知其人。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　——小说家罗伯特?佩恩?沃伦

By a man’s heroes ye shall know him.

--- Robert Penn Warren, novelist

1972年6月的一天，芝加哥圆形剧场挤满了大汗淋漓、疯狂摇摆的人们。

It was mid-June, 1972, the Chicago Amphitheater was packed, sweltering, rocking.

滚石摇滚乐队的迈克?贾格尔正在台上演唱“午夜漫步人”。

Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones was singing “Midnight Rambler.”

演唱结束时评论家唐?赫克曼在现场。

Critic Don Heckman was there when the song ended.

他描述道：“贾格尔抓起一个半加仑的水罐沿舞台前沿边跑边把里面的水洒向前几排汗流浃背的听众。听众们蜂拥般跟随着他跑，急切地希望能沾上几滴洗礼的圣水。

“Jagger,” he said, “grabs a half-gallon jug of water and runs along the front platform, sprinkling its contents over the first few rows of sweltering listeners. They surge to follow him, eager to be touched by a few baptismal drops”.

1973年12月下旬的一天，约1.4万名歌迷在华盛顿市外的首都中心剧场尖叫着，乱哄哄地拥向台前。

It was late December, 1973, Some 14,000 screaming fans were crunching up to the front of the stage at Capital Center, outside Washington, D.C.

美国的恐怖歌星艾利丝?库珀的表演正接近尾声。

Alice Cooper, America’s singing ghoul, was ending his act.

他表演的最后一幕是假装在断头台上结束自己的生命。

He ends it by pretending to end his life – with a guillotine.

他的“头”落入一个草篮中。

His “head” drops into a straw basket.

“哎呀！”一个黑衣女孩子惊呼道：“啊!真是了不起，不是吗？”。

“Ooh,” gasped a girl dressed in black. “Oh, isn’t that marvelous?”

当时，14岁的迈克珀力也在场，但他的父母不在那里。

Fourteen-year-old Mick Perlie was there too, but his parents weren’t.

“他们觉得他恶心，恶心，恶心，”迈克说，“他们对我说，你怎么受得了那些？”

“They think he’s sick, sick, sick,” Mike said. “They say to me, ‘How can you stand that stuff?’”

1974年1月下旬的一天，在纽约州尤宁谷城拿骚体育场内，鲍勃?狄伦和“乐队”乐队正在为音乐会上要用的乐器调音。

It was late January, 1974. Inside the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, Bob Dylan and The Band were tuning for a concert.

馆外，摇滚歌迷克利斯?辛格在大雨中等待着入场。

Outside, in the pouring rain, fan Chris Singer was waiting to get in.

“这是朝圣，”克利斯说，“我应该跪着爬进去。”

“ This is pilgrimage,” Chris said, “I ought to be crawling on my knees.”

对于这一切好评及个人崇拜，你怎么看？

How do you feel about all this adulation and hero worship?

当米克?贾格尔的崇拜者们把他视为上帝的最高代表或是一个神时，你是赞成还是反对？

When Mick Jagger’s fans look at him as a high priest or a god, are you with them or against them?

你也和克利斯?辛格一样对鲍勃?狄伦怀有几乎是宗教般的崇敬吗？

Do you share Chris Singer’s almost religious reverence for Bob Dylan?

你认为他或狄伦是步入歧途吗？

Do you think he – or Dylan – is misguided?

你也认为艾利丝?库珀令人恶心而拒不接受吗？

Do you reject Alice Cooper as sick?

难道你会莫名其妙地被这个奇怪的小丑吸引，原因就在于他表达出你最狂热的幻想？

Or are you drawn somehow to this strange clown, perhaps because he acts out your wildest fantasies?

这些并不是闲谈。

These aren’t idle questions.

有些社会学家认为对这些问题的回答可以充分说明你在想些什么以及社会在想些什么——也就是说，有关你和社会的态度。

Some sociologists say that your answers to them could explain a lot about what you are thinking and about what your society is thinking – in other words, about where you and your society are.

社会学家欧文?霍洛威茨说：“音乐表现其时代。”

“Music expressed its times,” says sociologist Irving Horowitz.

霍洛威茨把摇滚乐的舞台视为某种辩论的论坛，一个各种思想交锋的场所。

Horowitz sees the rock music arena as a sort of debating forum, a place where ideas clash and crash.

他把它看作是一个美国社会努力为自己的感情及信仰不断重新进行解释的地方。

He sees it as a place where American society struggles to define and redefine its feelings and beliefs.

他说：“重新解释是一项只有青年人才能执行的任务。只有他们才把创造与夸张、理性与运动、言语与声音、音乐与政治融为一体。”

“The redefinition,” Horowitz says, “is a task uniquely performed by the young. It is they alone who combine invention and exaggeration, reason and motion, word and sound, music and politics.”

作曲兼演唱家托德?伦德格伦对这个观点表示赞同。

Todd Rundgren, the composer and singer, agrees.

他说：“摇滚乐与其说是一种音乐力量不如说是一种社会心理的表现。就连埃尔维斯?普雷斯利也并非是一种伟大的音乐力量，他只不过是体现了50年代青少年那种心灰意冷的精神状态。”

“Rock music,” he says, “is really a sociological expression rather than a musical force. Even Elvis Presley wasn’t really a great musical force. It’s just that Elvis managed to embody the frustrated teenage spirit of the 1950s.”

毫无疑问，普雷斯利震惊了美国的成人世界。

Of course Presley horrified adult America.

