BRIDGET ARSENAULT:YOU JUST NEVER KNOW

⊙By Emily Chiswell

翻譯：BillyBudd

聽力難度英美發(fā)音 適合泛聽語速：170詞/分鐘

布里奇特·阿瑟諾可謂“有兩把刷子”。起初，布里奇特一直都想做一名新聞記者，就在知名雜志《名利場》（Vanity Fair）工作了八年；期間，她還成立了“光明青年電影俱樂部”（The Bright Young Things Film Club），以展示那些年輕的、未來的電影制作者及其作品；近來，她又擔任了慈善機構“解放兒童組織”（Free the Children）的副主任一職。這位女士忙活的事情可真不少！這一切只因為，開始做某種你所喜愛的工作并不意味著你接下來的人生就此定格了。未來，從來都不是一個定數(shù)。

Interviewer:So Bridget, tell me, what’s a journalist, film club founder?

Bridget:Uh, I think journalist and businesswoman is a great start, and I’m also currently the Deputy Director of Free the Children UK, which is a Canadian charity that has a UK office, and that is a new move. I’m just rounding up week three…

Interviewer:So, super new.

Bridget: …so, very, very new, after…I mean I’ve been a working journalist since I was 16,if you wanna count high school newspaper,local paper. I mean, I’m a writer, I’m a, you know, a creative person and a writer.

My job at Vanity Fair was editing, it was events, it was admin, and my real1)passionwas the writing side. So, I had done that for eight years. I loved working at Vanity Fair,and I came into work every day so proud.So, I think having that time working there—I never took it for granted—it was definitely the dream, but I also learned the dream was writing for a2)publicationlike that, and I think it was time to try something new…Free the Children is a Canadian charity that I had been involved with as a youth member, so…

Interviewer:Wow, so a long connection.

Bridget:I have been a volunteer at Free the Children since 1998, and that I definitely approached from, like, a business angle, from an events angle, but also I got into film as a writer, you know, after watching films and watching plays and thinking, “Oh, my gosh,how did that writer do that?” You know, they take a concept and put it onto the page and then put it onto the screen.

And I go to the theatre a lot, and I love watching audiences and being like, “This is when they’re bored, this is when it’s really working,” that, and I really try to approach theatre and film as a writer, so I was quite passionate about film.

1) passion [?p??n] n. 激情，酷愛，下文的passionate是形容詞。

2) publication [?p?bl??ke??n] n. 出版，出版物

3) agency [?e?d??ns?] n. 代理，代理機構

I like having3)agency,I like coming up with an idea and then being like, “Should we do it?” So I run the film club with one other girl, Fatima Martinez. And I think having that agency is a really powerful and important thing. And so, I think this job at Free the Children is a progression of that…

Interviewer:Absolutely!

Bridget:…and learning that I like, trying to,you know, make decisions, trying to action things, trying to help people be better at things.

Interviewer:Uhm, Bridget, tell me advice.What advice do you wish you’d been given,that would have been handy, perhaps, for you when you started all this off?

Bridget:Sometimes, I need to take a deep breath and not be so focused on what I wanted to do. There’re a lot of different jobs out there, and you never ever know what’s gonna be the one that4)sticksfor you, and one might stick with you for five years, and then you realize that your strengths take you in another direction. So, for me, I learned that I prefer the writing side than the editing side.

Sometimes you think you’re gonna love something, and it doesn’t play to your skills in the way that you want it to, and that’s OK. I think it’s great to acknowledge when something doesn’t work, and I’m always a big fan of learning from what doesn’t work, and I definitely went with someone in college who knew the three schools that I wanted to go to for graduate school. And when I was in high school, knew the three companies that I wanted to work for, and I wish someone had told me to take a deep breath and, if I didn’t go to one of those colleges, it was still going to be OK.

And I think, if you put yourself out there and if you try anything, you’re going to fail or it’s not gonna work out in the way you thought it was going to, that it’s just a learning experience. You just never know.I think that’s one thing that I really had the pleasure of learning over the past 10 years.

見招拆招

作文素材常積累：布里奇特·阿瑟諾——There’s a lot of ways into what we want to do now, and also there’s a lot more things to do. 布里奇特出生于加拿大的一個小鎮(zhèn)，在學生時代，她對文體家（具有獨特風格，自成流派的作家）一無所知，更不知道自己將來會熱衷于寫作。時代在進步，人所面臨的機遇和挑戰(zhàn)也在增多，問題在于我們如何去把握機遇、應對未知的挑戰(zhàn)。布里奇特用她的經(jīng)歷向我們證明，一個人的未來有多種可能。

