美語(yǔ)咖啡屋Young At Heart Tap Dance Troupe
Y: 大家好，我是楊晨，歡迎您到美語(yǔ)咖啡屋。
J: And I'm Jody! Thanks for dropping by the American Cafe!
Y: 哎，Jody， 你踢踏舞練得這么樣了？
(Sound of tap dancing)
J: Slowly, Yang Chen. Really slowly.
Y:一定很難吧？
J: Um, I would have to say in a word, simply ... YES! It's really hard.
Y: 就是嗎。當(dāng)初我就勸你學(xué)點(diǎn)簡(jiǎn)單的東西。
J: I know.
Y: 不是我打擊你的積極性，你這個(gè)年齡學(xué)踢踏舞是不是晚了一點(diǎn)兒？
J: What's that supposed to mean? What do you mean 我的這個(gè)年齡?! What's wrong with my age!? But, actually the ladies in my tap dance troupe, called Young At Heart, are in their late 50s and early 60s. So, I'm pretty young. And most of them didn't start tap dancing until they hit 50 years old.
Y: 還有這么多人50多歲了才開始學(xué)跳踢踏舞。Young At Heart這個(gè)名字起得真好。它的意思是說一個(gè)人身體變老了，可是心靈和思想永遠(yuǎn)是年輕的。這和中文里的“童心未泯”的意思很接近。
J: And in English the expression "young at heart" is often used to describe older people who have a zest for life. You know, they have a young way of looking at life. Here's Hazel, one of the founders of Young At Heart.
實(shí)錄1 Hazel Elbert：My name is Hazel Elbert. And ah, I started tapping in 1989. In 1989 I was 52 years old. I've been with Young at Heart since, oh dear, I guess it's been about five, going on about six years now.
Y: Hazel五十二歲才開始學(xué)跳舞。你們都在什么地方表演，我下次一定要去看看。
J: Oh, that'll be fun! Young At Heart travels to many nursing homes and senior centers in the area and tap dances for people who don't get to go out very much any more.
Y: 這里的nursing homes指的就是養(yǎng)老院，那么senior centers指的是老年人中心。哎，你們到這些養(yǎng)老院或老年人中心去為老人們表演，這也應(yīng)該算是一種慈善活動(dòng)吧？
J: Here's Hazel again.
實(shí)錄2 Hazel Elbert：And you get a good feeling because the whole purpose of our organization is to provide entertainment to elderly people, actually. It's the elderly people that are in our nursing homes or senior centers and what have you, and that's the main purpose of our organization.
J: And you know, what's better than music, dancing, singing and laughter? Those are the best medicines for anybody.
Y: 沒錯(cuò)，沒錯(cuò)。對(duì)我自己來說，多聽音樂，唱歌跳舞都是有益身體健康的活動(dòng)。
J: And you know, there's another side to the benefits of Young At Heart.
Y:那是什么呢？
J: Well, many of the women have used tap dance to help recover from serious illnesses.
Y: 真的？跳踢踏舞還可以幫助她們恢復(fù)身體健康?。?/p>
J: Definitely, definitely. Here's Hazel.
ACT Hazel Elbert
Jody: Out of all the dance forms why did you choose tap?
實(shí)錄3 Hazel: Because I needed a diversion from a medical problem I was having. And I thought tap would be challenging and it would keep my mind occupied. It required a lot of thought, coordination and that's kinda of what I needed at the time.
Y: 原來Hazel是用跳舞來分散她的精力。這樣她就不會(huì)老把自己當(dāng)成一個(gè)病人。這真的是一種好辦法。
J: Right, because tap dance, like Hazel said, is not only physical it's also mental. It requires a lot of thought, a lot of coordination. Another women in the dance troupe, a friend of mine, has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.
Y: Chemotherapy就是療。
J: And she's still tap dancing. Well, here's Emily. She explains how tap dancing saved her from severe shyness.
Y: 害羞？
J: 非常害羞。
Y: 哇，我很好奇，如果她是個(gè)害羞的人，那她怎么敢在很多人面前跳舞呢？
J: 我們讓她解釋。
實(shí)錄4 Emily：I choose tap dancing because it is something I've always wanted to do since I was yay high but I was too frightened and too scared, and I was a very shy person, oh horribly shy person. But then when I became 52, I said "Uh oh, I think it's time." 52 or not I was going to do this.
Y: Jody, 你知道嗎，我聽了Emily的話，真的很受鼓舞，因?yàn)槲乙彩莻€(gè)很害羞的人，所以我也應(yīng)該去學(xué)跳踢踏舞？
J: What?! You? Shy?! No way! But come on out and dance with us anyway. Young At Heart would love to have you.
Y: 好，各位聽眾，我們今天的節(jié)目就到這里結(jié)束。謝謝大家收聽，我們下次節(jié)目再見。
(Sound of tap dancing)
J: Thanks for tuning into American Cafe! See you next time!
