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美国国家公共电台 NPR On Barbra Streisand's Latest, The Walls Do Talk — To The President

时间:2018-11-16 07:23:17

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Barbra Streisand has two Oscars, eight Emmys and millions of album sales. She could probably read and record the stops along the route of the D train through the Bronx and get a million downloads. But she's done something different with her new album, "Walls." She's addressed songs, including some of her own original works, to the president of the United States.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T LIE TO ME")

BARBRA STREISAND: (Singing) Why can't you just tell me the truth? Hard to believe the things you say. Why can't you feel...

SIMON: The name of this song is "Don't Lie To Me."

STREISAND: That's right.

SIMON: Barbra Streisand joins us now from her home in Malibu. Thanks so much for being with us.

STREISAND: Oh, my pleasure.

SIMON: Why was it important for you to do this album?

STREISAND: You know, because I could express my thoughts and feelings at a time when I was feeling sad and heartbroken about what's happening to our country. And I'm so grateful that I have music in my life that gives me the chance to express my feelings through my work.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T LIE TO ME")

STREISAND: (Singing) How do you sleep when the world is burning? Everyone answers to someone. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. You lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. You lie to me.

SIMON: Now, this is not a song about a busted1 love affair, is it?

STREISAND: No, I started off trying to create that so that more people could relate to it, in a way - lovers who, you know, go through this all the time. Like, that joke - woman walks in and her husband is in bed with another woman. And she gasps2. And he says, well, who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?

And I guess it's about lies. You know, the lies that are coming out of this administration are very unpleasing, unsettling. And maybe that means so much to me because I was lied to as a child. And I just - you know, I've based my whole career, especially, on telling the truth.

SIMON: Do you have any concern that people who love your singing might not like the message of this album?

STREISAND: That's true. And they're entitled3 to do that. I made this album to express my heartbreak, you know, after this last election. I am for discussion for agreeing to disagree, but in a civil discourse4, you know?

SIMON: May I go back to something you said earlier in the interview? You said you felt especially strongly about the truth because somebody had lied to you when you were a child. I don't know that story. What happened?

STREISAND: Well, during the summers of - one summer, I was sent to a religious camp. And I had left a home in Williamsburg, where we lived in an apartment with my grandparents - my mother's parents. And I slept in the bed with my mother in another bedroom. And my brother had a folding cot that came out at night.

And when my mother came to pick me up from that camp, she didn't tell me that this man in my - in the car turned out to be my new stepfather, which I was never introduced to or told about. And we were taken to a different apartment. That's the kind of story, you know? I just think that the truth is so powerful - truth between people, truth in government. Tell us the truth.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IMAGINE / WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD")

STREISAND: (Singing) Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try.

SIMON: There's a beautiful version here of John Lennon's "Imagine" that works its way into Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" - that song written by George Douglas and George David Weiss. Let's listen to a little of that.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IMAGINE / WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD")

STREISAND: (Singing) Imagine all the people living for today.

SIMON: Why did you include these songs?

STREISAND: Oh, because I believe in hope. I believe in goodness. I believe that we can even manifest5 what we imagine. And this is one of the most beautiful songs. It's a great peace anthem6.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IMAGINE / WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD")

STREISAND: (Singing) Living life in peace with skies of blue and clouds of white, the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

SIMON: There's a question we can't evade7 in these times. Have you seen the remake of "A Star Is Born?"

STREISAND: Why is that so important? Everybody asks me that.

SIMON: (Laughter).

STREISAND: Why is everybody so fascinated8 about that? Yes, it's made - it was made in the 1930s, the 1950s, the 1970s and now in 2018.

SIMON: Yeah. Well, it was made with you in the '70s. That's why we're asking you.

STREISAND: That's right. That's right.

SIMON: Yeah.

STREISAND: It was - yes. Yes. Yes.

SIMON: And have you seen it, may I ask?

STREISAND: I've only seen it unfinished and think Lady Gaga was perfect casting. I think Bradley Cooper did a wonderful job directing the part I saw.

And when I first heard about it, actually, 15 years ago that it was going to be remade, it was being remade with a black cast. And I thought that was really interesting - you know, Beyonce and Will Smith. And then it became a multiracial cast. And I thought it would be with rap9 music. I guess what was surprising is that was more like my type of music in 1976 when I wrote "Evergreen10." It's more of a standard.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BETTER ANGELS")

STREISAND: (Singing) Angry words and bitterness are slow to fade away. What happened to the dreams and hopes that we shared yesterday?

