Y: 各位听众好，我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: And I'm Jody. Welcome to American cafe, where you can meet everyday Americans at work and at play. So, come on in and grab a good seat by the window and join us for American Cafe.

Y: 说到这儿啊，我们今天要带您认识两位美国人。他们有一个共同的爱好。

J: That's right. One's a musician and one's a dancer. And they have something in common - they both love bluegrass music!

J: Yang Chen, did you hear how fast they are playing? It is simply incredible!

Y: Wow, 你说的没错。虽然我看不见他们的手，可是我已经觉得眼花缭乱了。

J: Yang Chen, let's first introduce Bob Carlin, a musician we met at a cultural festival and let him describe this very American type of music; bluegrass.

Y: 好吧。我们首先来认识一下Bob Carlin。他是一位音乐学者，让他给您介绍一下什么是Bluegrass Music， 兰草音乐。

Bob Carlin: Bluegrass is a form of music in its strictest definition. It's a band of fiddle, or violin, mandolin, five-string banjo, which is an American invention from an African instrument, and, uh, the guitar and string base. And that's the classic bluegrass band.

Y: Jody，Bob Carlin刚才提到了演奏bluegrass的几种基本乐器。我们解释一下这几种乐器好吗？

J: That's a great idea. First he mentions the fiddle, or violin.

Y: 其实 fiddle就是小提琴，在演奏乡村音乐或兰草音乐的时候就称为fiddle。我给它起了个名字，叫“乡村小提琴”，好不好听啊？

J: Very clever. Then there's the mandolin.

Y: 曼陀林琴。

J: Next is the five-string banjo. It is the most important instrument in bluegrass music. What you hear in the background, in fact, is an example of banjo music.

Y: Banjo就五弦琴或者叫班究琴。您现在听到的就是班究琴。Banjo在兰草音乐里是最重要的一种乐器。

J: Then there's the guitar.

Y: 我想大家都很熟悉吉他。

J: Finally, Yang Chen, there's the string bass.

Y: 最后还有低音琴。解了演奏 Bluegrass 的基本乐器，下面我们听听 Bob Carlin为我们介绍 Bluegrass 的起源和风格。

Bob Carlin: What separates this from other music groups is that they play in a style that was pioneered by Bill Monroe back in the 1940s. And, um, it's a music that takes its cue or its roots from earlier forms of American string band music, country music and incorporates, uh, some ideas out of jazz, like soloing.

Y: Bob Carlin 刚才谈到的 Bill Monroe 就是兰草音乐之父。还有啊，他提到几个词，我们来解释一下，"jazz" 就是爵士乐。"Soloing" 我想就是某种乐器穿插在乐曲中间的独奏，对吧？

J: That's a perfect definition of soloing.

Y: 谢谢你的夸奖，Jody。你来自西维吉尼亚，可以说你是听着bluegrass 长大的，那么对你来说，bluegrass有什么特别意义呢？

J: You're right. I grew up in West Virginia listening to bluegrass music so it really is in my blood. When bluegrass music is playing, it's very hard to keep my feet still.

Y: 好，那么我们下面就为大家介绍我们今天要认识的第二个美国人。她叫Lynn Masterson。我们听听她为什么喜欢bluegrass。

Lynn Masterson: Well, it always has a strong beat. For a dancer, a strong beat is very important. Um, it's cheery. It's happy music. It's very, uh, familiar and comfortable music. It's sort of part of who we are.

Y: 我觉得她刚才Masterson女士的这番话很有代表性。 Bluegrass的确很有感染力。她所说的strong beat，也就是节奏感很强，适合跳舞。Jody，bluegrass这个题目要讲的内容实在是太多了。

J: That's true.

Y: 可惜我们没有足够的时间。 不过有一点我觉得非提一下不可，那就是bluegrass对大家熟悉的摇滚乐歌王，也就是猫王Elvis Presley的影响。

J: I knew you were going to bring up Elvis Presley.

Y: 好，下面我们还是听听音乐学者 Bob Carlin 是怎么说的吧。

Bob Carlin: Of course, Elvis is influenced by bluegrass. You know, Elvis did Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky," and Bill Monroe just did it one speed through.

Bob Carlin: Elvis, he did it as a waltz like Monroe and then he sped it up.

J: Now that we heard both versions, Yang Chen, which one do you like better?

Y: 当然是Elvis Presley了。

J: I knew you were going to say that.

Y: 因为他的演唱速度比较快，而且有摇滚乐的味道。

J: Okay, okay we know how much you like rock-n-roll and Elvis Presley. But you know, I think Bill Monroe's version better. But, I guess we're going to have to talk about that over coffee because that's all the time we have for today on American Cafe.

Y: 好，我们今天就聊到这儿。听众朋友们，我们下次见。