21 The Origin of Sports
When did sport begin? If sport is, in essence, play, the claim might be made that sport is much older than humankind, for , as we all have observed, the beasts play. Dogs and cats wrestle and play ball games. Fishes and birds dance. The apes have simple, pleasurable games. Frolicking infants, school children playing tag, and adult arm wrestlers are demonstrating strong, transgenerational and transspecies bonds with the universe of animals – past, present, and future. Young animals, particularly, tumble, chase, run wrestle, mock, imitate, and laugh (or so it seems) to the point of delighted exhaustion. Their play, and ours, appears to serve no other purpose than to give pleasure to the players, and apparently, to remove us temporarily from the anguish of life in earnest.
Some philosophers have claimed that our playfulness is the most noble part of our basic nature. In their generous conceptions, play harmlessly and experimentally permits us to put our creative forces, fantasy, and imagination into action. Play is release from the tedious battles against scarcity and decline which are the incessant, and inevitable, tragedies of life. This is a grand conception that excites and provokes. The holders of this view claim that the origins of our highest accomplishments ---- liturgy, literature, and law ---- can be traced to a play impulse which, paradoxically, we see most purely enjoyed by young beasts and children. Our sports, in this rather happy, nonfatalistic view of human nature, are more splendid creations of the nondatable, transspecies play impulse.
体育的起源体育运动开始于何时?如果体育运动的本质就是游戏的话，我们就可以宣称体育运动比
人类古老，因为正如我们所观察到的，野兽也进行嬉戏。狗和猫会扭抱玩球，鱼和鸟翩翩起舞，猿类会进行一些简单的、愉快的游戏。
雀跃的幼儿，捉迷藏的学童和成年摔跤者展示出人与动物界的有力的跨越世代与物种的永恒的联系--特别是幼兽，它们翻筋斗、追逐、
奔跑、扭打、模仿、嬉笑(或者看起来是)，直到愉快地精疲力尽。他们的玩耍，同我们的
一样，似乎并没有别的目的而只是给游戏者以愉悦，暂时把我们从严肃生活的痛苦中拉出来。一些哲学家称我们的嬉戏是我们本质中最崇高的部分。
依他们这些随意性很大的见解，游戏无害而且实验性地允许我们的创造力、幻想和想象发挥作用。游戏让人们从永不间断亦
不可避免的生活悲剧-与乏匮和衰退进行的枯燥抗争中得到一种解脱。这是一个令人兴奋、给人启发的伟大见解。
这种见解的持有者宣称，我们的最高成就如宗教典礼、文学、法律的起源可以追溯到游戏的冲动。但令人不解的是我们看到只有幼兽和小孩子才最纯粹地享
受着这种冲动。从这种比较豁达和非宿命的人性观来看，我们的运动是超时代、跨物种的辉煌的创造。
22. Collectibles
Collectibles have been a part of almost every culture since ancient times. Whereas some objects have been collected for their usefulness, others have been selected for their aesthetic beauty alone. In the United States, the kinds of collectibles currently popular range from traditional objects such as stamps, coins, rare books, and art to more recent items of interest like dolls, bottles, baseball cards, and comic books.
Interest in collectibles has increased enormously during the past decade, in part because some collectibles have demonstrated their value as investments. Especially during cycles of high inflation, investors try to purchase tangibles that will at least retain their current market values. In general, the most traditional collectibles will be sought because they have preserved their value over the years, there is an organized auction market for them, and they are most easily sold in the event that cash is needed. Some examples of the most stable collectibles are old masters, Chinese ceramics, stamps, coins, rare books, antique jewelry, silver, porcelain, art by well-known artists, autographs, and period furniture. Other items of more recent interest include old photograph records, old magazines, post cards, baseball cards, art glass, dolls, classic cars, old bottles, and comic books. These relatively new kinds of collectibles may actually appreciate faster as short-term investments, but may not hold their value as long-term investments. Once a collectible has had its initial play, it appreciates at a fairly steady rate, supported by an increasing number of enthusiastic collectors competing for the limited supply of collectibles that become increasingly more difficult to locate.