詞組：round up

動詞詞組round up有多種意思，比較常見的是“使聚攏；圍捕”；此外，它還可以表示“舍入，（將數(shù)字調高）使成為整數(shù)”，如：

● He rounded up a few friends to help him. （他召集了一些朋友來幫他的忙。）

● The police rounded up a number of suspects. （警方圍捕了好幾個嫌疑犯。）

● The refund of $19.5 has been rounded up to $20. （退款已由19.5美元調為20美元整。）

4) stick [st?k] v. 卡住，固定不動

采訪者：好了，布里奇特，告訴我，記者跟電影俱樂部創(chuàng)始人的生活是怎樣的？

布里奇特：呃，我認為記者和女商人是一個很好的開始，我現(xiàn)在還是英國解放兒童組織的副主任，這是一個加拿大的慈善機構，在英國有一個辦事處。這是我的新工作，我才加入不到三個星期……

采訪者：哇，超級新人。

布里奇特：……對，非常、非常新，在那之前……我是說，我從16歲起就開始當記者了——如果算上高中校報跟地方報紙的話。我的意思是，我是一個撰稿人，我是一個，你瞧，一個創(chuàng)意工作者兼撰稿人。

我在《名利場》做的是編輯工作，我的工作與活動項目和行政管理有關，而我真正熱衷的是寫作。所以，我一做就是8年。我喜歡在《名利場》工作，我每天上班的時候都覺得非常自豪。所以，我認為在那兒工作的經(jīng)歷——我從來沒有覺得那是理所當然——那曾是我夢寐以求的事，我明白我的夢想是為這樣的出版物寫稿，但我也認為是時候嘗試新東西了……我在青少年時期就參與過解放兒童這個加拿大慈善機構組織的活動，所以……

采訪者：哇，這么久的關系了。布里奇特：我從1998年開始就已經(jīng)在解放兒童當志愿者了，當然，我是從一種類似工作的角度，一種舉辦活動的角度去對待它的。但我同時也以一個創(chuàng)作者的身份接觸了電影，你瞧，看完電影跟戲劇后，我會想：“哦，我的天啊，編劇是怎么想到的？”你看，他們先想到了一個概念，然后把它寫到紙上，再將它投映在了屏幕上。

我經(jīng)常去劇院，我喜歡邊觀察觀眾邊想：“這就是他們感到無聊時的反應，而這是它真的奏效時的反應。”我非常想試著以一個創(chuàng)作者的身份接觸戲劇和電影，所以我還真的挺熱愛電影的。

我喜歡代理機構，我喜歡當我想到一個主意時可以跟人分享：“我們要做這個嗎？”所以我跟另外一個女孩法蒂瑪·馬丁內斯一起組織了一個電影俱樂部。我認為組建這個機構是一件意義特別重大的事。所以，我覺得，我在解放兒童的工作是在這之上的一次前進……采訪者：當然！

布里奇特：……還認識到了自己喜歡……想嘗試去做決策，嘗試推動事情運轉，嘗試幫助其他人在某方面有所提高。

采訪者：嗯，布里奇特，給我一些忠告吧。你希望當年的自己可以獲得什么樣的忠告——也就是當你開始這一切的時候，或許會讓你覺得有用的忠告是什么？

布里奇特：有時我需要來個深呼吸，讓自己不要太過專注于想做的事情。世界上有很多不同的工作，你永遠不知道哪一份能留住你，即便你可能在一份工作上堅持了五年，然后你意識到你的長處把你帶往另一個方向。所以，對我來說，我發(fā)現(xiàn)比起當編輯，自己更喜歡寫作。

有時候你以為自己會愛上一些東西，它卻沒能如你所愿的跟你的技能相匹配，這也沒什么大不了的。我覺得，敢于直面不如意是非常了不起的事情，我總是熱衷于從不如意中吸取教訓。我在大學時確實跟一個知道我想去哪三家研究生院繼續(xù)深造的人來往過。我還在讀高中的時候就知道自己想加入哪三家公司。我希望當時有人能告訴我，深呼吸，即便進不了那些大學，其實也沒關系。

我認為，如果你走出去，如果你勇于嘗試每一件事，你或許會面臨失敗，又或者它的發(fā)展未能如你所愿，但這只是一次學習經(jīng)歷。你永遠不知道以后會怎樣。我想，這就是我在過去10年里有幸學到的一件事。

Little Women美式發(fā)音 適合精聽語速：160詞/分鐘

聽力難度

⊙By Louisa May Alcott翻譯：劉春英、陳玉立

小婦人

150年前，有四個來自普通家庭的姑娘手拉著手，第一次走進了萬千讀者的視野——在那以后，她們的故事成了中小學生的課外必讀，被翻譯成數(shù)十種語言，被不斷搬上屏幕與舞臺，是世界文學殿堂里永不褪色的少女物語。

