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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
By Jerilyn Watson
Broadcast: August 4, 2003
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
School 1)reunions are a chance for Americans to get together with people they may not have seen in years. Some have not seen each other in half a lifetime1. I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Phoebe Zimmermann. We look at high school and college reunions this week on the VOA Special English program THIS IS AMERICA.
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
Two women were attending a reunion of their high school class. They had not seen each other for more than forty years. Each had married and had children. Each had worked at several jobs. Yet they immediately told each other: "You have not changed at all!"
And they were not alone. Reunions are a chance to go back in time, briefly2, to relive days fresh out of school. There are ten-year reunions. Twenty-year reunions. Fifty-year unions. In any given year, thousands of Americans attend a high school or college reunion.
VOICE TWO:
People sometimes go long distances to get to these events. Some pay a lot of money to travel and stay in hotels. Just planning the visit can take time, especially if the person wants to do something special.
Take the example of a woman from Bethesda, Maryland. She graduated many years ago from a high school near Chicago, Illinois.
This summer, she decided3 to hold a smaller reunion of her own during her high school reunion. She wanted to gather several of her friends in the same hotel so they could talk as they had as teen-agers. The women were from all parts of the country.
Her plan required several long-distance telephone calls and at least forty e-mail messages. But it was worth the time. The women visited the houses where they had lived while in high school. They remembered each other's boyfriends and families. They stayed up late for two nights as they exchanged stories about their lives. It was like they were girls again.
(MUSIC BRIDGE)
VOICE ONE:
Reunions can be a lot of fun, but also a lot of pressure. Sometimes people feel they must improve their appearance4 before they go to a reunion. This is true of both men and women. They may try to lose weight. They may change the color of their hair. Or they may buy costly5 new clothes.
People may feel they have to prove to others how successful they are. Then, if they talk too much about their success, others accuse6 them of “2)bragging7.”
People at reunions often talk about their children and grandchildren8. They may talk about them for a long time. Most people who are parents and grandparents also carry pictures. So it is common to overhear9 former classmates saying things like, “I think that baby looks just like you.” Or, “Oh, your granddaughter is beautiful!"
VOICE TWO:
People who attend high school and college reunions sometimes try to make business connections. They try to get former classmates to invest10 in their companies or buy their products. Some people ask old school friends for a job.
Political11 candidates12 are no strangers to high school and college reunions. For example, Senator13 Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut attended Stamford High School in his state. He completed his studies in nineteen-sixty. Since then, he has attended seven of the eight class reunions.
In January of this year, Senator Lieberman chose the school as the place to make an important announcement. He announced his candidacy14 for the Democratic15 Party nomination16 for president in two-thousand-four. Many members of his high school reunion committee17 took part in the event.
VOICE ONE:
There are all kinds of reunions. Former students organize many of them. People who have planned a reunion say it sometimes requires a year or more of hard work. But, this way, the people give their time to make the preparations. So it can cost less than a reunion organized by a business.
But the former students can also hire a reunion planner. For example, a company called Reunions by Design organizes high school reunions in the eastern states of New York, New Jersey18 and Connecticut. It searches for members of a high school or college class.
It places news of the coming reunion in newspapers and on the Internet. It mails invitations. It organizes hotel rooms for people who live far from the school. It also prints memory books. These books tell a little something about the lives of the former students, including where they now live and work.
VOICE TWO:
Many different kinds of reunions take place. Some may be formal and cost a lot. This kind usually takes place in a hotel. A big dinner is served. A band or 3)orchestra19 usually plays.
Other reunions are informal20. This kind of party is often held in the high school or college itself. The people who went to school together share a meal. Then they may dance to music just as they did years before.
Reunions can even take place in the home of one of the former students. That is what happened several years ago with the graduating class of nineteen-sixty-nine from Wellesley College. That is a women's school in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Their classmate Hillary Rodham Clinton held the reunion in the White House while she was first lady. Missus Clinton is the wife of former President Bill Clinton. She is now a United21 States senator from New York.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Many high school and college reunions take place at the same time as an event called homecoming. Schools plan this event to invite their graduates to return for a visit. Homecoming almost always is held in the fall.The schools plan events for the returning graduates. There usually is an important football game or other sports event that former students can attend. And there usually is a party called an open house. Teachers or professors welcome back their former students.
