慢速英语听力材料

　　对于英语听力不好的.同学来说，听一些慢速的英语听力会更加有助于提高英语的听力。下面，小编整理了一篇慢速英语的听力原文，希望大家喜欢。

慢速英语听力材料

　　美国劳动之歌

　　Most of the world observes Labor Day on May 1. Butthe United States has its workers holiday on the firstMonday in September. Steve Ember and BarbaraKlein have a few songs from the history of theAmerican labor movement.

　　Labor songs are traditionally stories of struggle andpride, of timeless demands for respect and the hopefor a better life.

　　Sometimes they represent old songs with new words. One example is "We Shall Not Be Moved."It uses the music and many of the same words of an old religious song.

　　Here is folksinger Pete Seeger with "We Shall Not Be Moved."

　　Many classicAmerican labor songs came from workers in the coal mines of the South. Mineowners bitterly opposedunions. In some cases, there was open war between labor activistsand coal mine operators.

　　Once, in Harlan County, Kentucky, company police searched for union leaders. They went to oneman's home but could not find him there. So they waited outside for several days.

　　The coal miner's wife, Florence Reece, remained inside with her children. She wrote this song, "Which Side Are You On?"

　　Again, here is Pete Seeger.

　　Probably the most famous labor songwriter in America was Joe Hill. He was born in Sweden andcame to the United States in the early 1900s. He worked as an unskilledlaborer.

　　Joe Hill joined the Industrial Workers of the World, known as the Wobblies. More than any otherunion, they used music in their campaigns, urging members to "sing and fight."

　　One of Joe Hill's best-known songs is "Casey Jones." It uses the music from a song about atrain engineer. In the old song, Casey Jones is a hero. He bravely keeps his train running in verydifficult conditions.

　　In Joe Hill's version, Casey Jones is no hero. His train is unsafe. Yet he stays on the job afterother workers have called a strike against the railroad company. Pete Seeger and the Song Swappers sing "Casey Jones (The Union Scab)." Another American labor song is called "Bread and Roses." That term was connected with thewomen's labor movement.

　　The song was based on a poem called "Bread and Roses" by James Oppenheim. The poem waspublished in The American Magazine in December of 1911.

　　The following month there was a famous strikeby textileworkers in Lawrence, Massachusetts.They won higher pay and better working conditions. Oppenheim's poem gained more attention.

　　At that time, conditions in factories were already a national issue. In 1911, a fire at a clothingfactory in New York had taken the lives of 146 people. The victims were mostly immigrantwomen.

　　Here is Pat Humphries with "Bread and Roses."

　　Union activists know that labor songs can unite and help people feel strong. This can be trueeven when the music has nothing to do with unions.

　　"De Colores" is a popularSpanish folksong. It talks about fields in the spring, little birds,rainbows and the great loves of many colors.

　　This song is popularwith supporters of the United Farm Workers union. We listen as BaldemarVelasquez leads the band Aguila Negra in "De Colores."

　　For many years, folksinger Joe Glazer was a union activist with a guitar. He was also a laborhistorian. Labor's Troubadour was the name of a book he wrote about his life. He believed inorganized labor and preserving the musical history of the American labor movement. JoeGlazer died in 2006 at the age of 88.

　　Here is Joe Glazer with "Solidarity Forever," written by Ralph Chaplin.

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