她們就是貝思、喬、梅格和艾美，她們的故事就是著名的《小婦人》。

這部平實動人的家庭倫理小說以美國南北戰(zhàn)爭為背景，講述了生活在新英格蘭地區(qū)的馬奇一家的日常瑣事。馬奇先生作為隨軍牧師遠赴戰(zhàn)場，留下馬奇太太與四個女兒在家清貧度日。四個女孩雖然有著各種美好的幻想，但是在現(xiàn)實面前從不氣餒，努力化解生活中的艱難困苦，追尋各自的理想與歸宿……

《小婦人》是路易莎·梅·奧爾科特（Louisa May Alcott，1832–1888）最具代表性的女性主義作品，體現(xiàn)了19世紀60年代的女性覺醒浪潮——而女主角喬更是以奧爾科特本人為藍本創(chuàng)作而成，其故事帶有強烈的自傳性質。

本期選段出自第一部第一章。

“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,”1)grumbledJo, lying on the2)rug.

“It’s so dreadful to be poor!” sighed Meg,looking down at her old dress.

“I don’t think it’s fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all,” added little Amy, with an injured3)sniff.

“We’ve got Father and Mother, and each other,” said Beth contentedly from her corner.

The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly,“We haven’t got Father, and shall not have him for a long time.” She didn’t say “perhaps never,” but each silently added it, thinking of Father far away, where the fighting was.

Nobody spoke for a minute; then Meg said in an4)alteredtone, “You know the reason Mother5)proposednot having any presents this Christmas was because it is going to be a hard winter for everyone; and she thinks we ought not to spend money for pleasure, when our men are suffering so in the army. We can’t do much, but we can make our little6)sacrifices, and ought to do it gladly. But I am afraid I don’t,” and Meg shook her head, as she thought regretfully of all the pretty things she wanted.

“But I don’t think the little we should spend would do any good. We’ve each got a dollar, and the army wouldn’t be much helped by our giving that. I agree not to expect anything from Mother or you, but I do want to buy Undine and Sintran for

1) grumble [?ɡr?mb（?）l] v. 發(fā)牢騷，抱怨

2) rug [r?ɡ] n. 小地毯，毛毯

3) sniff [sn?f] n. 嗤之以鼻

4) alter [???lt?（r）] v. 改變，變更

5) propose [pr??p??z] v. 建議

6) sacrifice [?s?kr?fa?s] n. 犧牲，獻身myself. I’ve wanted it so long,” said Jo, who was a7)bookworm.

“I planned to spend mine in new music,”said Beth, with a little sigh, which no one heard but the8)hearthbrush and kettleholder.

“I shall get a nice box of Faber’s drawing pencils; I really need them,” said Amy9)decidedly.

“Mother didn’t say anything about our money, and she won’t wish us to give up everything. Let’s each buy what we want,and have a little fun; I’m sure we work hard enough to earn it,” cried Jo, examining the heels of her shoes in a10)gentlemanlymanner.

“I know I do—teaching those11)tiresomechildren nearly all day, when I’m longing to enjoy myself at home,” began Meg, in the complaining tone again.

“You don’t have half such a hard time as I do,” said Jo. “How would you like to be shut up for hours with a nervous,12)fussyold lady, who keeps you13)trotting, is never satisfied, and worries you till you’re ready to fly out the window or cry?”

“It’s naughty to14)fret, but I do think washing dishes and keeping things tidy is the worst work in the world. It makes me15)cross, and my hands get so stiff, I can’t practice well at all.” And Beth looked at her rough hands with a sigh that any one could hear that time.

“I don’t believe any of you suffer as I do,”cried Amy, “for you don’t have to go to school with16)impertinentgirls, who17)plagueyou if you don’t know your lessons, and laugh at your dresses, andlabel注your father if he isn’t rich, and18)insultyou when your nose isn’t nice.”

“If you mean19)libel, I’d say so, and not talk about labels, as if Papa was a20)picklebottle,” advised Jo, laughing.

“I know what I mean, and you needn’t be statirical [sic] about it. It’s proper to use good words, and improve your vocabilary[sic],” returned Amy, with dignity.

注：四妹艾美由于年紀還小，又愛用比較難的詞匯，所以在拼讀上不時出錯，如此處的label應為libel（中傷），下文的statirical應為satirical（諷刺的），vocabilary應為vocabulary（詞匯）。

見招拆招

四姐妹的這段討論正是整本小說的開端，通過這種“未見其人，先聞其聲”的對話體，讀者對這四個性格各異、愛好不同的姑娘產(chǎn)生了一種初步的親切感，也就更有興致往下讀了。和你的同學組成一個四人的學習小組吧，一起來聊聊你們對每個人物的印象——你覺得這四姐妹分別是怎樣的人？為什么？文章里是如何體現(xiàn)的？然后分配角色，聽著聲音進行跟讀，注意模仿朗讀者的語音語調。有興趣的話，你們還可以將對話提煉出來，進行一個小小的role-play喔！