VOICE TWO:
Some activities are the same at all reunions. For example, people usually bring their old high school or college yearbooks. They look back through all the pictures of the people they went to school with. They read over the notes they wrote to each other back then. The usual message is something like, "Good luck. I will think of you in the future.” Former classmates at reunions look at the pictures and try to identify people as they look today.
The main program is usually led by one or more speakers from the class. They tell jokes and remember stories about their classmates. They introduce former teachers. They introduce classmates who fell in love with other classmates and got married.
Reunions are also famous as a second chance for love.
VOICE ONE:
The people who organize reunions may show films of when everyone was a teen-ager. If the students were in school a long time ago, they laugh at the clothes they wore.
And there is something else people do at reunions. They almost always sing their school song.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Mental health experts tell us that the high school and college years can be difficult for young people. They may feel they are not bright enough or good looking enough to succeed in life.
A member of the graduating class of a high school in the Midwest made a 4)videotape of some of the students at his class reunion. He asked them to respond22 to questions like “What do you remember most?”
VOICE ONE:
Those who spoke23 first said they thought the teachers were excellent. Or they said they learned24 a lot. Or they fell in love for the first time.
But a woman who became a newspaper reporter in Colorado said she felt very unhappy in high school. She said she felt ugly, and that she would never succeed in life. After that, a number of other people admitted that they also felt that way as teen-agers. They said they were glad that was behind them now.
VOICE TWO:
Retired25 diplomat26 Patricia Barnett Brubaker lives in the state of Maryland. She has attended many reunions of her class at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
She and her classmates always marched in a parade27 during ceremonies at their college reunions. But now they are more than eighty years old. So, at their sixtieth reunion, they rode in a car. Says Missus Brubaker: "I just thought it was wonderful that we got there."
VOICE ONE:
Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson -- who just got back from her high school reunion, where she was the woman with that small reunion of her own. Our producer was Caty Weaver28. I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Phoebe Zimmermann. Join us again next week for another report about life in the United States on the VOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.
注释:
1) reunions [ri:5ju:njEn] n.聚会
2) bragging [brA^iN] n.吹牛
3) orchestra [5C:kistrE] n.管弦乐队, 乐队演奏处
4) videotape [5vidiEu7teip] n.录像带
1 lifetime | |
n.一生,终身,寿命,使用期限 | |
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2 briefly | |
adv.简单地,简短地 | |
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3 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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4 appearance | |
n.出现,露面;容貌 | |
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5 costly | |
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的 | |
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6 accuse | |
vt.指责,控告,归咎于;vi.指责,控告 | |
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7 bragging | |
v.自夸,吹嘘( brag的现在分词 );大话 | |
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8 grandchildren | |
n.孙子;孙(女),外孙(女)( grandchild的名词复数 ) | |
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9 overhear | |
vt.无意中听到,偷听到 | |
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10 invest | |
v.投资;投入(时间等);授予,赋予 | |
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11 political | |
adj.政治上的,政党的,政略性的,政治的 | |
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12 candidates | |
n.报考者( candidate的名词复数 );申请求职者;攻读学位者;最后命运或结局如何已显然可见者 | |
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13 senator | |
n.参议员,评议员 | |
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14 candidacy | |
n.候选人资格;候选人的地位 | |
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15 democratic | |
adj.民主的;民主主义的,有民主精神的 | |
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16 nomination | |
n.提名,任命,提名权 | |
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17 committee | |
n.委员会,全体委员 | |
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18 jersey | |
n.运动衫 | |
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19 orchestra | |
n.管弦乐队;vt.命令,定购 | |
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20 informal | |
adj.非正式的,不拘礼的,通俗的 | |
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21 united | |
adj.和谐的;团结的;联合的,统一的 | |
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22 respond | |
vi.回答,响应 | |
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23 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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24 learned | |
adj.有学问的,博学的;learn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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25 retired | |
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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26 diplomat | |
n.外交官,外交家;能交际的人,圆滑的人 | |
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27 parade | |
n.游行,炫耀,阅兵,检阅,阅兵场;v.游行,炫耀,夸耀,(使)列队行进 | |
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28 weaver | |
n.织布工;编织者 | |
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