SIMON: This has been an especially tough week and a half for the United States, with pipe bomb explosives...

STREISAND: That's right.

SIMON: ...In the mail and U.S. troops being sent to the border. And then, of course, the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

STREISAND: Oh, gosh. That's why I'm so - you know, he gave my depression a depression. It's been a horrible week.

SIMON: Haven't a lot of American Jews believed that anti-Semitic attacks were only in the past for America?

STREISAND: No. No. Anti-Semitism is rising. So - it's so sad for our world to have to demonize a certain group of people. You know, it's immigrants as well. And, you know, Jews, every Friday night, believe in taking a stranger in and feeding the stranger. And they believe in kindness. And they were believing in helping11 the refugees12 like they were helped when they came over to America.

We're all immigrants - aren't we? - except if you're a Native American. I mean, my grandparents came from Russia and from Austria. Where did your grandparents come from?

SIMON: On the Jewish side, Spain. On the Irish side, Belfast.

STREISAND: See? I mean, that's right. If we just look at ourselves as all being immigrants, we can accept each other more easily, love each other.

SIMON: Barbra Streisand - her new album, "Walls." Thanks so much for being with us.

STREISAND: Oh, thank you, dear.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BETTER ANGELS")

STREISAND: (Singing) We are not enemies. There is no good in that. There are better angels that surround us all. And we will find a way through all our differences. Hear the better angels. Listen to their call. Let the better angels be our guide.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 busted busted     
adj. 破产了的,失败了的,被降级的,被逮捕的,被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • You are so busted! 你被当场逮住了!
  • It was money troubles that busted up their marriage. 是金钱纠纷使他们的婚姻破裂了。
2 gasps 3c56dd6bfe73becb6277f1550eaac478     
v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要
参考例句:
  • He leant against the railing, his breath coming in short gasps. 他倚着栏杆,急促地喘气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • My breaths were coming in gasps. 我急促地喘起气来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 entitled 8tWzka     
有资格的
参考例句:
  • You will be entitled to your pension when you reach 65. 你到65岁就有资格享受养老金。
  • He entitled us to enter his office at any time. 他授权给我们可以随时进入他的办公室。
4 discourse 2lGz0     
n.论文,演说;谈话;话语;vi.讲述,著述
参考例句:
  • We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
  • He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。
5 manifest 7Rjz7     
n.载货单,运货单,旅客名单;adj.显然的,明白的;vt.显示,证实,出示
参考例句:
  • It was their manifest failure to modernize the country's industries.他们使国家进行工业现代化,明显失败了。
  • That is manifest to all of us.那对我们大家来说是显而易见的。
6 anthem vMRyj     
n.圣歌,赞美诗,颂歌
参考例句:
  • All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
  • As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上,唱起了国歌。
7 evade evade     
vt.逃避,回避;避开,躲避
参考例句:
  • He tried to evade the embarrassing question.他企图回避这令人难堪的问题。
  • You are in charge of the job.How could you evade the issue?你是负责人,你怎么能对这个问题不置可否?
8 fascinated YtKzID     
a.被强烈地吸引住,感到着迷的
参考例句:
  • China has always fascinated me. 中国一直令我心驰神往。
  • The children watched, fascinated, as the picture began to appear. 电影开始以后孩子们入迷地观看着。
9 rap SABzi     
n.轻敲,拍击,责骂,厉声说出,说唱音乐,谈话,最少量;vi.轻敲,敲门,表演说唱音乐,畅谈;vt.抓,抢,拍击
参考例句:
  • I heard a rap on the door.我听到有轻轻的敲门声。
  • Today we are going to rap about relationships.今天我们要聊聊关系的问题。
10 evergreen mtFz78     
n.常青树;adj.四季常青的
参考例句:
  • Some trees are evergreen;they are called evergreen.有的树是常青的,被叫做常青树。
  • There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。
11 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
12 refugees ddb3b28098e40c0f584eafcd38f1fbd4     
n.避难者,难民( refugee的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
  • They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民,不是经济移民。

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