VOA单词大师:第184课 Broadway

2026-05-09
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: a track from the original Broadway cast recording of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

  RS: The show is a musical satire of spelling competitions and the pressure to go to Washington 鈥?where, in real life, the best young spellers compete in the National Spelling Bee.


  VOICE: Ms. Peretti. Please spell syzygy.


  RONA: S-y-z-y-g-y. Syzygy?


  VOICE: We have a winner!


  RONA: Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.


  CHIP: At the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee My parents keep on telling me Just being here is winning.


  Although I know it isn't so.


  RONA: But it's a very nice


  Very, very nice ...


  RONA, CHIP: Very, very nice


  Very nice beginning.


  RONA: Our winner here last year: Chip Tolentino.


  SCHWARZY: Ms. Peretti!


  RONA: And our youngest competitor, Logainne Schwarzandgrubeniere.


  CONEYBEAR: At the 25th Annual


  Putnam County Spelling game -- Bee!


  I'll stand when they announce my name:


  RONA: Leaf Coneybear.


  CONEYBEAR: And try and keep from shaking.


  SCHWARZY: Alas


  His shaking will not pass


  CONEYBEAR/CHIP/RONA/SCHWARZY:


  'Cause it's a very big,


  Very fraught


  Simple but it's not


  It's a very big undertaking.


  RONA: Returning after last year's tragic setback, William Barfee.


  BARFEE: It's pronounced Barfee, there's an accent egue.


  RONA: I'm not sure who this girl is.


  MARCY: Marcy Park. Recent transfer.


  SCHWARZY: Winner's destination: Washington, D.C.


  CHIP/SCHWARZY: Plasma TV


  In a fancy hotel.


  MARCY/CHIP/SCHWARZY: Where they treat you well.


  ALL: All because you love to spell.


  We spell.


  RONA: It's a marvelous memory


  If you win the spelling bee.


  One's life improves from A to Z


  The minute you are crowned here.


  I see a trophy held by me!


  And when I won


  Did I swell?


  Oh the stories I could tell!


  But braggarts don't do well


  Around here.


  OLIVE: Hi, I'm Olive Ostrovsky. Do you know where I check in?


  BARFEE: Shut up!


  CONEYBEAR: At the 25th Annual


  We memorize the manual ...


  ALL: About how to spell these words.


  Words that require thought.


  People think we're automatons.


  But that is exactly what we're not.


  MARCY: We hear the word.


  SCHWARZY: We breathe.


  CONEYBEAR: We wait.


  ALL: Unlike idiots we ideate.


  RONA: To ideate is to form an image or idea, to think


  CONEYBEAR: At the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee ...


  SCHWARZY: We feel no animosity.


  SCHWARZY/OLIVE: And yet our heads are spinning.


  BARFEE: We are


  The slightest bit bizarre.


  MARCY: But since the time is now ...


  CONEYBEAR: Holy cow!


  SCHWARZY: We shall make a solemn vow


  To concentrate on winning.


  ALL: We concentrate on winning.


  At the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee


  We speak so damn convincingly.


  RONA: They're nervous but they're grinning.


  GIRLS: It seems


  We're living out our dreams.


  BOYS: Which is a very nice


  Very nice, very very very nice


  ALL: Very nice, very nice


  Very very very nice


  Very nice


  Beginning


  RONA: 25th Annual


  SPELLERS: 25th Annual


  ALL: Putnam County Spelling Bee!


  RS: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is on stage in New York and San Francisco. A national tour is scheduled to begin later this year.


  AA: And that's Wordmaster for this week -- online at voanews.com/wordmaster. Our e-mail address is word@voanews.com. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.