收藏品
从古代开始，收藏品就是文化的一部分。一些物品因它们的有用性被收藏，而另一些则纯粹因为它们的美被收藏。
在美国，当今流行的收藏品种类从传统物件，如邮票、硬币、珍本书籍、艺术品，到更近期一些的有趣的东西，如布娃娃、瓶子、垒球卡、连环漫画册。
对收藏品的兴趣在过去十年中大大地增长，部分原因是一些收藏品显示出了它们的投资价值。
尤其在高通货膨胀时期，投资者尽量购买那些至少会保持他们现有市场价值的有形资产。一般来说，最传统的收藏品受青睐，因为它们多年后仍保持其价值。
它们拥有完善的拍卖市场，在需要现金的时候最容易被卖掉。一些最稳当的收藏品是古老的画作、中国陶
器、邮票、硬币、珍本书籍、古代珠宝、银器、瓷器、著名艺术家的作品、亲笔签名和有时代特征的家具。
其它更近期的物品有旧唱片、旧杂志、明信片、垒球卡片、彩色玻璃、布娃娃、早期汽车、古瓶和连环画册。作为短期投资这些相对说来较新颖的收藏品的确可能
更快地增值，但作为长期投资则可能不能保值。一旦一件收藏品有了它第一次交易，它便
以一个相当稳定的比率增值，这个增值率受到越来越多的热情的收藏者的支持，他们为有限的而且越来越难找到的收藏品而竞争。
23 Ford
Although Henry Ford’s name is closely associated with the concept of mass production, he should receive equal credit for introducing labor practices as early as 1913 that would be considered advanced even by today’s standards. Safety measures were improved, and the work day was reduced to eight hours, compared with the ten-or twelve-hour day common at the time. In order to accommodate the shorter work day, the entire factory was converted from two to three shifts.
In addition, sick leaves as well as improved medical care for those injured on the job were instituted. The Ford Motor Company was one of the first factories to develop a technical school to train specialized skilled laborers and an English language school for immigrants. Some efforts were even made to hire the handicapped and provide jobs for former convicts.
The most widely acclaimed innovation was the five-dollar-a-day minimum wage that was offered in order to recruit and retain the best mechanics and to discourage the growth of labor unions. Ford explained the new wage policy in terms of efficiency and profit sharing. He also mentioned the fact that his employees would be able to purchase the automobiles that they produced – in effect creating a market for the product. In order to qualify for the minimum wage, an employee had to establish a decent home and demonstrate good personal habits, including sobriety, thriftiness, industriousness, and dependability. Although some criticism was directed at Ford for involving himself too much in the personal lives of his employees, there can be no doubt that, at a time when immigrants were being taken advantage of in frightful ways, Henry Ford was helping many people to establish themselves in America.
亨利?福特尽管亨利?福特的名字和大生产的概念相连，但他在劳工保护上得到同样的赞誉，因为
他早在1913年便实行了用今天的标准来衡量依然是先进的标准。安全措施得到改进，日工作时间从当时普遍的10或12小时减少到8小时。
为了适应更短的日工作时间，整个工厂从双班变成了三班。而且，病假和改善了的工伤医疗得以制度化。福特汽车公司是最早建
立技术学校来培训专门技工和为移民开设英语学校的工厂之一。公司甚至为雇佣残疾人和
有前科的人而作出了一些努力。最受广泛称赞的革新是实行五美元一天的最低工资。其目的是招收和留住那些最好的技工并阻碍工会的发展。
福特从效率和利润分享的角度来解释这项新的工资政策。他也提到这样一个事实，他的员工可以买他们生产的汽车--这实际上是为其产品另开辟了一个市场。
为了够资格得到最低工资，员工必须建立一个得体的家庭并显示出良好的个人习惯，包括节制、俭省、勤勉和可靠。虽然有人批评福特过多地干涉
了员工的私人生活，但毫无疑问，在移民们被用恶劣的方式剥削的时代，亨利?福特却帮助了许多人在美国扎下根来。
24．Piano
The ancestry of the piano can be traced to the early keyboard instruments of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries --- the spinet, the dulcimer, and the virginal. In the seventeenth century the organ, the clavichord, and the harpsichord became the chief instruments of the keyboard group, a supremacy they maintained until the piano supplanted them at the end of the eighteenth century. The clavichord’s tone was metallic and never powerful; nevertheless, because of the variety of tone possible to it, many composers found the clavichord a sympathetic instrument for intimate chamber music. The harpsichord with its bright, vigorous tone was the favorite instrument for supporting the bass of the small orchestra of the period and for concert use, but the character of the tone could not be varied save by mechanical or structural devices.