报纸写社论攻击他，电视网也禁止播他，但也许埃尔维斯证实了霍洛威茨和伦德格伦的看法。

Newspapers editorialized against him, and TV networks banned him. But Elvis may have proved what Horowitz and Rundgren believe.

当他通过电视上埃德?沙利文的星期日晚间的综艺节目出现在千百万人面前时，就引起了某种辩论。

When he appeared on the Ed.Sullivan Sunday night variety show in front of millions, a kind of “debate” took place.

多数年纪大的观众眉头紧皱，而大多数年轻观众则报以掌声欢迎。

Most of the older viewers frowned, while most of the younger viewers applauded.

摇滚乐评论家们说，从埃尔维斯到艾利丝，许多歌星帮助我们的社会解说其信仰与态度。

Between Elvis and Alice, rock critics say, a number of rock stars have helped our society define its beliefs and attitudes.

鲍勃?狄伦触动了对现状不满的神经，他唱到民权、核散落物以及孤独。

Bob Dylan touched a nerve of disaffection. He spoke of civil rights, nuclear fallout, and loneliness.

他唱到变革和老一代人的迷茫，他在歌声中唱道：“这儿正发生着什么事，你不知道是什么事，对吗，琼斯先生？”

He spoke of change and of the bewilderment of an older generation. “Something’s happening here,” he sang. “You don’t know what it is, do you, Mr.Jones?”

其他人也加入了这场辩论。

Others entered the debate.

霍洛威茨说，甲壳虫乐队以幽默的方式，或许还借助麻醉品的力量来倡导和平与虔诚。傲慢无理、打架斗殴的滚石乐队成员要求革命。杰斐逊飞机乐队的歌曲“我们能够联合”和“志愿者”（有一场革命）则是激进青年的更进一步的两项声明。

The Beatles, Horowitz said, urged peace and piety, with humor and maybe a little help from drugs. The Rolling Stones, arrogant street-fighting men, demanded revolution. The Jefferson Airplane’s “We Can Be Together” and Volunteers (Got a Revolution)” were two further statements of radical youth.

但政治并不是60年代强硬派摇滚乐所辩论的惟一主题，始终作为任何音乐永恒组成部分的情感也是一个重要题目。

But politics wasn’t the only subject debated in the hard rock of the sixties. Feelings, always a part of any musical statement, were a major subject.

詹妮丝?乔普林用歌声表达自己的悲哀。

Janis Jophin sang of her sadness.

甲壳虫乐队揭示出爱与恨之间的一系列的感情。

The Beatles showed there were a range of emotions between love and hate.

以后又出现了“乐队”乐队把乡村音乐和西部音乐所表达的较为传统的观念与强硬派摇滚乐较为激进的“都市”观念结合在一起。

Then came The Band, mixing the more traditional ideas of country and western music into the more radical ”city” ideas of the hard rock.

霍洛威茨认为这一成分的乡村音乐帮助听众表达了一种“摆脱这一切”重返过去时光”的强烈愿望。

This country element, Horowitz feels, helped its audience express an urge to “get away from it all,” to “go back to the old day.

当前最能说明霍洛威茨看法的例子之一就是约翰?丹佛，他最著名的歌曲《阳光照在我肩上》、《高高的落基山》和《乡间小路》把民间摇滚乐的音乐灵魂与力量结合了起来，而歌词则赞美了“往日美好时光”的朴素的欢乐。

.” One of the best current examples of what Horotwitz is talking about is John Denver. His most notable songs – “Sunshine on My Shoulders”, “Rocky Mountain High”, and “Country Road” – combine the musical drive and power of folk rock, while the lyrics celebrate the simple joys of “the good old days.”

这样的例子不胜枚举。

The list could go on and on.

这些摇滚乐音乐家们和所有的艺术家一样反映出我们借以认识并形成属于自己的感情与信念。

Like all artists, these rock musicians mirror feelings and beliefs that help us see and form our own.

我们以什么来回报他们呢？当然是掌声和赞美。

What do we give them in return? Applause and praise, of course.

在1972年的一次全国民意测验中，10％的男高中生和30％以上的女高中生都说他们最崇拜的人是超级摇滚歌星。

In one 1972, national opinion poll, more than 10 percent of the high school boys and 20 percent of the girls said their hero was a rock superstar.

此外我们给他们金钱， 商业杂志《福布斯》认为，“当今成为百万富翁的捷径是当摇滚歌星。”

We also give them money. “The fastest way to become a millionaire these days,” says Forbes, a business magazine, “is to become a rock ‘n’ roll star.”

今天的英雄们——至少其中一部分人——告诉我们，他们很喜欢所得到的报偿。

Today’s heroes – some of them, anyway – tell us they enjoy their rewards.

“我暗自嘲笑这些先生们和女士们,他们从没想到过我们会成为金娃娃。”演唱这支歌曲的是“文化英雄”艾利丝?库珀。

“And I laughed to myself at the men and the ladies. Who never conceived of us billion-dollar babies.” The particular “culture hero” who sings that is Alice cooper.

可是，仍然存在着一个大问题：为什么他是文化英雄？

The big question remains: Why is he a culture hero?

他，或者当今任何其他走红的摇滚歌星能告诉我们些什么有关他们的歌迷的事情？

What does he – or any other current rock success – tell us about his fans?

对于我们自己和我们的社会有些什么了解？现在怎样，过去如何，将来又将向何处去？

About ourselves and our society? Where it is, where it was, where it’s heading
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