周年纪念是回顾过去的好时机，可以回忆我们从哪里来，重新思考我们往哪里去。
Anniversaries are great for catching a look in the rearview mirror, remembering where we came from and rethinking where we’re going.
今年是俄罗斯濒临里海的杰尔宾特市建市2000年；里约热内卢诞生450年（全年都会庆祝）；新奥尔良战役和滑铁卢战役200年纪念；《大宪章》(Magna Carta)签署800周年，它可能是最早的公民自由斗争的象征之一（关于最后这项周年纪念，有很多歌剧、游览和演讲，但是留存下来的四份原件只能在索尔兹伯里大教堂、林肯大教堂或大英图书馆看到，这三个机构都在计划自己的展览和活动）。
This year will see the 2,000th anniversary of the city of Derbent, Russia, on the Caspian Sea; the 450th anniversary of Rio de Janeiro (to be celebrated all year long); the bicentennial celebrations of both the Battle of New Orleans and the Battle of Waterloo; and the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, perhaps one of the earliest symbols of the struggle for civil liberties. (With regard to the latter, operas, tours and lectures abound, but the four remaining originals can be viewed only at Salisbury Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral or the British Library, all of which are planning their own exhibitions and activities.)
美国这样比较年轻的国家还有很多可学的，今年它也将纪念自己历史上最动荡的一些时刻。
For a young(ish) country like the United States, which commemorates some of its grittiest history this year, there is still a lot to be learned.
今年3月，阿拉巴马州将迎接大约三万名游客来到塞尔玛，纪念民权游行50周年，该游行促成了1965年的《投票权法案》(Voting Rights Act)。届时将会举办很多音乐会（其中一场将由帕蒂·拉贝尔[Patti LaBelle]领衔）、教育旅行、舞会和晚会，来纪念两次最重要的游行：第一次游行发生在3月8日，刚走出几个街区就被当局残暴镇压了，被称为血腥星期天；两周后的第二次游行很成功，由小马丁·路德·金博士(Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)领导，游行了54英里。蒙哥马利市的圣犹大区将举办自由游行节（3月24日），以示纪念。
Alabama is ready to welcome an estimated 30,000 visitors to Selma in March for the 50th anniversary of the civil rights marches that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And an ever-growing list of concerts (one featuring Patti LaBelle), educational tours, balls and galas will bookend the two most significant events: a re-enactment of Bloody Sunday, the first attempted march, which was violently stamped out by authorities just blocks from its start (March 8); and, in commemoration of the second, successful march, just two weeks later, a 54-mile journey led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Montgomery neighborhood of St. Jude hosts a Freedom March festival (March 24).
当然，重演美国内战的的活动一向都有很多，内战信托组织(Civil War Trust)已经策划了几场活动，将在4月份，罗伯特·E·李将军(Robert E. Lee)向联邦军队投降150周年纪念日前后举行。其他很多庆祝活动将在弗吉尼亚州阿波马托克斯的国家历史公园举行，该州还将组织历史事件讲述会、骑兵游行、一场正式舞会和一场古装赞美诗音乐会（4月8日至19日）。
Of course, there’s never a shortage of re-enactments when it comes to the Civil War, and the Civil War Trust has planned several in the months leading up to and through the 150th anniversary of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender to the Union Army in April. Numerous other festivities center on the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in Virginia, which is helping to organize narrations of historical events, cavalry demonstrations, a formal ball and a period chorale concert (April 8 to 19).
在林肯总统遇刺150周年之际，华盛顿特区的福特剧院将24小时不间断重演该事件（4月14日至15日）。伊利诺伊州斯普林菲尔德将重现前往橡树山棱墓园的林肯送葬长队，这项活动得到了当年护柩员后裔们的帮助。
The 150th anniversary of the assassination of President Lincoln will be observed with round-the-clock dramatic retellings of the event at Ford’s Theater in Washington (April 14 to 15); and in Springfield, Ill., there will be a re-creation of Lincoln’s funeral train to Oakridge Cemetery, helped in part by descendants of his original pallbearers (May 1 to 3).
如果你喜欢艾维特兄弟(Avett Brothers)或鲍勃·迪伦(Bob Dylan)的声音，或者喜欢沉浸在伍迪·格斯里(Woody Guthrie)、皮特·西格(Pete Seeger)或胡迪·威廉·莱德贝特(Huddie William Ledbetter，他更著名的称呼是“铅肚皮”[Lead Belly])沧桑的歌声中，那你要感谢已故的艾伦·洛马克斯(Alan Lomax)。在他百年诞辰之际表达谢意最合适了。
If you like the sounds of the Avett Brothers or Bob Dylan or revel in the weathered voices of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger or Huddie William Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, you owe the late Alan Lomax a thank you. And what better time than during the centennial year of his birth?
洛马克斯是一位民族音乐学家和民俗学家。20世纪30年代初，在父亲约翰·艾弗里·洛马克斯(John Avery Lomax)的帮助下，他走遍沼泽和山脉，收集民谣，他收集的录音是最多样化的（在美国国会图书馆可以听到他收集的录音，2000年该馆称赞洛马克斯是真正的“活着的传奇”）。
An ethnomusicologist and folklorist, Lomax, with the help of his father, John Avery Lomax, traveled from swamp to mountain in the early 1930s, gathering the most diverse collection of folk music recordings ever documented. (They are available at the Library of Congress, which in 2000 named Lomax an actual “living legend.”)
今年计划参加各种美国传统风格音乐节的人一定会在很多活动中听到对他的赞美，从奥斯汀的西南偏南音乐节到布鲁克林民谣节。想获得更集中体验的人，可以参加印第安纳州拉斐特普渡大学表演艺术部普渡集会举办的“实地考察：艾伦·洛马克斯百年驻地创作”活动，它包括两天（3月27日至28日）的音乐讲习班、座谈会和研讨会，重头戏是洛马克斯项目组(Lomax Project)的表演，包括几首海员号子、无伴奏合唱、纺织工劳动歌曲、小提琴曲以及洛马克斯精心录制的圆圈甩抖歌舞(ringshout)。
Anyone who plans to attend an even borderline Americana fest this year is sure to hear him praised in tributes from SXSW in Austin to the Brooklyn Folk Festival. For a more concentrated experience, Purdue Convocations, the performing arts arm of Purdue University in Lafayette, Ind., is to host “Fieldwork: An Alan Lomax Centennial Residency,” two days of music workshops, symposiums and discussions, culminating in the Lomax Project’s performance of a few of the sea shanties, a cappella, weaver work songs, fiddle tunes and ring shouts Lomax so carefully recorded (March 27 to 28).