The piano was perfected in the early eighteenth century by a harpsichord maker in Italy (though musicologists point out several previous instances of the instrument). This instrument was called a piano e forte (sort and loud), to indicate its dynamic versatility; its strings were struck by a recoiling hammer with a felt-padded head. The wires were much heavier in the earlier instruments. A series of mechanical improvements continuing well into the nineteenth century, including the introduction of pedals to sustain tone or to soften it, the perfection of a metal frame, and steel wire of the finest quality, finally produced an instrument capable of myriad tonal effects from the most delicate harmonies to an almost orchestral fullness of sound, from a liquid, singing tone to a sharp, percussive brilliance.
钢琴
钢琴的家系可以追溯至15至16世纪早期的键盘乐器，包括小型拨弦琴、洋琴和维金娜琴。17
世纪时风琴、敲弦琴和拨弦琴成为键盘乐器类的主要成员。这种至高无上的地位一直为它们所保持，直到18世纪末期钢琴将它们取代。
敲弦古钢琴的音调有金属的音质，缺乏雄劲。然而由于它的音调变化多，许多作曲家发现对于亲切的室内乐是一种得体的乐器。
人们最喜欢用具备明快有力音调的拨弦古钢琴来配合当时小型管弦乐团的低音乐器以及在演奏会上演奏。但它的音调难以变化，除非使用机械或构件装置。18
世纪早期的意大利，钢琴在一位拨琴钢琴制造者手中得到完善(尽管音乐理论家们指出有更早的例子)。这种乐器被称为pianoeforte
(意大利语，柔和而响亮的)，以显示它有力的多样性。演奏者用一个头部带皮毡的弹击乐锤敲击琴弦。更早的这种乐器之上的金属丝要重得多。从此，持
续到19世纪的一系列机械上的改进，包括引入踏板以维持音调或使其柔和，改善金属框架，以及使用最佳性能的钢丝，最终产生了一种具备无数音调效果的乐器。
这些效果涵盖了从最精致的和声到几乎全部的管弦乐音响，从明快流畅的吟唱的音调到尖锐的打击乐器的清晰动人的恢宏气势。
NOTE:
Musical Instruments
1.The strings (弦乐)
1) plectrum: harp, lute, guitar, mandolin;
2) keyboard: clavichord, harpsichord, piano;
3) bow: violin, viola, cello, double bass.
2. The Wood（木管）—winds : piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, English horn;
3. the brass（铜管）: French horn, trumpet, trombone, cornet, tuba, bugle, saxophone;
4.the percussion（打击组）: kettle drum, bass drum, snare drum, castanet, xylophone, celesta, cymbal, tambourine.
25. Movie Music
Accustomed though we are to speaking of the films made before 1927 as “silent”, the film has never been, in the full sense of the word, silent. From the very beginning, music was regarded as an indispensable accompaniment; when the Lumiere films were shown at the first public film exhibition in the United States in February 1896, they were accompanied by piano improvisations on popular tunes. At first, the music played bore no special relationship to the films; an accompaniment of any kind was sufficient. Within a very short time, however, the incongruity of playing lively music to a solemn film became apparent, and film pianists began to take some care in matching their pieces to the mood of the film.
