真正的美國牛仔是什么樣的？為什么他們在美國歷史上那么重要

 
真正的美國牛仔是什么樣的？為什么他們在美國歷史上那么重要
 
來聽今天的講解:
 
A: I want to write about something which is truly American. what do you think? A preS1dent or a buS1nessman?
 
我想寫點真正屬于美國的東西，你認為該寫些什么呢？寫總統(tǒng)還是商人？
 
B: Neither, you should write about cowboys.  They are a true symbol of the USA.
 
都不好，你應該寫美國牛仔。他們才是真正能代表美國的象征。
 
A: Like in the movies?
 
就像電影里演的那樣嗎？
 
B: No, the life of a cowboy was anything but glamorous-it entailed hard work and long, lonesome hours.
 
不是，牛仔的生活一點也不誘人-----他們必須承受繁重的勞動和長期的寂寞孤獨。
 
A:What about the clothes?Do they really wear jeans, cowboy boots and Stetson hats?
 
那衣服呢？他們是真的都穿牛仔服、牛仔靴，戴寬邊帽嗎？
 
B: Cowboy clothing is an everyday part of their wardrobes.  Today they are remembered in "Spaghetti Westerns", movies and TV shows which started a craze during the 1950s and 60s. Some are still popular today, but most people's attraction shifted to space travel, maybe because of the moon landing in 1969.
 
牛仔服是他們衣柜里日常生活的一部分。今天他們留給人們的記憶仍然是他們在意大利式西部片中的形象，正是這些影視作品在上世紀五六十年代引發(fā)了一陣熱潮。直到今天有些這樣的影片還是很受歡迎，但后來大多數(shù)人把注意力轉移到了太空旅行，這大概是因為1969年的登月事件吧。
 
A: Many country and western songs try to capture the true cowboy spirit. This fascination with che "Old West" is still popular today. I think lots of Americans like country and western muS1c. But you think movies, muS1c and televiS1on tells us nothing about the true cowboy?
 
很多鄉(xiāng)村音樂和西部歌曲都試圖表現(xiàn)真正的牛仔精神。這種對“老西部”的迷戀至今仍然還很流行我覺得很多美國人都喜歡鄉(xiāng)村音樂和西部音樂?？墒牵阏J為電影、音樂和電視并沒有表現(xiàn)真正的牛仔，對不對？
 
B: Yes, but muS1c especially has made cowboys more and more popular. The cowboy's real job isn't S1nging though, it's looking after cattle. Hence the name "cowboy".
 
是的，尤其是音樂，它們讓西部牛仔變得越來越有名。不過，牛仔真正的工作并不是唱歌那么輕松，而是照看牛群，所以他們才被叫做“牛仔”。
 
A: The cowboy's reign in the old West was quite short. about 30 years, why are they such a big pan of American history?
 
牛仔在美國蠻荒的西部活動的時間并不長，大約是30年。為什么他們在美國歷史上那么重要呢？
 
B: Well. when the Civil War ended. Many started drifting to the West on horseback.
 
是這樣，內戰(zhàn)結束時，很多士兵都無家可歸，于是他們就騎著馬漂泊到了西部地區(qū)。
 
A: I see. then ranch owners hired these hard of the soldiers had no home to return to and working men as ranch hands and they were the first cowboys.
 
我知道了，那里的大牧場主就雇傭這些勤勞的人做牧場的幫手，他們也就成了最早的牛仔二
 
B: And when Che time came to sell the beef, the hands would round-up the cattle from the open prairie and take them to market.
 
到了出售牛肉的時節(jié)，這些勞工們就從空曠的大草原把牛群集攏到一起，把它們趕到市場
 
A: So why was their reign in the Wild West so short?
 
為什么牛仔在蠻荒的西部活動的時間那么短呢？
 
B: It was short because the West stop Ped being wild. Barbed wire was invented and soon it was almost imposS1ble to roam around freely as they had done before.
 
那是斟為兩部不再荒涼了，此外，人們發(fā)明了帶刺的鐵絲網(wǎng)，這樣牛仔再也不可能像 以前那樣自由自在地四處游逛了。
 
A:So as Western America developed, the cowboys' jobs became less and less. Nowadays no one thinks of- these original cowboys, only the ones we see in the movies.
 
所以隨著美國西部的發(fā)展，牛仔的工作變得越來越少?，F(xiàn)在人們知道的不是這些最初的牛仔．而是我們在電影巾看到的那些人物形象。