Square dance—American national dance

四方舞源于歐洲，興于美國，既秉承了歐洲宮廷舞中猶如紳士、淑女般優雅高貴的氣質，又滲透了美國西部牛仔熱情奔放的激情。美國前總統里根于1984年簽署法案，將四方舞定為美國國家舞蹈，每年在各州輪流主辦國際四方舞大會。

When early colonial（殖民的） settlers came to America，they brought many forms of dance to their new home.Square dancing，one of the oldest forms of American folk dancing，developed from several different Old World group dances， mainly the English country， and the French quadrille（方陣舞）.

In the American version， a square is formed by four couples who stand facing the center of the square.Each couple stands on one side of the square，the boy on the left and the girl on the right.An American addition to square dancing is the caller.

The caller—someone who calls out the dance steps in time to the music—was a completely American invention.At first dancers memorized all the steps for a particular dance，but eventually the dances became so complicated that it was necessary to have someonecall out cues（暗示）.Thus， dancers didn't have to remember so many steps.The caller didn't just call out “do-se-do your partner”； a good caller also came up with colorful sayings or witty lines that he would say in between the cues such as “Don't be bashful（害羞的）and don't be afraid.”A caller might also come up with new dance steps and routines.

Although popular for years，square dancing seemed to be going out of style and fading away until the early 1930s，when Henry Ford helped revive（喚起）interest in it.Ford，theautomobilemanufacturer，used to vacation at the Wayside Inn in Massachusetts，where he enjoyed the dance program run by a man named Benjamin Lovett.Ford asked Lovett to come to Detroit and teach dances，but Lovett said he couldn't because he had acontractwith the inn.Ford solved that problem by buying the inn and Lovett's contract.He took Lovett back to Detroit，where together theyestablisheda program for teaching square dancing.Square dancing was updated and groups began forming all over the country.

Reading Check

1.What is the passage mainly about?

A.The different steps of square dance.

B.The origin and development of square dance.

C.Who was the inventor of square dance.

D.Why square dance went out of style.

2.Why does the author mention Henry Ford in the last paragraph?

A.Because he was the man who made the first car.

B.Because he was fond of dancing very much.

C.Because he helped make the dance popular again.

D.Because he taught people how to learn square dance.

Language Study

Vocabulary

1.memorize vt.記住

2.eventually adv.最終

3.complicated adj.復雜的

4.automobile n.汽車

5.contract n.合同

6.establish vt.建立Difficult sentence

At first dancers memorized all the steps for a particular dance，but eventually the dances became______complicated ______it was necessary to have someone call out cues.

起先，舞者會記住某一特定舞蹈的所有舞步，但最終舞蹈變得如此復雜，以至于有必要讓人喊出提示。

【點石成金】本句總體上是一個由連詞but引導的并列句，在第二個分句中有一個結果狀語從句。所填的詞為結果狀語從句的連接詞。