As movie theaters grew in number and importance, a violinist, and perhaps a cellist, would be added to the pianist in certain cases, and in the larger movie theaters small orchestras were formed. For a number of years the selection of music for each film program rested entirely in the hands of the conductor or leader of the orchestra, and very often the principal qualification for holding such a position was not skill or taste so much as the ownership of a large personal library of musical pieces. Since the conductor seldom saw the films until the night before they were to be shown(if indeed, the conductor was lucky enough to see them then), the musical arrangement was normally improvised in the greatest hurry.
To help meet this difficulty, film distributing companies started the practice of publishing suggestions for musical accompaniments. In 1909, for example, the Edison Company began issuing with their films such indications of mood as “ pleasant”, “sad”, “lively”. The suggestions became more explicit, and so emerged the musical cue sheet containing indications of mood, the titles of suitable pieces of music, and precise directions to show where one piece led into the next.
Certain films had music especially composed for them. The most famous of these early special scores was that composed and arranged for D.W Griffith’s film Birth of a Nation, which was released in 1915.
电影插曲
尽管我们习惯于将1927年以前的电影称为"无声电影"，但是就无声这个词完整的意义
上来说，电影从未真正的无声过，从最初开始音乐就被视为必不可少的伴奏。当卢米埃尔的电影在1896年2
月美国首届影片公映展览上放映的时候，影片便用当时的流行曲临场钢琴伴奏。最初，这些音乐伴奏与电影没有什么特别的关系，用什么曲子伴奏都行。但在很
短的时间内，为一部庄重的影片演奏快活的音乐所产生的不协调感变得显而易见，因此钢琴家们开始注意将自己的作品与影片的情调结合起来。
随着影剧院在数量上与重要性上的不断增长，在一些场合，除了钢琴师外，还要加上小提琴师，或许还有一位大提琴师。较大
的影剧院里还组成了小型的管弦乐队。在很长的时间内，为各部影片选择配乐完全掌握在
乐队指挥或队长手中，而通常把持这种职位的资格不是技巧或鉴赏品味，而是拥有一个大的音乐作品的个人收藏。
因为直到电影上映的前一天晚上乐队指挥才能看到影片(如果这个指挥真正有幸能够看到影片的话)，音乐安排通常是在非常匆忙的情况下临场进行的。为了解
决以上的困难，电影发行公司开办了为音乐伴奏印制提示单的业务。例如1909年爱迪生公
司开始将一些诸如"喜悦的"、"悲伤的"、"活泼的"之类表明影片情调特征的提示与影片一起发行。
这些提示逐渐变得更加具体，并且出现了包括影片情调说明、适用乐曲名称和乐曲转换点等内容的配乐说明单。某些影片拥有专门为其创作的音乐。
这些早期特创乐谱中最著名的便是为D.W.格雷夫斯1915年上映的影片《一个国家的诞生》所创作的音乐。
Note:
美国通俗音乐分类：
1．Jazz;
1) traditional jazz---- a) blues, 代表人物：Billy Holiday
b)ragtime(切分乐曲): 代表人物：Scott Joplin
c)New Orleans jazz (= Dixieland jazz) eg: Louis Armstron
d)swing eg: Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, etc.
e)bop (=bebop, rebop) eg: Lester Young, Charlie Parker etc.
2)modern jazz ------ a) cool jazz(=progressive jazz)高雅爵士乐。 Eg: Kenny G.
b)third-stream jazz. Eg: Charles Mingus, John Lewis.
c) main stream jazz.
d)avant-garde jazz.
e) soul jazz. Eg: Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald
f) Latin jazz.
2.gospel music 福音音乐， 主要源于Nero spirituals. Eg. Dolly Parker, Mahalia Jackson
3.Country and Western music. Eg. John Denver, Tammy Wynette, Kenny Rogers, etc.
4. Rock music-----------a) rock and roll eg: Elvis Prestley(US) , the Beatles(UK.)
b)folk rock Eg: Bob Dylon, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Lionel Riche etc.
c)punk rock
d)acid rock
e)rock jazz eg: M.J. McLaughlin
f) Jurassic rock
5.Music for easy listening (i.e. light music )
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