7) bookworm [?b?kwз?m] n. 蛀書蟲，書呆子

8) hearth [hɑ?θ] n. 壁爐，壁爐邊

9) decidedly [d??sa?d?dl?] adv. 果斷地，斷然地

10) gentlemanly [?d?ent（?）lm?nl?] adj. 紳士的，紳士派頭的

11) tiresome [?ta??s?m] adj. 煩人的，令人討厭的

12) fussy [?f?s?] adj. 愛挑剔的，難以取悅的

13) trot [tr?t] v. 小跑

14) fret [fret] v. 煩躁，苦惱

15) cross [kr?s] adj. 易怒的，暴躁的

16) impertinent [?m?pз?t?n?nt] adj. 無禮的，傲慢的

17) plague [ple?ɡ] v. 折磨，使苦惱

18) insult [?n?s?lt] v. 侮辱，辱罵

19) libel [?la?b（?）l] v. 中傷，說壞話

20) pickle [?p?k（?）l] n. 泡菜，腌制食品

參考譯文

“沒有禮物的圣誕節(jié)能叫圣誕節(jié)嗎，”喬躺在小地毯上咕噥。

“貧窮真可怕！”梅格發(fā)出一聲嘆息，低頭望著身上的舊衣服。

“有些女孩子坐擁榮華富貴，有些卻一無所有，我認為這并不公平，”小艾美有點委屈地哼了一聲。

“但我們有父親，有母親，還有彼此，”坐在一角的貝思滿足地說道。

這句令人愉快的話使爐火映照下的四張年輕臉龐頓時明亮起來。“我們沒有父親，他很長一段時間都不會在家，”喬傷心地說道。聽她這么一說，大家的神色便又暗淡了下去。喬雖沒說“可能永遠不在了”，但每個人想起遠在戰(zhàn)場的父親，都在心里悄悄補上了這半句。

大家一時無言。隨后梅格換了個聲調說：“你們知道媽媽為什么建議今年圣誕節(jié)不派禮物嗎？因為這個冬天對大家來說都不好過，我們的男人在軍營里受苦受難，我們不應該花錢尋樂。雖然我們能力有限，但可以在這方面做出一點小小的犧牲，而且應該心甘情愿地去做。不過我可做不到。”梅格搖搖腦袋。想到那些夢寐以求的漂亮禮物，她感到遺憾不已。

“依我看，我們那丁點兒錢也幫不上什么忙。我們每人只有一元錢，獻給部隊也沒多大用處。我也不指望媽媽或者你們會給我什么禮物，不過我真的很想給自己買一本《水中女神》，那本書我早就想買了，”喬說——她是個蛀書蟲。

“我本來打算用我那點錢買些新樂譜，”貝思輕輕嘆了口氣說，除了她手里的壁爐刷和水壺裹布，誰也沒聽到她的嘆息。

“我要買一盒精致的費伯氏畫筆。我真的很需要，”艾美干脆地說。

“媽媽沒說過這錢該怎么花，要是看著我們兩手空空，她也不會高興的。我們倒不如各自買點自己喜歡的東西，高興高興。為了掙這些錢，我相信大家都花了不少工夫吧，”喬大聲說道，蠻有紳士風度地審視著自己的鞋跟。

“可不是嘛——差不多一天到晚都得教那些討厭的孩子，而我只想好好待在家里，”梅格又開始抱怨了。

“我可比你辛苦一倍以上呢，”喬說?！耙悄愫脦讉€小時一句話也不能說，和一個吹毛求疵、神經(jīng)兮兮的老太太關在一起，被她使喚得團團轉，她卻永遠不會感到滿意，把你折騰得真想從窗口往下跳或者大哭一場，你感覺怎樣？”

“怨天尤人并不好，但我真的覺得洗碗和打掃房子是全世界最痛苦的事情。這讓我脾氣暴躁，雙手也變得僵硬，連琴也彈不了?！必愃纪约捍植诘碾p手嘆一口氣，這回每個人都聽到了。

“我不相信有誰比我更痛苦，”艾美嚷道，“因為你們都不用去上學。那些女孩子粗俗無禮，如果你不懂功課，她們就讓你下不了臺；她們會笑話你的衣著，爸爸沒有錢要被她們貼標簽，鼻子長得不漂亮也要被她們羞辱。”

“你是說‘譏謗’吧？別說成‘貼標簽’，好像爸爸是個腌菜瓶子似的，”喬邊笑邊糾正。

“我知道我在說什么，你對此不必‘冷嘲日（熱）諷’，用好的字眼沒什么不對，這有助于增加‘字（詞）匯’，”艾美義正詞嚴地反擊道。

（節(jié)選自譯林出版社版本，有改動）