真正的美国牛仔是什么样的？为什么他们在美国历史上那么重要

 
真正的美国牛仔是什么样的？为什么他们在美国历史上那么重要
 
来听今天的讲解:
 
A: I want to write about something which is truly American. what do you think? A preS1dent or a buS1nessman?
 
我想写点真正属于美国的东西，你认为该写些什么呢？写总统还是商人？
 
B: Neither, you should write about cowboys.  They are a true symbol of the USA.
 
都不好，你应该写美国牛仔。他们才是真正能代表美国的象征。
 
A: Like in the movies?
 
就像电影里演的那样吗？
 
B: No, the life of a cowboy was anything but glamorous-it entailed hard work and long, lonesome hours.
 
不是，牛仔的生活一点也不诱人-----他们必须承受繁重的劳动和长期的寂寞孤独。
 
A:What about the clothes?Do they really wear jeans, cowboy boots and Stetson hats?
 
那衣服呢？他们是真的都穿牛仔服、牛仔靴，戴宽边帽吗？
 
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.
 
牛仔服是他们衣柜里日常生活的一部分。今天他们留给人们的记忆仍然是他们在意大利式西部片中的形象，正是这些影视作品在上世纪五六十年代引发了一阵热潮。直到今天有些这样的影片还是很受欢迎，但后来大多数人把注意力转移到了太空旅行，这大概是因为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?
 
很多乡村音乐和西部歌曲都试图表现真正的牛仔精神。这种对“老西部”的迷恋至今仍然还很流行我觉得很多美国人都喜欢乡村音乐和西部音乐。可是，你认为电影、音乐和电视并没有表现真正的牛仔，对不对？
 
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，尤其是音乐，它们让西部牛仔变得越来越有名。不过，牛仔真正的工作并不是唱歌那么轻松，而是照看牛群，所以他们才被叫做“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?
 
牛仔在美国蛮荒的西部活动的时间并不长，大约是30年。为什么他们在美国历史上那么重要呢？
 
B: Well. when the Civil War ended. Many started drifting to the West on horseback.
 
是这样，内战结束时，很多士兵都无家可归，于是他们就骑着马漂泊到了西部地区。
 
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，那里的大牧场主就雇佣这些勤劳的人做牧场的帮手，他们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.
 
到了出售牛肉的时节，这些劳工们就从空旷的大草原把牛群集拢到一起，把它们赶到市场
 
A: So why was their reign in the Wild West so short?
 
为什么牛仔在蛮荒的西部活动的时间那么短呢？
 
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.
 
那是斟为两部不再荒凉了，此外，人们发明了带刺的铁丝网，这样牛仔再也不可能像 以前那样自由自在地四处游逛了。
 
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.
 
所以随着美国西部的发展，牛仔的工作变得越来越少。现在人们知道的不是这些最初的牛仔．而是我们在电影巾看到的那些人物形象。