The Pop Revolution流行音乐革命

　　Even if the word “pop” disappears from the English vocabulary, the influence of pop will remain. Pop has become part of British—and American—history.

　　“流行音乐”这个词即使从词汇中消失，它的影响将仍然存在。流行音乐已经成为英国——以及美国——历史的一个组成部分。

　　There has always been a close cultural link, or tie, between Britain and English—speaking America, not only in literature but also in the popular arts, especially music. Before the Second World War the Americans exported jazz and the blues. During the 1950s they exported rock ’n’ roll, and star singers like Elvis Presley were idolized by young Britons and Americans alike.

　　在英国和说英语的美国之间，不仅在文学方面，而且在流行艺术，特别是音乐方面，一直有着密切的接触或联系。第二次世界大战前，美国的爵士音乐和布鲁士乐曾流传到国外。在五十年代，他们又输出了摇滚乐。像普雷斯利这样的歌星，在英美两国同样受到年轻人的崇拜。

　　Then in the early 1960s a new sound was heard, very different from anything which had so far come from the American side of the Atlantic. This was the Liverpool, or Merseyside, “beat”. Situated on the River Mersey in the north—eastern corner of the industrial Black Country, Liverpool was not a place which anyone visited for fun. Until the 1960s it was known only as one of Britain’s largest ports. Then, almost overnight, it became world famous as the birthplace of the new pop culture which, in a few years, swept across Britain and America, and across most of the countries of the western world.

　　后来，在六十年代初期，人们听到一种新的声音。它和过去从大西洋彼岸的美国传来的声音很不相同。这是利物浦或默西塞德郡的“节拍”。利物浦位于工业区黑乡东北角和默西河畔，并不是一个游览胜地。在19世纪60年代以前，利物浦都只不过是以英国最大的港口而被人们所熟知，但是，一夜之间，利物浦以新流行文化的摇篮而世界闻名，这股流行文化风在短短的几年内，横扫英美，在西方世界的大多数国家流行起来。