托福听力练习对照文本第四十六篇

　　So, why did what is now called "modern dance" begin in the United States?

　　那么,现在被称作“现代舞”的为什么始于美国?

　　To begin to answer this question, I'll need to backtrack a little bit and talk about classical ballet.

　　要开始回答这个问题，我将需要回溯一点点，并且谈谈古典芭蕾。

　　By the late 1800's, ballet had lost a lot of its popularity.

　　在十九世纪晚期，芭蕾舞失去了许多它的普及度。

　　Most of the ballet dancers who performed in the United States were brought over from Europe.

　　大多数在美国表演的芭蕾舞蹈家是从欧洲转入的。

　　They performed using the rigid techniques that had been passed down through the centuries.

　　他们用传承了几个世纪的死板的技巧表演。

　　Audiences and dancers in the United States were eager for their own, "contemporary" dance form.

　　美国的观众和舞蹈家渴望他们自己的 “现代的”舞蹈形式。

　　And so, around 1900, dancers created one.

　　因此，大约到1900，舞蹈家创造了一种(现代舞)。

　　So, how was this "modern" dance so different from classical ballet?

　　那么，这种“现代”舞蹈同古典芭蕾是多么的不一样?

　　Well, most notably, it wasn't carefully choreographed.

　　好，最显著的是，它不是刻意精心设计的。

　　Instead, the dance depended on the improvisation and free, personal expression of the dancers.

　　相反，这种舞蹈依靠即兴创作和舞蹈家自由的，个人表现力。

　　Music and scenery were of little importance to the "modern" dance, and lightness of movement wasn't important either.

　　音乐和舞台布景对“现代”舞不那么重要，而且轻盈的动作也不那么重要。

　　In fact, modern dancers made no attempt at all to conceal the effort involved in a dance step.

　　事实上，当代的舞者根本没有尝试去隐蔽包含在舞步中的力(量感)。

　　But even if improvisation appealed to audiences, many dance critics were less than enthusiastic about the performances.

　　但即使即兴表演对观众有吸引力，许多舞蹈评论家对表演的热情没有那么高。

　　They questioned the artistic integrity of dancers who were not professionally trained and the artistic value of works that had no formal structure.

　　他们怀疑没有受过专业训练的舞者的艺术完整性以及没有正式结构的作品的艺术价值。

　　Loie Fuller, after performing Fire Dance, was described as doing little more than turning "round and round like an eggbeater."

　　Loie Fuller, 在表演完火焰舞之后，被描述为比“转来转去的像个打蛋器”强不了多少。

　　Yet, the free, personal expression of the pioneer dancers is the basis of the "controlled freedom" of modern dance today.

　　然而，这种舞者先驱们自由的，个人的表达，是今天“受限制的自由”的现代舞的基础。