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Words and Their Stories: Like a Rolling Stone

How an old proverb led to a popular rock and roll band, song and magazine. Transcript of radio broadcast:
19 June 2009

source: Voice of America

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總部在華盛頓的美國之音成立於1942年 ,是美國政府對外播送的廣播電台與電視台。每天以44種語言,每星期超過1,300小時向世界各地廣播。內容包括新聞時事、專題節目 、英語教學節目、美國流行音樂與反映美國政府立場的社論,是知名的國際廣播之一。

我們建議您以滑鼠點擊上面 Listen 開啟聲音檔,再對照下面有中文釋義的英文,作聽力練習。美國之音特殊英語播音員以緩慢的速度唸出每一個字,有助於學習英語人士清晰地聆聽。

Related article: Heart to Heart: Some Heartfelt Expressions


Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today we explain a very old saying that has had a big influence on rock-and-roll music. That saying is a rolling stone gathers no moss. It has several meanings. One meaning is that a person who never settles down in one place will not be successful. Another is that someone who is always moving, with no roots in one place, avoids responsibilities.


This proverb was said to be first used in the fifteen hundreds. But in the nineteen sixties, the expression rolling stone became famous in the world of rock-and-roll music. It became the name of a rock group, a song and a magazine.


Experts say it all started with a song by the American singer and guitarist Muddy Waters. He was one of the country’s top blues musicians until his death in nineteen eighty-three. His music influenced singers like Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. In nineteen-fifty, Muddy Waters recorded a song called “Rollin’ Stone.”


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A British rock group is said to have taken its name from Muddy Waterssong. The Rolling Stones performed for the first time in nineteen sixty-two. The group’s members called themselvesthe world’s greatest rock and roll band.”


In nineteen sixty-five, Bob Dylan released his songLike a Rolling Stone.” It is one of his best known and most influential works.

It is an angry song about a woman who was once rich and successful. But now she is on her own, “with no direction home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone.”


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In nineteen sixty-seven, a young man named Jann Wenner started a magazine he namedRolling Stone.” The magazine reported on rock music and the popular culture that the music created. By nineteen seventy-one, “Rolling Stonehad become the leading rock music and counterculture publication. It is still popular today.


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This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.